King of the Moon (Season 24, Episode 15)
Premise: A neurologist with dementia confesses to raping and killing his wife of 40 years, but Carisi and Benson set out to prove he did not do it.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 24, Episode 15
- Starring
- Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano), ADA Dominick “Sonny” Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino), Det. Tonie Churlish (Jasmine Batchelor)
- Guest stars
- Bradley Whitford as Pence Humphreys, Nancy Travis as Winifred “Winnie” Olsen, Julia Ryan as Virginia Wise, Eric Munro Schwan as Kevin Wise
- Director
- Mariska Hargitay
- Writers
- Story: Kathy Dobie & Nolan Dunbar; Written by: David Graziano & Julie Martin
Summary
“King of the Moon” opens decades earlier at a spelling bee, where young Winnie misspells a word on purpose so that Pence Humphreys, a boy with a stutter, can win; she has read his story about a boy who lives alone on the moon. Married 40 years, the couple share a book-filled apartment, and Pence, a famous neurologist and author, is losing his memory. One night Pence asks Winnie if she is cheating; later he tells police he had sex with her and killed her. Carisi brings Benson the case before Homicide closes it. In a recorded confession, Pence, whose latest book is about dementia, says he raped and smothered his wife, yet there was no forced entry, nothing was taken and no DNA was found.
With his lawyer present, Pence tells Benson and Carisi the couple had a pact to die together and he failed to shoot himself, but no shotgun turns up. In the apartment they find his breathing machine’s log: he was awake under two minutes, an hour before the time of death. Told he could not have done it, Pence breaks down, then cuts his wrists, though not deeply. In the hospital he forgets that Winnie is dead and flirts with Benson. His caregiver, Virginia Wise, says only she and Winnie had keys. Lobby video shows a food delivery man going in, and Pence recognizes Virginia’s nephew Kevin, who once tracked wet snow into the apartment. A checkbook from the couple’s account is found under Kevin’s bed, but in a lineup Pence picks the wrong man on purpose, saying he would rather go to prison, where he will soon forget why he is there.
Meanwhile Benson lets Fin and Officer Tonie Churlish, who recorded Velasco’s story, dig into it, keeping Muncy out. Velasco first says he made it up and is sent for a drug test. He then admits that at 15, in Juárez, he and a friend called Chilly were recruited into a camp that trained cartel hitmen; on their final test near Fort Worth in 2003 he froze when the target’s son appeared, and Chilly killed both. He refuses to name Chilly.
Spoiler, the ending: Facing an obstruction charge, Virginia tells the DA she never gave Kevin the jewelry found at his girlfriend’s apartment. Kevin admits stealing her key, pushing Winnie down when she woke and smothering her with a pillow, and, pressed by Benson, having sex with her before she died. Carisi charges rape and first-degree murder. Benson tells Velasco his drug test was clean and that, to set things right with her, he must find Chilly and bring him to justice. Alone at home, Pence reads his childhood story aloud and says goodnight to Winnie.
Why it stands out
- Mariska Hargitay directed the episode.
- Pence tells Benson she has a face like Jayne Mansfield, Mariska Hargitay’s mother.
- The episode carries an on-screen dedication to Richard Belzer, who played Munch and died shortly before it aired.