Turn Me on Take Me Private (Season 22, Episode 5)
Premise: A webcam performer is sexually assaulted during a live role-play by a fan who believes they are in love, and he acts as his own lawyer at trial.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 22, Episode 5
- Starring
- Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Katriona “Kat” Tamin (Jamie Gray Hyder), ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), Judge D. Serani (Michael Mastro), Judge Felicia Catano (Aida Turturro)
- Guest stars
- Eva Noblezada as Zoe Carrera, Alex Brightman as Gabe Miller, Tony Torn as Larry Hughes, John Waters as Floyd Cougat, Emilio Delgado as Aaron Carrera
- Director
- Juan Campanella
- Writers
- Story: Brendan Feeney & Denis Hamill & Melody Cooper; Teleplay: Julie Martin & Warren Leight; Story & teleplay: Victoria Pollack & Monet Hurst-Mendoza
Summary
“Turn Me on Take Me Private” opens with Zoe Carrera, a webcam performer known online as Kendra Dream, promising her paying viewers a role-play that night in which she plays a helpless victim. Between shows she visits her father, Aaron, who has dementia and lives in a care home. That night, as she performs, a masked man climbs in through her window and sexually assaults her on camera. A regular viewer, Larry Hughes, brings his recording of it to SVU. Benson and Carisi get her identity from Cougat, owner of the camming site, and Benson and Kat find Zoe, who says she was assaulted and feared police would laugh at her.
In a private session, her devoted subscriber Gabe Miller, known as ShyGabe, admits it was him, and the squad arrests him at home, where they find a collection of photos of Zoe. Gabe insists they are in love and that she wanted it. Zoe realizes that Gabe recommended her father’s care home. Carisi warns that her advertised rape fantasy will confuse a jury, and Zoe dreads testifying in public, so he offers a plea to aggravated sexual abuse. At the plea hearing Gabe backs out, fires his lawyer and represents himself, with the judge keeping his lawyer on as co-counsel.
Under the state’s new discovery rules, Gabe tours Zoe’s apartment with her present, and Kat clashes with Carisi over his handling of the case. At trial Gabe asks Larry whether he masturbated while watching, and Cougat testifies that Gabe watched only Zoe and asked the site for her address. When Gabe visits Zoe’s father in breach of his protection order, Benson and Kat arrest him. Cross-examining Zoe, he plays recordings of her telling him she loved him and faking an orgasm, and she leaves the stand in a panic. Other subscribers say they feel loved by her; one says she says whatever she is paid to say. Recalling Zoe, Gabe demands that she read aloud a message saying she loves him most, and he is dragged out shouting as she declares that she is Zoe and that he raped her.
Spoiler, the ending: Gabe pleads guilty to attempted rape and will serve seven years. Zoe’s voicemail says she is going off the grid. Kat tells Carisi he did not protect Zoe, and Benson sends her home for a few days.
Why it stands out
- Broadway actors Alex Brightman and Eva Noblezada play Gabe and Zoe; showrunner Warren Leight was casting stage actors while Broadway was shut down by the pandemic.
- Filmmaker John Waters appears as Cougat, owner of the camming site.