Demons (Season 7, Episode 1)
Premise: A rapist freed after 21 years falls under suspicion when a teenager is attacked, and Stabler goes undercover as a fellow parolee to find out whether he has changed.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 7, Episode 1
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), Dr. George Huang (BD Wong)
- Guest stars
- Robert Patrick as Ray Schenkel, Robert Walden as William Dorsey, Joe Lisi as Parole Officer Craig Lennon, Jim Moody as Support Group Leader, Brittany Underwood as Kelly Brown
- Director
- David Platt
- Writers
- Amanda Green
Summary
“Demons” opens as Ray Schenkel leaves prison after 21 years for raping a teenage girl and is met by William Dorsey, the retired detective who arrested him and who vows to be waiting when he offends again. The same day a teenager, Kelly Brown (called Kelly Browning in the episode), is grabbed after getting off a bus at the Port Authority terminal and raped by a man who pulls her T-shirt over her head. Dorsey tells Stabler that in 1984 Schenkel and his cousin Carl hooded and raped eight girls, holding them in a van, though Schenkel was convicted of only one attack. Questioned at his halfway house, Schenkel says he spent the day sightseeing and insists prison changed him.
Cragen wants hard evidence and tells Stabler to leave Schenkel to the parole division. Instead, with the help of parole officer Craig Lennon, Stabler poses as a fellow parolee, Elliot “Mack” McEvoy, joining Schenkel’s treatment group for sex offenders and moving into the same halfway house. Cragen is angry that he acted without clearance and warns that he will be working with no gun or shield. Huang coaches him for a sexual-interest test that times how long he looks at each image, and Stabler stages a scuffle with Lennon to build his cover. Schenkel lends him money for a used van, which the squad fits with a GPS tracker, hidden cameras and microphones, and a concealed compartment holding a gun.
When the squad places a young-looking officer, Lucy, along the van’s route as a decoy, Schenkel notices her but tells Stabler to drive on, and Cragen considers ending the operation. After a group session in which the therapist presses “Mack” to open up, Schenkel takes the wheel. He has been drinking, has bought a gun and has a young woman bound in the back. He drives over the Williamsburg Bridge to an empty factory he says belonged to a dead uncle and tells Stabler to rape her first while he watches.
Spoiler, the ending: Pleading nerves, Stabler gets a moment alone with the woman, tells her he is a police officer and has her scream before running for the gate. She escapes, but Schenkel turns his gun on Stabler and the squad loses the van’s signal. When Stabler comes to, Schenkel tells him they are alike and accuses him of wanting another rape by supplying the van. As the squad closes in, Stabler reaches the hidden gun, and Schenkel dares him to shoot. Stabler then walks out, saying he is unhurt and Schenkel needs a doctor. The episode never settles whether Schenkel attacked Kelly.
Why it stands out
- The season premiere pairs Christopher Meloni with Terminator 2: Judgment Day star Robert Patrick; Meloni later said the two met on this episode and became good friends.
- Stabler spends most of the episode undercover as a paroled sex offender, without his gun or shield.