Identity (Season 6, Episode 12)
Premise: A gang member’s fall from a roof leads detectives to teenage twins, and to a doctor who has spent years testing a theory on them.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 6, Episode 12
- 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), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie), Dr. Rebecca Hendrix (Mary Stuart Masterson)
- Guest stars
- Reiley McClendon as Logan Stanton and Lindsay Stanton, Peter Firth as Dr. Preston Blair, Hillary B. Smith as Mrs. Stanton, John Bolger as Mr. Stanton, Charlayne Woodard as Sister Peg
- Ripped from the headlines
- Drawn in part from the David Reimer case: a Canadian boy, badly injured when his infant circumcision went wrong, was raised female on medical advice, and psychologist John Money wrongly called the reassignment a success.
- Director
- Rick Wallace
- Writers
- Lisa Marie Petersen & Dawn DeNoon
Summary
“Identity” begins when a gang member, Luis Vega, falls from a Harlem rooftop onto a parked car with his pants down and deep bite marks on his penis. He belonged to the Stone Cold Assassins and had been accused of raping Claudia Hernandez, who dropped the charge out of fear. Girls tied to the gang say he preyed on Katie, a deaf homeless young woman who slept on that roof. With help from Sister Peg, who runs a shelter, the detectives find Katie, who denies being there. Her friend Betty’s bags of discarded mail expose a gang identity theft ring, which federal agents raid. That night a gang member gets into the shelter and kills Katie.
Warner finds that Katie’s teeth do not match the bite and that the attacker was male. Sister Peg identifies the killer, Hector Ramirez, who is arrested and says Katie kept making a sign that turns out to mean graffiti. On the roof is a fresh tag reading “SYK,” tied to a writing crew from an Upper East Side private school. It points to 14-year-old Logan Stanton, who denies everything and grows so frantic that Dr. Rebecca Hendrix objects to the questioning. His twin sister, Lindsay, says he was home, but his DNA matches the bite. When the detectives come for Logan, Lindsay attacks them, then insists she was the one on the roof, adding her own tag in hopes of joining the crew.
The twins’ therapist, Dr. Preston Blair, refuses to talk, and Hendrix finds their hospital files heavily redacted. A former nanny describes pills Lindsay’s mother makes her take. Birth records show the Stantons had identical boys: a circumcision accident badly injured one, and on Blair’s advice the child underwent surgery and was raised as a girl on estrogen, never told. Blair calls Lindsay proof that upbringing, not biology, decides gender identity. When Blair tries to keep the secret during Lindsay’s statement, Hendrix tells Lindsay the truth and, after Blair’s complaint, loses her hospital privileges and faces a licensing hearing. Lindsay stops taking estrogen and chooses to live as a boy, now going by Luke. Logan then reveals that Blair had the twins act out sex during sessions, and Blair is arrested.
Spoiler, the ending: Sister Peg receives crime victims’ funds to bury Katie and prepares to testify against Ramirez. Soon after making bail, Blair is beaten to death, and his killer leaves saliva on the body. A security camera shows only a hooded figure. The twins share a movie alibi, but an usher saw one of them leave, and with identical DNA and Luke’s estrogen now gone from his system, the detectives cannot tell which twin did it. The episode ends with the killing unsolved.
Why it stands out
- Reiley McClendon plays both twins, Logan and Lindsay Stanton.
- Peter Firth plays Dr. Preston Blair, whose theory that upbringing alone decides gender identity drives the case.