Video Killed the Radio Star (Season 23, Episode 14)
Premise: When a radio host is accused of raping a sponsor’s wife, Rollins goes undercover and uncovers his claim to a decade-old killing.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 23, Episode 14
- Starring
- Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Det. Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano), ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), Defense Attorney Trevor Langan (Peter Hermann)
- Guest stars
- Jake Weber as Bob Flynn, Laura Kai Chen as Ellen Kaplan, Jim True-Frost as Mitch Kaplan, Diane Farr as Lola Simenon, Sue Kim as Detective Emily Ling
- Director
- Alex Zakrzewski
- Writers
- Story: Warren Leight & Julie Martin & Kathy Dobie & Micharne Cloughley; Story & teleplay: Denis Hamill & Monet Hurst-Mendoza
Summary
“Video Killed the Radio Star” opens at a New York Adoption League gala where Trevor Langan gives the keynote with Benson as his date. Satellite radio host Bob Flynn, author of “Titan of Talk,” flirts with her and later corners Ellen Kaplan, whose husband, Mitch, sells sleep apnea products that Flynn has plugged on the air. The next morning Mitch brings Ellen to SVU to report that Flynn groped her, saying the host makes a habit of seducing his friends’ wives. Alone with Benson, Ellen says Flynn pinned her to a wall and raped her, but fearing he would ruin Mitch on the radio, she will not press charges or tell her husband.
With Carisi posing as her husband, Rollins goes undercover at Flynn’s SoHo book signing. In a private room Flynn turns aggressive and brags that he once shot a man twice in the chest on Amsterdam Avenue, and that the man’s widow made the conquest sweeter. Rollins improvises, claiming to be a private investigator hired by Mitch, and leaves when her pretend husband calls. Benson worries that Rollins is courting danger now that things with Carisi are going well, but lets her continue. Det. Emily Ling’s cold-case search turns up Kenneth Cross, Flynn’s former law partner, killed in 2010 in what was ruled a robbery. Flynn hires Rollins as a double agent against the Kaplans.
Fin and Velasco question Cross’s widow, Lola Simenon, who calls her ties to Flynn merely cordial and then phones him. Flynn plays Rollins the call and says that Lola and Ken ran a scam in which she seduced married men and Ken extorted them as the wronged husband. He now denies the killing but asks Rollins to get Lola out of his life for good. Carisi needs an overt act, so Rollins brings in a ride-share driver named Gaby, posing as a hit man, and Flynn pays half to have Lola dealt with. Shown the recording, Lola says Flynn came to her after Ken’s death, said their problem was solved and threatened her with his gun. She agrees to help, and when Flynn pays Gaby the rest, officers move in.
Spoiler, the ending: In interrogation, Flynn learns that “Amanda Jones” is Det. Amanda Rollins and cries entrapment. Flynn pleads not guilty to Ken’s murder and to murder for hire and posts a million-dollar bail, while Ellen prepares to tell Mitch the truth before going to the grand jury. On his show, Flynn attacks the Kaplans and mocks Rollins’s gambling and her children. Mitch walks into the studio with a gun and, as the squad sends patrol cars, shoots Flynn twice, once for himself and once for Ellen; the episode ends there.
Why it stands out
- The hour carries a tribute to the late Ned Eisenberg, who played defense attorney Roger Kressler on the series.
- Jake Weber guest stars as radio host Bob Flynn, and Peter Hermann’s Trevor Langan appears as Benson’s date at a charity gala rather than as opposing counsel.
- Rollins works undercover as “Amanda Jones,” posing first as a married fan and then as a private investigator.