Escape (Season 5, Episode 11)
Premise: Two inmates escape from a Virginia prison, and a convicted child rapist heads to New York to confront the boy whose testimony put him away.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 5, Episode 11
- 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 Casey Novak (Diane Neal), Dr. George Huang (BD Wong), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie)
- Guest stars
- Stephen Lang as Michael Baxter, Craig Bierko as Deputy Marshal Andy Eckerson, Milo Ventimiglia as Lee Healy, Fionnula Flanagan as Sheila Baxter, Nancy Allen as Carin Healy
- Director
- Jean de Segonzac
- Writers
- Barbie Kligman
Summary
“Escape” opens with two inmates overpowering a guard at a Virginia prison: Michael Baxter, serving time for raping a child, puts on the officer’s uniform and walks out with Dion Dwayne “Double-D” Gamble, a drug dealer doing life for murder. Deputy U.S. Marshal Andy Eckerson, a former NYPD officer who once dated Benson, asks SVU for help because Baxter may be heading for New York, home of his ex-girlfriend, Carin Healy. Ten years ago her older son, Lee, testified that Baxter raped him when he was 11; her younger son, Danny, is Baxter’s child and has been told his father is dead.
Dressed as a woman, Baxter grabs Lee in a parking garage, locks him in the trunk of Lee’s car and later phones Carin’s apartment, where Danny picks up. Gamble is caught at a hotel and says the guard was in on the plan, and $15,000 in money orders paid to the guard leads to Baxter’s mother, Sheila, who is dying of cancer. She insists her son is innocent, though his Innocence Project lawyer, Isaac Sage, tells her the conviction was sound, and Benson persuades her to say that Baxter has gone to Cape May.
Benson finds Lee alone in a motel room, but Baxter returns, takes her gun and holds them both. With New Jersey SWAT outside and Eckerson in charge, Benson keeps Baxter talking; Carin is put on the phone, and Baxter speaks to Danny for the first time while swearing he never touched Lee. Lee insists he did, and as Baxter grows agitated, Eckerson gives the order and a sniper’s bullet leaves Baxter critically wounded.
Benson keeps digging. The Virginia lab chief who handled Baxter’s DNA has been indicted for lying about his credentials, and a retest arranged through Warner shows the sample is not Baxter’s but shares a Y chromosome with Lee, pointing to a male relative on his father’s side. Carin’s nephew, Jeremy, was staying with the family back then. He refuses to give a sample, Eckerson roughs him up, and Novak warns that a warrant would invite a brutality complaint.
Spoiler, the ending: Benson bluffs, telling Lee the retest matched Jeremy, and Lee admits that his cousin got into his bed, that he blamed Baxter in a panic when his mother found the sheets, and that he felt Baxter was taking her away from him. Jeremy is arrested for obstruction and hindering prosecution. Virginia will let Sheila plead no contest and, if Baxter survives, will vacate his conviction and give him time served for the escape. Benson turns down Eckerson’s offer of a drink and tells Baxter in the hospital that he will be freed and that Carin is bringing Danny to meet him.
Why it stands out
- Craig Bierko guest-stars as Deputy U.S. Marshal Andy Eckerson, a former NYPD officer from Benson’s past.
- Stephen Lang plays the escaped convict Michael Baxter, with Milo Ventimiglia as Lee Healy, Michael K. Williams as Double-D Gamble and Fionnula Flanagan as Sheila Baxter.