Lime Chaser (Season 24, Episode 17)
Premise: SVU uses Muncy’s brother to expose a family ring that drugs women in bars and delivers them to paying men in hotel rooms.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 24, Episode 17
- Starring
- Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano), Det. Grace Muncy (Molly Burnett), Det. Terry Bruno (Kevin Kane), Det. Tonie Churlish (Jasmine Batchelor)
- Guest stars
- Michael Trotter as Teddy Muncy, Maren Lord as Abby Clark, Dominique Worsley as Arlo Gregory, Shahan Koke Awan as Rav Patesh, Reza Nader as Sunil Patesh
- Director
- Juan J. Campanella
- Writers
- Story: Kathy Dobie & Nolan Dunbar; Written by: David Graziano & Julie Martin
Summary
“Lime Chaser” begins with Bruno dragging Officer Tonie Churlish, who does not drink, to a cop bar to make peace with Velasco and Muncy; Muncy’s younger brother, Teddy, joins them and hits it off with Churlish. At a brewery on Houston Street, Abby Clark and her ex-husband, Alec, throw a divorce shower, and two visitors from Canada ask a hotel server to find them a redhead. The next morning Benson makes Muncy and Churlish switch desks, and Velasco tells her Chilly may be living in the Northeast; she agrees to run the name and says she is proud of him. Abby tells Muncy and Velasco she downed a double tequila shot from the bartender, went to the restroom and blacked out, then woke in a hotel room with a Fifth Avenue view, where two middle-aged men raped her and someone put drops on her tongue. Tests show a strong hypnotic drug and semen from two men not in the DNA database.
Brewery video points to bartender Arlo Gregory, and Churlish finds a photo of him with Teddy. Benson gives Bruno and Churlish the lead and keeps Muncy, who raised Teddy after their mother died, at a distance. Teddy, who trains with Arlo at a jiu-jitsu gym, admits hearing talk about a drunken hookup and not reporting it. Abby picks out Arlo, and Churlish suggests using Teddy as an informant; Muncy vouches for him. Teddy orders a woman from Arlo for a friend’s bachelor party and sends a photo, which turns out to be Churlish, who arranged to be the bait through Instagram messages with Teddy without asking Benson. She says McGrath gave her 30 days to impress Benson.
With a warrant from Carisi to watch the brewery, Churlish orders a tequila shot and pours it out, but she is drugged anyway and driven off in a black sedan. Arlo is arrested, and a separate bag of limes turns up in his backpack. Rav Patesh delivers Churlish to the Times Square hotel room where Teddy poses as the buyer; Teddy turns down Rav’s request for a turn with her and records him. Churlish comes to and saves a urine sample for the lab before Benson arrives. Muncy and Bruno arrest Rav’s brother Sunil, the chemist; their sister, Asha, walked drugged women out of bars, and bartenders and bouncers who took the family’s orders agree to testify, opening more than a dozen cases.
Spoiler, the ending: Benson tells Churlish she was reckless, nearly derailed the case and must now win back her trust, and asks for teamwork rather than perfection. Interpol arrests the two Canadian men who raped Abby, and Churlish and Muncy head out together to give her the news.
Why it stands out
- Michael Trotter appears as Muncy’s brother, Teddy, who poses as a buyer in the sting.
- Churlish makes herself the bait in a sting without Benson’s approval, and Benson warns her to put teamwork ahead of perfection.
- The episode was directed by Juan J. Campanella.