Beef (Season 11, Episode 20)
Premise: An animal-rights activist working undercover at a meat-packing plant is murdered, and the evidence left at the scene has been planted to frame a co-worker.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 11, Episode 20
- 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), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie), TARU Ruben Morales (Joel de la Fuente)
- Guest stars
- Lynn Cohen as Rosa Donetti, Robert Petkoff as John Reilly, Aaron Tveit as Jan Eyck, Juan Javier Cardenas as Jorge Vargas, Nancy Rodriguez as Vanessa Vargas
- Director
- Peter Leto
- Writers
- Lisa Loomer
Summary
“Beef” opens when Gina Gomez, returning a neighbor’s dog, Chuy, finds his owner Laura Santiago, 24, dead in her apartment, her throat slit and semen present. Her boyfriend, yoga teacher Jan Eyck, says he left at 9:30 to walk his own dog, and a neighbor who argued with him about not cleaning up after it confirms his alibi. Warner finds semen from two men. Laura’s father has an injured hand, and her parents disapproved of her choices. Laura lost a boutique job after she urged shoppers not to buy leather, and Morales recovers photos from her wiped laptop: women’s rear ends and a cockfight attended by her father, whom she had disowned over his birds. Fibers in Chuy’s mouth come from blue polyester and from Jan’s hemp pants.
Author Lisbeth Sandler says Laura took the photos for her book on women and meat and was making a documentary exposé of the meat industry. Laura interviewed Dean Jones, paralyzed by E. coli from a burger, and muckraking journalist Jake Bradshaw admits she was working undercover at Donna Rosa Meats. Co-workers point to meat cutter Jorge Vargas, a womanizer whom foreman John Reilly says he fired, and Jorge’s DNA matches. His wife, Vanessa, hands over his torn, bloody pants, but sweat in them belongs to another man. Vanessa then admits an anonymous letter persuaded her to supply his clothes and a used condom to teach him a lesson, and she is arrested for obstruction.
Benson goes undercover at the plant as a Russian cleaner and learns Reilly took a camera from a worker who had been taking pictures. He catches Benson in his office and grabs her, and he is arrested for assault. His legs show no dog bites, but his DNA matches the sweat. When owner Rosa Donetti (called Doletti in the episode) begs him to tell the truth, Reilly confesses. Morales salvages Laura’s footage of filthy conditions, which shows Reilly is left-handed, while Warner says the killer was right-handed.
Spoiler, the ending: At Rosa’s home, detectives including Munch learn that Reilly is her son, raised by her sister, and that she is Irish, using an Italian name to sell meatballs. When they look for the typewriter used for the letter, Rosa grabs a knife with her right hand. She admits she cut Laura’s throat when Reilly could not do it, to protect her business, and is arrested worrying about the dinner she is cooking for her family.
Why it stands out
- Aaron Tveit makes his first SVU appearance as Jan; he returns two seasons later in a different role.
- Lynn Cohen, of Sex and the City, plays Rosa Donetti, the matriarch of the meat company.