Smoked (Season 12, Episode 24)
Premise: A rape victim is shot dead before her attacker’s trial, and the trail leads to a hired stalker who is also a federal informant.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 12, Episode 24
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), CSU Tech Adrian Sung (James Chen)
- Guest stars
- Hayley McFarland as Jenna Fox, Michael Raymond-James as Eddie Skinner, Andrew Howard as Luke Ronson, Pedro Pascal as Special Agent Greer, Charlayne Woodard as Sister Peg
- Director
- Helen Shaver
- Writers
- Jonathan Greene & Daniel Truly
Summary
“Smoked” opens days before the rape trial of celebrity hairstylist Luke Ronson, when his accuser, Annette Fox, is shot dead on the street after buying a prom dress with her daughter, Jenna. Jenna asks for Benson and Stabler, who built the case: Annette woke in a cab after a private drink with Ronson at his salon’s opening party two years earlier, with GHB in her blood, and his lawyer, Hashi Horowitz (called Heshy in the episode), has stalled the trial ever since. Street video shows the hooded gunman pushing Jenna aside and firing only after Annette lets go of her purse. Jenna describes hang-up calls and a man watching the house, and the calls come from a disposable phone bought near Ronson’s salon.
Ronson cuts hair for the homeless at Sister Peg’s shelter, and a resident, Eddie Skinner, says he saw a gun in Ronson’s bag that night. A search turns up a 9mm and a black hoodie, and Ronson is arrested, but the shell casings and the hoodie do not match. The detectives then catch Ronson going after Eddie at the shelter, and Eddie, who throws a table at a detective, has a disposable phone. Ronson admits paying Eddie to scare Annette off the stand and says Eddie wanted to kill her. ADA Sherri West has Ronson charged with witness tampering and Eddie with assaulting an officer, but ATF Special Agent Greer takes Eddie from the lockup: Eddie is his informant against a cigarette-smuggling ring.
Greer lets Stabler pose as a bodega owner buying untaxed cigarettes, with Eddie making the introduction. The agents storm the warehouse before Stabler gives the signal, and Eddie escapes, leaving Greer hurt. Eddie turns up at Ronson’s, demanding money at gunpoint, and Stabler talks him down. Casings from Eddie’s gun match the murder, and he takes a plea to second-degree murder with 25 years in exchange for describing how Ronson bragged about the rape, which lets West revive the rape case. Eddie then reveals that Greer gave him the gun, one lost in Short Fuse, a failed ATF operation that let weapons go to Mexican smugglers. Greer is arrested and locked in the squad’s holding cell with Ronson and Eddie, and Sister Peg brings in Eddie’s notes on Annette and Jenna.
Spoiler, the ending: Benson tells Jenna her mother’s killer is caught, and Jenna sees the three men in the cell. She leaves, returns with a handgun and fires into the cell, killing Ronson and Greer, and a shot fired toward the detectives kills Sister Peg. As Benson pleads with her, Eddie taunts her; when she aims at him, Stabler shoots her. She dies saying she bought the gun on the street and it was easy.
Why it stands out
- This season finale is Christopher Meloni’s last episode as a series regular; he left the show after contract talks failed, and Stabler does not appear again until the season 22 episode “Return of the Prodigal Son.”
- It is also the last episode with BD Wong and Tamara Tunie in the opening credits, and the last made under showrunner Neal Baer, who had run the series since its second season.
- Charlayne Woodard makes her final appearance as Sister Peg, her first since season 8’s “Underbelly,” and Pedro Pascal plays ATF Agent Greer.