...Or Just Look Like One (Season 1, Episode 3)
Premise: A 16-year-old model is found beaten and in a coma outside a hospital, and the case pulls the detectives into the drugs, abuse and grudges behind New York’s fashion business.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 1, Episode 3
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Det. John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Monique Jeffries (Michelle Hurd), Det. Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek)
- Guest stars
- Bebe Neuwirth as Nina Laszlo, Catherine Dent as Deborah Latrell, Ritchie Coster as Carlo Parisi, Jerry Orbach as Det. Lennie Briscoe, Jesse L. Martin as Det. Ed Green
- Director
- Rick Rosenthal
- Writers
- Story: Wendy West & John Chambers; Written by: Michael R. Perry
Summary
“...Or Just Look Like One” begins when 16-year-old model Jazmin Burgess, born Theresa, is dumped outside the Roosevelt Hospital emergency room before dawn. She has been beaten with what looks like a claw hammer and sexually assaulted with a wooden object, and an amphetamine overdose leaves her in a coma. Her father, Tom, who renamed her as a brand, left her at a late photo shoot; agent Nina Laszlo shrugs off questions, and photographer Carlo Parisi claims he lost track of time. Former model Deborah Latrell, who works with Parisi, steers the detectives toward Ricky Blaine, the “Measuring Man,” a paroled predator of young models, but he has an alibi.
The other models say Parisi sent Jazmin home around midnight for failing a weigh-in, and that she left with her friend Vanessa Wong. Det. Lennie Briscoe and Det. Ed Green of the 27th Precinct have just pulled Vanessa from a dumpster, killed by the same kind of weapon. Phone records lead to a launch party thrown by novelist Hampton Trill, where the girls went to buy pills. The prescriptions trace to a doctor who is himself disabled after a motorcycle crash; the pills go to a mail drop, and a courier carries them to Laszlo’s building. Narcotics raids the agency, and Laszlo admits she supplies speed to keep her models thin.
Laszlo also says Parisi pressured Jazmin into a sex act for his private collection of Polaroids, and that Jazmin stole the whole stash to end his career. A semen stain on her dress leads to Parisi’s arrest for statutory rape. Searching his home, the detectives find that Latrell co-owns his business and was once engaged to him. Munch walks Parisi past her so she believes he has talked, and she confesses. High on speed, she met the girls in her car outside Trill’s party, saw the photos of Parisi with other models, and struck Jazmin with a hammer she kept under the seat, then hit Vanessa to quiet her. She called Parisi, who staged the assault to look like a rape, took Jazmin to the hospital and got rid of Vanessa’s body.
At home, Stabler’s wife, Kathy, tells him their daughter Maureen has been refusing food for weeks, and psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Olivet advises him to watch closely for warning signs. Jeffries spends the episode testifying in an unrelated trial over a violent Japanese comic book.
Spoiler, the ending: After Latrell’s confession, the hospital calls Munch to say Jazmin has died.
Why it stands out
- Jerry Orbach and Jesse L. Martin make special appearances as Det. Lennie Briscoe and Det. Ed Green of Law & Order, who are working the murder of Jazmin’s friend.
- Chris Orbach, Jerry Orbach’s younger son, plays Lennie’s nephew, Det. Ken Briscoe, a role he has during the first season.
- Bebe Neuwirth, whose breakthrough role was Dr. Lilith Sternin on Cheers, guest stars as modeling agent Nina Laszlo.