Mercy (Season 4, Episode 14)
Premise: A murdered infant pulled from the Hudson leads to a privacy fight over student health records and then to a mother who ended her terminally ill baby’s life.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 4, Episode 14
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Det. John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), ADA Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March), Dr. George Huang (BD Wong), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie), Bureau Chief Elizabeth Donnelly (Judith Light)
- Guest stars
- Judd Hirsch as Dr. Judah Platner, Elizabeth Mitchell as Andrea Brown, Gregg Edelman as Daniel Brown, Heather Goldenhersh as Ellen Swanson, Ned Luke as Roger Swanson
- Director
- David Platt
- Writers
- Ruth Fletcher & Christos N. Gage
Summary
“Mercy” begins when two kayakers on the Hudson find a cooler holding the body of a baby girl about a month old. She was well cared for and breast-fed, and died of an overdose of a tricyclic antidepressant. Algae on the cooler and a sewage-plant disinfectant on the body point to a stretch of river near Riverbank State Park, and the bag around it comes from a nearby health-food store. Suspecting a student who hid a pregnancy, the detectives seek test records from Hudson University’s health service. Cabot worries about privacy, but her bureau chief, Elizabeth Donnelly, insists, and a judge orders the names released.
Eight women tested positive with no birth on record. Ellen Swanson denies ever being pregnant, but a search turns up a pregnancy guide and a missing dumbbell, and she admits her 15-year-old sister, Patty, used her ID. Found through her ex-boyfriend, Paul Howley, Patty says she had an abortion, which the clinic confirms. Her father, Roger Swanson, berates her in the squad room, and Stabler, aware of past domestic-violence calls to the family, warns him to keep his hands off them.
Warner then finds the baby had Tay-Sachs disease, which would have killed her in early childhood. A rabbi who runs a support group recalls a Manhattan mother referred by pediatrician Judah Platner. Platner says he cannot help, but he recently signed a death certificate for a month-old girl, Sarah Brown. At the home of her parents, Andrea and Daniel Brown, the detectives find an empty vial of imipramine prescribed by Platner, the drug that killed Sarah, and her coffin turns out to be empty. Andrea admits giving Sarah the drug and says Daniel had no part, and Platner says he helped only to spare the child.
At trial, Munch sits on the defense side, though he opposes euthanasia for children. Platner admits prescribing the pills, falsifying the certificate and arranging the empty burial, and Andrea describes feeding Sarah the crushed pills in a bottle and leaving her in the river near a picnic spot. When Platner seeks a plea, the detectives realize Daniel, a convert to Judaism, was unlikely to carry the gene. Facing a DNA order, he admits he is not Sarah’s father, and former co-worker Steven Kellerman testifies that he fathered her during a one-time affair.
Spoiler, the ending: In closing, Cabot argues that Andrea killed Sarah to keep the affair hidden, and the jury convicts her of second-degree murder. Afterward Cabot says Andrea did not deserve 25 years to life and that she won by painting her as an adulteress. Platner’s plea request is left unresolved on screen.
Why it stands out
- Judd Hirsch, Alex Rieger on Taxi and a two-time Emmy and Tony winner, plays Dr. Judah Platner.
- Elizabeth Mitchell, later Emmy-nominated as Juliet Burke on Lost, plays Andrea Brown.
- Viola Davis, later an Academy Award winner, is credited in her recurring role as Donna Emmett.