Pixies (Season 2, Episode 9)
Premise: A murdered girl thought to be a child prostitute turns out to be a gymnast, and the search for her killer exposes her wealthy patron, her controlling coach and a jealous teammate.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 2, Episode 9
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Det. John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), ADA Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March)
- Guest stars
- Kate Mara as Lori, Philip Casnoff as Ilya Korska, Armand Schultz as Kyle Hubert, Courtney Jines as Hannah Miller, Terry Layman as Martin Meyerson
- Ripped from the headlines
- The demanding gymnastics coach Ilya Korska is modeled on Béla Károlyi, the Romanian-born coach of Nadia Comăneci and Mary Lou Retton.
- Director
- Jean de Segonzac
- Writers
- Story: Clifton Campbell & Jeff Eckerle & Dawn DeNoon & Lisa Marie Petersen & Robert F. Campbell & Jonathan Greene; Story & teleplay: Tracey Stern
Summary
“Pixies” begins when sanitation workers find a girl’s body behind a dumpster. She was killed by a blow to the head with a brick, and there are signs of recent sex. Taking her for a child prostitute, the detectives question a madam, Ruth Jay, known as Mama Jay, and video dealer Willie Maxwell, who is arrested for renting out child pornography. The autopsy puts her at about 12 or 13 by development, with old fractures, bulimia, laxative use and heavily callused palms. A neighbor heard someone shout “whore” that night. A missing persons match, 13-year-old Carla Brice, falls apart when her mother sees the body and says it is not her daughter.
A diamond teddy-bear charm bracelet signed “Popi” is traced to a jeweler, while a wider search identifies the girl as Kristy Meyerson, a 16-year-old gymnast reported missing by her coach and guardian, Ilya Korska, a demanding coach who defected from Bulgaria in 1988. Kristy boarded with a family whose young daughter, Hannah, tells Benson that Kristy spoke to Popi by phone and met him after her nightly runs with teammate Lori, who denies Kristy had a boyfriend. At home, Stabler’s 15-year-old daughter, Maureen, worries that a B+ will keep her out of a good college.
The bracelet was bought by Kyle Hubert, 42, a real estate broker and major donor to Korska’s foundation, who says he gave it to Kristy that morning and refuses a blood test. Hubert keeps a second apartment, done up like a fairy-tale bedroom, near where the body was found, where a manager saw Kristy run out crying that night. DNA from the sheets matches, but Hubert says the affair was consensual, and her birth certificate shows Kristy was 19; she had hidden her age to get into Korska’s program.
Korska’s prints are also on the bracelet, and Kristy’s father reveals she was in love and afraid Korska would drop her. Lori admits Korska had her spy on Kristy in return for a place on the team. Korska says he confronted Kristy outside Hubert’s building, accepted her promise to end the affair and dropped her off to run at 8:15. Lori claims she never ran with Kristy that night, but a hot dog vendor saw the two together, veering off their usual route.
Spoiler, the ending: Caught knowing about the bracelet, Lori confesses. Korska had promised her Kristy’s spot, then decided to keep Kristy, and during an argument Lori threw the brick that killed her, insisting she did not mean to hit her. Told of it, Korska calls Lori an imbecile, puts off her request to see him until after Nationals and returns to drilling his gymnasts.
Why it stands out
- Kate Mara guest-stars as Lori, Kristy’s training partner, alongside Philip Casnoff as coach Ilya Korska.
- Stabler’s teenage daughter Maureen appears in a short scene about pressure over grades and college admissions, echoing the gymnasts’ drive to be perfect.