Responsible (Season 8, Episode 18)
Premise: A girl’s death at a teen drinking party leads detectives to a mother who supplies alcohol to her daughter’s friends and sleeps with one of them.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 8, Episode 18
- 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), Defense Attorney Trevor Langan (Peter Hermann), Judge Elizabeth Donnelly (Judith Light)
- Guest stars
- Laura Leighton as Lillian Rice, Sarah Drew as Becca Rice, Hunter Parrish as Jordan Owens, Leven Rambin as Reagan Michaels, Allison Siko as Kathleen Stabler
- Director
- Yelena Lanskaya & David Platt
- Writers
- Allison Intrieri
Summary
“Responsible” begins when Sheila and Kevin Banks come home from an anniversary trip to find a dead teenage girl in their bed and their chihuahua, Joey, locked in the basement. Warner finds no sign of rape: the girl had a blood alcohol level of .40 and choked on her own vomit, and someone had cleaned her up. The dog-walking job passed to high school student Becca Rice, who gave the keys to classmate Reagan Michaels so she, Luke Young and Matt Schroeffel (called Mark in the episode) could throw a party. Becca’s pupil, Jordan Owens, admits he was there, and the online guest list identifies the girl as Melanie Tamkin, an honor student from Greenwich, Connecticut.
Partygoers say Melanie passed out during a drinking bet and was put to bed, and no one called 911 for fear of trouble. Judge Elizabeth Donnelly rules the accounts hearsay, drops Novak’s negligent homicide charge and orders the hosts not to drink. Kathleen Stabler shows her father the teenagers’ web pages, which lead him to a party celebrating Jordan’s early admission to Princeton. Donnelly releases them again and reminds Stabler that he made Kathleen’s drunk-driving charge disappear. Hunting for Jordan, the detectives find him in bed with Becca’s mother, Lillian. Jordan, 17, says the affair began on his birthday, and Novak charges Lillian on the theory that Jordan was too drunk to consent. Facing jail over a prior arrest, Jordan admits that Lillian bought the alcohol for Melanie’s party.
That night Jordan, three times over the legal limit, is killed along with Reagan, who was sober, while driving her home. A classmate reveals that Becca keeps vodka in her drinks, and a breath test at home confirms it; Lillian is arrested for endangering a minor. In rehab, Becca says she began drinking at 12, her mother drank with her and handed out wine coolers to win her friends, and Lillian bought the alcohol for Melanie’s party. At trial, defense attorney Trevor Langan (called Langham) attacks Becca with her fake ID, a wine order on her mother’s card and past lies.
Spoiler, the ending: Warner testifies that scans show liver and brain damage from Becca’s drinking, and Lillian breaks down in court, admitting she got Becca drunk and supplied Jordan’s alcohol, including for the party where Melanie died. She receives five years, and Becca stays in rehab. Stabler then takes Kathleen to dinner, asks for her wallet and tells her she never faced the consequences of her drunk-driving arrest. A public service announcement on teenage drunk-driving deaths follows the episode.
Why it stands out
- Neal Baer has said the story drew on an article about research into alcohol’s effects on teenage brains.
- Stabler’s handling of Kathleen’s drunk-driving arrest in season 6’s “Blood” comes back to haunt him.
- Laura Leighton plays Lillian Rice, with Sarah Drew as Becca and Hunter Parrish as Jordan.