Spring Awakening (Season 15, Episode 24)
Premise: As Amaro faces charges for beating an acquitted suspect, a sting on a robbery-rape ring leads Benson to the mother of the abandoned baby she rescued.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 15, Episode 24
- Starring
- Sgt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), DA Investigator John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Nick Amaro (Danny Pino), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Lt. Declan Murphy (Donal Logue), Defense Attorney Trevor Langan (Peter Hermann)
- Guest stars
- Emma Greenwell as Ellie Porter, G.K. Umeh as Little Tino, Joshua Malina as Simon Wilkes, Jessica Phillips as ADA Pippa Cox, Karl Miller as Hans Erhard
- Director
- Norberto Barba
- Writers
- Story: Kevin Fox; Story & teleplay: Warren Leight & Julie Martin
Summary
“Spring Awakening” picks up with Amaro under arrest for beating Simon Wilkes, who is left with a concussion and broken ribs. Amaro’s lawyer says Wilkes hit him first with his camera, but playground witnesses and the officers who pulled him off say otherwise; he is charged with first-degree assault and bail is set at $500,000. Murphy forbids the squad from investigating on his behalf. In family court, Benson learns that Baby Boy Doe, the infant she rescued, is headed back to a city facility after his fourth home in four months.
German tourist Hans Erhard is robbed and raped at gunpoint in his hotel room after meeting a woman calling herself Lisette through Craigslist. Murphy answers her ad posing as a lonely Irishman, and when her pimp, Little Tino, bursts in with a gun, the squad arrests them both. Lisette is Ellie Porter, who began working for Tino at 16; Trevor Langan represents her for free. Erhard picks out Ellie but chooses the wrong man in Tino’s lineup, and Ellie refuses to turn on Tino. Then ADA Pippa Cox reports that DNA shows Ellie is Baby Boy Doe’s mother. Munch, now a special investigator with the DA’s office, visits Amaro in jail, tells him his marriage is over, reminds him why he became a detective and posts his bail. Told her son, Noah, ended up with a child pornographer, Ellie says Tino’s mother ran his daycare and agrees to testify. A raid on the house finds three underage girls working for Tino, and Ellie is reunited with Noah.
Amaro’s partner then confronts Mrs. Wilkes, having spent the night chatting with her husband online, and threatens to send him images that would land him in prison unless he tells IAB he struck first. Wilkes recants, and Amaro’s charges are likely to be dropped or reduced, with anger management. The night before she is due to testify, Ellie leaves her halfway house. She is found dead, gang-raped and set on fire. Tino claims he acted alone, but the autopsy points to at least six men, and the squad suspects someone above him gave the order.
Spoiler, the ending: Murphy leaves for an undercover assignment and recommends Benson as acting commanding officer. Munch tells Benson he has missed her. In family court, Langan speaks for Noah, and the judge declares him a ward of the state, then asks Benson whether she will foster him for a year with the option to adopt. Her answer is not heard, but the last scene shows her greeting Noah as he is brought to her.
Why it stands out
- Richard Belzer returns as Munch, now a DA investigator, in his first appearance since his character retired in the season’s fifth episode.
- Peter Hermann, Mariska Hargitay’s real-life husband, returns as Trevor Langan for the first time since season 12.
- The season ends with Benson offered custody of Baby Boy Doe and back in command of the squad while Murphy goes undercover.