Sunk Cost Fallacy (Season 19, Episode 19)
Premise: A woman and her young daughter disappear after a frantic phone call, and the case against the husband collapses when Benson finds them alive under Alex Cabot’s protection.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 19, Episode 19
- Starring
- Lt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), ADA Peter Stone (Philip Winchester), Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March)
- Guest stars
- Sarah Wilson as Jules Hunter, Scott Porter as Nick Hunter, Richard Kind as William Biegel, Katie Flahive as Sherry, Christopher Parker as Caleb Pierce
- Director
- Michael Pressman
- Writers
- Story: Brianna Yellen & Robert Brooks Cohen & Céline C. Robinson & Elizabeth Rinehart; Written by: Michael Chernuchin & Allison Intrieri
Summary
“Sunk Cost Fallacy” opens with a doctor telling Stone that his sister Pamela’s antipsychotic drugs have caused tardive dyskinesia, and that as her power of attorney he must decide on her treatment. At a party at his home, Nick Hunter takes a call in which his wife, Jules, screams that a man is going to kill her; their four-year-old daughter, Ruby, is with her. Jules’s car turns up at a New Jersey mall with blood on the wheel, scratch marks, Ruby’s shoe and a flat tire patched with sealant.
Neither Jules nor Ruby arrived at work or daycare that day. A fired contractor, Jorge Garcia, says he saw Nick with a younger woman in a cab, and florist Paisley Ashford says Nick told her his wife and child had died in a crash. His phone puts him at a Pearl River golf course beside swampland, and Jules’s sister, Sherry, recalls him joking that life would be easier with Jules dead. Nick is arrested for murder and beaten at Rikers. A gas-station receipt then identifies the man who dumped the car as Caleb Pierce, a retired soldier buying vegan children’s food, and following him leads Benson to Jules and Ruby, alive and hidden by former ADA Alex Cabot.
Cabot says a far-reaching network has hidden hundreds of abused women since a battered wife whose case she lost was killed by her husband. Jules describes Nick’s abuse, including scalding her with coffee. Stone reduces Nick’s charge to assault, and Nick makes bail and sues the city for $50 million. At her deposition Benson will not lie, and Nick’s lawyer, William Biegel, works out that Jules is alive. Benson persuades Jules to stay and fight for a divorce and sole custody, and Cabot argues her case in family court while Biegel calls the abuse claims a custody tactic.
Spoiler, the ending: As Carisi drives Jules away from court, a stolen SUV runs a stop sign and hits them, and Jules dies. Investigators find no skid marks, and Cabot blames both Nick and Benson, but Nick was at a café with a coworker at the time, and his lawsuit goes on. Pamela’s doctor tells Stone he chose well for her, and he sits with her. Judge Martinez awards Nick custody of Ruby, and Sherry seeks custody too. Benson tells Cabot she could never do what Cabot does, and they part.
Why it stands out
- Stephanie March returns as Alexandra Cabot, her first appearance on the show since season 13.
- Richard Kind guest stars as Nick Hunter’s lawyer, William Biegel.