Babes (Season 10, Episode 6)
Premise: The killing of a mentally ill homeless man uncovers a teenage pregnancy pact, and the apparent suicide of its ringleader leads to the mother who bullied her online.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 10, Episode 6
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Sgt. John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), ADA Kim Greylek (Michaela McManus), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie), CSU Ryan O’Halloran (Mike Doyle), TARU Ruben Morales (Joel de la Fuente), Judge Barry Moredock (John Cullum)
- Guest stars
- Jesse McCartney as Max Matarazzo, Debi Mazar as Peggy Bernardi, Britt Robertson as Tina Bernardi, Jess Varley as Fidelia Vidal, Philip Ettinger as Alec Bernardi
- Director
- David Platt
- Writers
- Daniel Truly
Summary
“Babes” opens in the Meatpacking District, where a man is found castrated and set on fire, with Benson away at a conference. Warner restores his fingerprints, identifying Josh Galli, 22, whose schizophrenia left him living on the streets. His father, Tom, points to the Street Cleaners, vigilantes who post videos of beating homeless people. Geotags lead to Sara and Seth, caught swinging a bat at a police decoy, but Seth’s rooftop photos clear them of the murder.
O’Halloran finds that the killer used formaldehyde and dropped an electric match belonging to Blessed Heart High School. Alec Bernardi, a senior who tends the chemistry lab, has a burned hand and confesses, saying Josh raped his younger sister, Tina. Tina says the sex was consensual: she and three friends agreed to get pregnant together. The ringleader, Fidelia Vidal, is pregnant not by her boyfriend, Max Matarazzo of the school’s Chastity Circle, but by a 22-year-old DJ, Donald “Dizzer” Zuccho. Dizzer is ordered to give DNA, but when the detectives come for Fidelia, she is found hanged in her locked bedroom after a night of cruel e-mails.
The messages, signed Dizzer4ever, were not his. An ATM camera beside the internet café that sent them shows Peggy Bernardi, Alec and Tina’s mother, who admits writing them and blames Fidelia for her family’s troubles. With no state law against cyberbullying, Greylek charges her with promoting a suicide attempt and several lesser crimes, hoping to get it past Judge Barry Moredock, while Munch warns against punishing speech. Stabler rescues Peggy from a mob of neighbors, and she is released on bail and barred from using a computer. At trial, Greylek has her read the messages aloud, including Fidelia’s last reply that “fath” was at the door. Tina then speaks up: in the Chastity Circle, the word means “first and true husband,” and Fidelia’s was Max.
Spoiler, the ending: Max admits he climbed the fire escape that night, and when Fidelia slapped him and said she had never loved him, he strangled her and staged a suicide with a belt. He is sentenced to four years for first-degree manslaughter, Alec gets 15 years to life for second-degree murder, and the charges against Peggy are dismissed. Provoked by a parting remark, Peggy lunges in court and is dragged off to face an assault charge. Tina, pregnant and facing foster care, is met at Family Court by Tom Galli, who has come to ask the judge to let his grandchild grow up with family.
Why it stands out
- Singer Jesse McCartney plays Max Matarazzo, a devout teenage chastity advocate, a role he described as new territory for him.
- Debi Mazar plays Peggy Bernardi, and Britt Robertson plays her daughter, Tina.
- John Cullum’s Barry Moredock, a defense attorney in earlier seasons, is now a judge.