Slaves (Season 1, Episode 22)
Premise: A Romanian woman’s plea for help leads to her murdered aunt and a wealthy couple holding her captive, while the squad undergoes psychological evaluations.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 1, Episode 22
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Det. John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Monique Jeffries (Michelle Hurd), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek)
- Guest stars
- Andrew McCarthy as Randolph Morrow, Susan Floyd as Mrs. Morrow, Layla Alexander as Ilena, Mary Lou Rosato as Constanta Condrescu, Audra McDonald as Dr. Audrey Jackson
- Ripped from the headlines
- The 1977 kidnapping of Colleen Stan by Cameron Hooker, who held her captive and kept her in a box under his bed, is cited as a basis for this episode.
- Director
- Ted Kotcheff
- Writers
- Story: Wendy West; Written by: Lisa Marie Petersen & Dawn DeNoon
Summary
“Slaves” opens as One Police Plaza makes the squad the pilot unit for twice-yearly psychological evaluations, conducted by Dr. Audrey Jackson. Meanwhile, Romanian fruit vendor Mircha Gabrea reports that a young woman begged him in Romanian for help, hinted at abuse and gave him the name Constanta Condrescu. Condrescu, who works at a restaurant, identifies the woman as her niece Ilena, who came to New York three years earlier on a student visa but never enrolled at NYU. A balloon seller recognizes Ilena as a nanny he sees in the park with a little girl.
Within hours of the detectives’ visit, Condrescu is found dead, rolled in a costly Persian rug and dumped off the Henry Hudson Parkway; an injection stopped her heart, and the page that would hold Ilena’s address is torn from her address book. A co-worker says an American businessman Ilena met in Bucharest gave her a free plane ticket, and airline records name Randolph Morrow. Benson and Stabler find Ilena caring for the Morrows’ daughter, but she denies sending any message and shows no reaction to her aunt’s death.
Morrow, an investment banker, says Ilena has lived with them for three years, though neighbors say about one, and Stabler quietly takes one of his hairs. Toxicology finds an animal euthanasia drug, the hair in the rug turns out to be his wife’s, and Mrs. Morrow, a veterinarian, admits drugging Condrescu’s tea and killing her after the aunt came to the door and threatened her husband. Inside the Morrows’ home, detectives find photographs of a woman being tortured and a padlocked closet, but Ilena is gone, and a judge refuses a search warrant.
Warned that her daughter could be next, Mrs. Morrow, who is addicted to ketamine, says her husband abused her as well and kept Ilena chained in a closet for six months, raping and torturing her. Under questioning, Morrow boasts that he controls Ilena, and a photo showing a corner of the rug convinces Benson and Stabler that she is still in the house. They find her alive, hidden inside the bed, insisting she made no sound.
Spoiler, the ending: Through the episode, the evaluations probe each detective: Cragen admits he wants a drink every day, Benson talks about being the child of a rape, Jeffries says she has been dating many men since nearly dying in a bombing, including a former suspect, and Stabler says he thinks about how he could kill offenders and get away with it. Jackson then tells Cragen she must recommend that one detective be removed from duty immediately, and the season ends before she says who.
Why it stands out
- This is the first-season finale, and it ends on a cliffhanger over which detective the psychologist wants taken off the squad.
- It is Robert Palm’s final episode as executive producer.
- Andrew McCarthy guest stars as Randolph Morrow, and Lance Reddick appears as an assistant medical examiner.