Quickie (Season 11, Episode 11)
Premise: A teenager’s murder leads SVU to an anonymous-sex app and a stockbroker who knowingly spreads HIV, and then to the victim who takes revenge on him in court.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 11, Episode 11
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), ADA Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie), TARU Ruben Morales (Joel de la Fuente)
- Guest stars
- Brian Geraghty as Peter Butler, Mattie Hawkinson as Rebecca Ellison, Brady Corbet as Henry Christensen, Jack Larson as Dewey Butler, David Thornton as Lionel Granger
- Director
- David Platt
- Writers
- Ken Storer
Summary
“Quickie” opens with 17-year-old Anna McWilliams dying in a park after being raped, strangled and struck with a rock, while neighbors who hear her cries do nothing. She carries a fake ID, and her father, Ben, says she began dating a new boy every week after her mother died of cancer. Her ex-boyfriend of six years, Henry Christensen, admits he hired a paparazzi-for-pay service to take her clubbing on his birthday, but says she left his limo to meet a man from A.Q., a phone app that uses location to set up anonymous sex. Posing as a user, the detectives lure “bigpeter,” stockbroker Peter Butler, who boasts of sleeping with thousands of women.
Peter’s online friends include Rebecca Ellison, whose rape two years earlier in Washington Square Park is unsolved; she once had a rough one-night stand with him, but his DNA does not match her rape kit. Warner lifts thumbprints from Anna’s neck that belong to Henry, who confesses that he followed Anna into the park, watched her with Peter and attacked her when she laughed off his pleas. Anna’s rape kit, however, reveals that Peter is HIV-positive. He knows his status, refuses condoms and says he sleeps only with “whores,” blaming a prostitute for infecting him. Warner traces the virus’s mutations with a phylogenetic test, and Rebecca, now ill with AIDS and unable to afford treatment, gives a blood sample.
At a hearing before Judge Preston, Warner testifies that Peter infected Rebecca and 11 other women with a drug-resistant strain. Someone posts Peter’s status on his social media page and alerts the press, and after the judge admits the evidence, Rebecca throws hydrochloric acid in Peter’s face in the courtroom. His lawyer, Lionel Granger, threatens to sue, and Cabot must prosecute Rebecca for assault. Rebecca turns down a six-month plea, and at trial Cabot confronts her with years of HIV-awareness ads near her home. Peter’s grandfather Dewey, who raised him, then asks to testify for Rebecca, and the detectives trace the leak to him.
Spoiler, the ending: Confronted, Dewey tells Peter the truth about his mother: she shot a man who was beating them both and died in prison. He then reveals he has swallowed sleeping pills and dies urging Peter to become a good man. With Peter no longer pressing charges, Rebecca is released from Rikers; Peter pleads guilty to all counts, and Dewey leaves his money to a trust for the medical care of the women Peter infected. Rebecca’s own rapist remains unidentified, and she is told the search will continue.
Why it stands out
- The episode drew 11.59 million viewers, the largest audience of any Season 11 episode.
- It was the season’s first new episode of 2010, airing on January 6 after a four-week break.
- Brian Geraghty plays Peter Butler, Brady Corbet plays Henry Christensen, and Jack Larson plays Peter’s grandfather, Dewey.