P.C. (Season 11, Episode 13)
Premise: SVU hunts the man who raped and killed a lesbian artist while clashing with an abrasive activist who accuses the police of indifference.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 11, Episode 13
- 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), Dr. George Huang (BD Wong)
- Guest stars
- Kathy Griffin as Babs Duffy, Sutton Foster as Rosemary, Kate Udall as Sharon Harris, Chad Donella as Ronnie Watley, Bryce Ryness as Trey Greenway
- Director
- Juan J. Campanella
- Writers
- Daniel Truly
Summary
“P.C.” begins when a phone thief fleeing police leads them to a badly wounded woman in an empty West 48th Street restaurant; before she dies she says only “Mitch.” She has been raped and her neck slashed, and candles and a pentagram point Benson and Stabler to Trey Greenway, a self-styled vampire who shot a death-metal video in the building. Trey’s alibi holds, and the blood in his pentagram was stolen from a blood bank by his girlfriend, Mina. The victim had a clotting disorder, and rust in her wound suggests she was cut as she was dragged inside. Babs Duffy, the combative founder of the group LesbeStrong, then storms the squad room, names the dead woman as artist Alisa Davies and accuses the police of ignoring violence against lesbians.
Alisa’s fiancée, Sharon Harris, a bouncer at the bar Kitty Corner, says they parted happily, but staff saw her shove Alisa and follow her out the back the night she died. Sharon’s ex-girlfriend Janet Burnell, who has an order of protection against her, explains that “Mitch” was Sharon’s pet name for a lover. When Stabler confronts Sharon, she punches him. While she is held, LesbeStrong member Rosemary is raped in an empty building by a man who says lesbians have ruined his neighborhood and warns that Babs is next. Benson guards Babs at home and turns down her attempt at a kiss. A guard officer shoots a man on Babs’s fire escape, but he is Larry Luft, Babs’s secret boyfriend, and lacks the spider tattoo security footage shows on the rapist’s hand.
Spoiler, the ending: At a rally, Babs comes out as bisexual, and many of her followers turn on her. Stabler then spots Ronnie Watley, whose family print shop misprinted Babs’s name on the rally flyers and who has filed complaints against lesbian-run businesses nearby. With no DNA, Benson takes over the interrogation and taunts him as a lesbian until he lunges at her, and the squad has its man. Babs opens LesbeStrong to the whole LGBTQIA community, says Larry has left her, thanks the detectives for pushing her to come clean and makes peace with Stabler.
Why it stands out
- Kathy Griffin plays Babs Duffy. A kiss between Babs and Benson was filmed but cut from the broadcast, which shows Babs leaning in and Benson pulling away; the filming appears in an episode of Griffin’s reality series Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.
- Tony Award winner Sutton Foster plays Rosemary, the LesbeStrong member who is raped.