End Game (Season 20, Episode 24)
Premise: When a teenage girl’s body falls into the Hudson, Benson ties the death to Rob Miller, and Stone bends the rules to put him away.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 20, Episode 24
- Starring
- Lt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), ADA Peter Stone (Philip Winchester), Judge Felicia Catano (Aida Turturro)
- Guest stars
- Titus Welliver as Rob Miller, Callie Thorne as Nikki Staines, Jazzy Kae as Brooke Davis, Richard Kind as William Biegel, Mike McGowan as Alex Kay
- Director
- Alex Chapple
- Writers
- Michael Chernuchin & Julie Martin
Summary
“End Game” finds Benson barely sleeping since Rob Miller, out on bail, introduced himself to her son, Noah. Stone brings worse news: federal prosecutors have dropped their case against Miller, and Nikki Staines now says her rape was consensual. Nikki tells Benson that a woman killed her daughter’s dog with a poisoned treat and sent greetings to her mother, and she refuses to testify or to break privilege about her former client Wally Stevens, whose underage-sex case has collapsed. Then a naked teenage girl washes up in the Hudson. She died of a fentanyl overdose before reaching the water, carried semen from two men and fell at least 2,000 feet.
A rare contact lens prescription identifies her as Lindsay Parker, 16. At her parents’ home, Benson and Rollins find Miller acting as the family’s lawyer, and Benson warns him to stay away from her son. Lindsay’s friend Brooke Davis admits the girls partied with older men who gave them champagne, cocaine and gifts, and she recognizes Wally Stevens and Alex Kay, whom she saw at a Hamptons party with an Italian exchange student. Kay, facing prison, admits Miller may have been there but refuses to testify. Two uniformed officers then take Noah out of school without Benson’s approval and deliver him to Rollins; Miller advises Benson to drop the case.
Stone, learning of the threat, worries that it taints the investigation. He meets privately with Nikki, then gets a warrant without telling Benson what evidence he has, and Miller is arrested for Lindsay’s murder in front of the Parkers. At trial before Judge Felicia Catano, Stone shows that Brooke’s phone and Miller’s were at the same steakhouse on the day $9,500 in cash went into her account, though she denies both. A club employee and an officer tie Miller to Lamar Jackson, a fentanyl dealer. Defense attorney William Biegel then calls Nikki, who says she made the deposit herself to frame Miller because he threatened her during a custody fight, and the jury hears a recording of Miller vowing that without Nikki there is no case. Later, Miller taunts Benson about his power.
Nikki then tells Benson the frame-up was Stone’s idea; Benson says she wants no part of it.
Spoiler, the ending: The jury finds Miller guilty of second-degree murder, and he shouts that he was set up. Stone tells Benson he risked his career for her because she had become more important to him than the case, that he lost his perspective, and that he must leave before it happens again. He says goodbye and walks away.
Why it stands out
- The Season 20 finale is Philip Winchester’s last episode as ADA Peter Stone and Peter Scanavino’s last as Detective Carisi, who returns in Season 21 as an assistant district attorney.
- It is also the last episode under showrunner Michael Chernuchin, who left for the CBS series FBI after the season; Warren Leight returned to run Season 21.
- Titus Welliver closes his three-episode arc as Rob Miller, with Callie Thorne back as defense attorney Nikki Staines.