American Dream (Season 18, Episode 20)
Premise: SVU hunts the masked men who raped two Muslim sisters and killed one of them and their father, but the only eyewitness is deported before he can testify.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 18, Episode 20
- Starring
- Lt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), Deputy Chief William Dodds (Peter Gallagher), ADA Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza)
- Guest stars
- Poorna Jagannathan as Maya Samra, Melanie Chandra as Lela Samra, Nik Sadhnani as Yusef Massad, Gil Perez-Abraham as Hector Ramirez, Kirk Acevedo as Detective Ray Lopez
- Director
- Jean de Segonzac
- Writers
- Story: Brianna Yellen & Robert Cohen & Celine Robinson; Written by: Rick Eid & Julie Martin
Summary
“American Dream” opens as three masked men force their way into Samra, a Syrian restaurant owned by Muslim immigrants Kanann and Maya Samra, at closing time. Shouting slurs and demanding papers, they tie up the family, empty the register and safe, beat and stab Kanann and rape both daughters, killing 18-year-old Shala; her older sister, Lela, survives. A month earlier someone had smashed the windows and scrawled a message telling Muslims to go home. Working with Dodds and Det. Ray Lopez of Hate Crimes, Benson treats it as a hate crime, and the NYPD keeps the case from the FBI. Maya says the men sounded young, white and local; Kanann dies of his injuries, and Lela remembers tequila and beer on her attacker’s breath.
A bloody size-ten shoeprint leads out the unlocked back door, and a couple walking their dog saw a young dark-haired man run from the alley. Lela reveals that Maya’s brother, Yusef Massad, has a key. Yusef runs from the detectives and is caught; he is undocumented and gay, and fears death if sent back to a refugee camp. He says he came in late to clean, hid while his family was attacked, and saw one man, who only watched, briefly lift his mask. From photos of a party for Shala’s acceptance to Columbia, he picks out Hector Ramirez, whom the Samras let go three weeks earlier while dismissing undocumented staff. Hector’s wife, Soledad, says where he works; he admits the Samras owed him money but denies being there, and Naomi Zeigler of the Immigration Defense Project takes his case.
Maya lets Yusef view a lineup after Benson promises that in a sanctuary city his status will stay private, and he picks out Hector at once. Hector, whose wife supports his alibi, is charged with rape and murder as a hate crime. Carisi guards Yusef, but when Yusef steps out for cigarettes near a protest, ICE agents take him away over Carisi’s objections. The squad learns Yusef was once deported for overstaying a student visa and traces him to a detention center in Paterson, New Jersey, where Barba’s material witness warrant is rejected; officials call him a national security threat, and his flight to Syria has already left. With only two strands of Hector’s hair, Barba releases him, and protests outside the courthouse turn violent.
Spoiler, the ending: Soon after, two young Middle Eastern men take Hector hostage in a bar, demanding to know who killed Kanann and Shala. A police sniper fires, officers storm in and pull Hector out alive, and the surviving gunman shouts that they only wanted justice for the Samras. The story continues in “Sanctuary.”
Why it stands out
- The first half of the two-hour Season 18 finale, aired with “Sanctuary” on May 24, 2017; both hours were written by Rick Eid and Julie Martin, and Eid left as showrunner at the end of the season.
- Poorna Jagannathan, of The Night Of, plays Maya Samra, and Kirk Acevedo, known as Miguel Alvarez on Oz, plays Hate Crimes Det. Ray Lopez.