Counselor, It's Chinatown (Season 21, Episode 7)
Premise: A raid on a Chinatown massage parlor uncovers trafficked women working off smuggling debts, and the squad follows the money from the parlor’s manager to its powerful owners.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 21, Episode 7
- Starring
- Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Katriona “Kat” Tamin (Jamie Gray Hyder), ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), Bureau Chief Vanessa Hadid (Zuleikha Robinson)
- Guest stars
- Margaret Cho as Evelyn Lee, Shuya Chang as Mei Mei Li, Christine Chang as Lily Song, Karen Tsen Lee as Christine Chang, Nelson Lee as Sgt. Joe Chin
- Director
- Leslie Hope
- Writers
- Story: Julie Martin & Warren Leight; Teleplay: Kathy Dobie & Lisa Takeuchi Cullen
Summary
“Counselor, It’s Chinatown” opens as SVU joins Sgt. Joe Chin of the Human Trafficking Task Force in an operation against the Sweet Joy Relax Spa on Eldridge Street. Its undocumented women work off smuggling debts through sex work under the manager, Evelyn Lee, and their minder, Charlie. The plan is to flip clients and managers and follow the money to the owners, offering the women help rather than arrest. During the raid Mei Mei Li climbs out a sixth-floor window and is pulled back inside. Mei Mei and Lily Song tell Rollins and Kat that Evelyn keeps all their earnings; Mei Mei’s brother, Henry, a student in San Francisco, thinks she teaches Chinese.
Hidden cameras in the smoke detectors of all nine rooms feed to Evelyn’s nail salon across the street, and one recording shows a man raping Mei Mei. The women say he is a Sunday regular who never pays because of his connections, so the squad lets the spa reopen and arrests him there. Theo Pappas says he gets in free through a friend who rents out the space. Mei Mei backs out, but Lily comes to the courthouse to testify. After a message arrives on her phone, she goes to the restroom and dies in a fall, and Kat blames herself. Mei Mei recognizes Lily’s mother in a threatening photo the detectives show her. Charlie, who loved Lily and planned to run away with her, texts the friend’s pager, and the cash pickup leads to Rick Olin, whose father, Avi, leases buildings to the spas.
In exchange for leniency for Rick, Avi names the owners: Arthur and Christine Chang, a prominent Park Avenue couple. Bureau Chief Vanessa Hadid wants harder proof, so Evelyn is pressed with the threat of exposure to her daughter’s new university, and she names Lester Ping, whose travel agency handles the payments. A raid there turns up detailed ledgers. The Changs are arrested at a public event, and with Ping cooperating, Christine recalls her own hard start in America, says she lost her way and agrees to plead guilty to sex trafficking, extortion and money laundering, with her husband spared.
Spoiler, the ending: At her plea, a federal prosecutor from the Southern District takes Christine into federal custody with the DA’s consent, and the state case is suspended; the squad suspects a deal involving intelligence on China. Theo pleads guilty, while Rick’s lawyers are still negotiating. Under her deal, Christine covers what the women owe the smugglers, so Mei Mei is free of her debt. On a video call, Henry invites her to live with him in San Francisco. She thanks Carisi, who she says has saved her twice.
Why it stands out
- Margaret Cho guest-stars as Evelyn Lee, the massage parlor’s manager.
- Sonia Manzano appears as arraignment judge Gloria Pepitone.