Garland's Baptism by Fire (Season 21, Episode 18)
Premise: A church bookkeeper caught embezzling accuses Reverend Delman Chase, Deputy Chief Garland’s pastor and mentor, of paying off teenage girls he sexually abused.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 21, Episode 18
- Starring
- Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Katriona “Kat” Tamin (Jamie Gray Hyder), Deputy Chief Christian Garland (Demore Barnes), ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino)
- Guest stars
- Roger Cross as Reverend Delman Chase, Aunjanue Ellis as Laura Chase, Rick Fox as Edgar Goodwin, Laila Drew as Renée Lee, Trian Long-Smith as Lamai Garland
- Director
- Norberto Barba
- Writers
- Cheryl L. Davis & Micharne Cloughley
Summary
“Garland’s Baptism by Fire” opens at a dinner at the home of Deputy Chief Christian Garland and his wife, Lamai, where Benson meets their friend Edgar Goodwin, a lawyer. Across town, church bookkeeper Sherry Blake, caught embezzling more than $400,000 from Harlem Heights Baptist, tells Rollins that a church official has used church money to pay off teenage girls he had sex with, and that he is close to Garland. Rollins and Carisi ring the doorbell as the guest saying grace, Reverend Delman Chase, is finishing: he is the man Sherry named. Garland, who calls Chase his spiritual adviser of more than ten years, doubts the story but recuses himself.
Chase and his wife and co-pastor, Laura, run a televised ministry, a girls’ charter school, a dorm for at-risk youth and an award-winning praise dance troupe. Records show more than 50 checks to girls over seven years. Saying they are helping Special Frauds, detectives get Laura to flag three payments totaling $250,000 to dancer Renée Lee and her mother, Sade Ferguson. Another student, Breyona Taylor, says Chase gave her $10,000 and asked about her temptations. Chase privately presses Garland for loyalty, then tells Benson the money was charity. Warned she could face a larceny charge, Renée says Chase began “tutoring” her in private and shows detectives a video, made when she was 15, that she secretly recorded of him having sex with her; he paid after she showed it to him.
Laura, shown the video, denies it is her husband and cuts Garland off. With Edgar as his lawyer pointing out that only a torso is visible, Chase blames Renée’s crush on him. Called a liar by dorm mother Michelle and other girls, Renée runs away to a boyfriend’s apartment and refuses to testify. Garland arranges for Chase to surrender so his body can be photographed and his DNA taken. Released on $50,000 bail, Chase calls Garland a Judas from the courthouse steps. Laura then comes to the squad: she has asked Renée, Breyona and Michelle for forgiveness and urged them to cooperate, and Renée testifies to the grand jury.
Spoiler, the ending: Told of Renée’s grand jury testimony, Chase calls her a temptress who trapped him, then learns that two other young women from the congregation describe the same grooming and that Laura persuaded them to talk. He pleads guilty. Edgar drops him as a client and tells Benson he never saw the signs. Garland visits Chase in prison, where Chase calls his downfall part of God’s plan; Garland tells him he did this to himself, and Chase tells him not to return.
Why it stands out
- The episode centers on Deputy Chief Christian Garland, introduced earlier in the season as SVU’s new commanding officer; his wife, Lamai, and daughter, Abby, appear for the first time.
- Aunjanue Ellis plays Laura Chase, and Rick Fox plays Edgar Goodwin, a lawyer who meets Benson at the Garlands’ dinner.