Savant (Season 9, Episode 4)
Premise: The only witness to a brutal attack is a girl with Williams syndrome, and her father, the obvious suspect, is protected by the FBI.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 9, Episode 4
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Sgt. John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Chester Lake (Adam Beach), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), ADA Casey Novak (Diane Neal)
- Guest stars
- Aidan Quinn as Ben Nicholson, Paulina Gerzon as Katie Nicholson, Judy Kuhn as Corinne Nicholson, Josh Caras as Alex Parven, Vincent Spano as FBI Agent Dean Porter
- Director
- Kate Woods
- Writers
- Judith McCreary
Summary
“Savant” opens as Ben Nicholson pays a cab driver to circle his block and comes home to find his daughter, Katie, covered in blood in the street. His wife, Corinne Nicholson (called Karin in the episode), has been beaten nearly to death in her bedroom, and semen is found. Katie, who has Williams syndrome, says she hid under her bed when the yelling got too loud. Ben claims he was away on business and mentions tension over the couple’s wrongful-birth suit against an obstetrician, Dr. Gerald Morgan. Morgan’s DNA does not match, but Ben is in debt, holds a $500,000 policy on his wife, and airport cameras show he left the terminal three days earlier.
When Ben refuses to say where he was, the FBI orders the squad not to question him without clearance. Munch learns that Ben is a biochemical engineer who specializes in aerosols. Corinne, in a coma, has lost a three-month pregnancy Ben knew nothing about. Novak and the detectives question Katie at home over Ben’s objections, and Katie, who has acute hearing, recalls her parents’ fights and a man’s voice in the bedroom while her father was away. A federal prosecutor invokes the Patriot Act, a judge refuses to intervene without evidence, and the government admits Ben is bait in a sting aimed at buyers of trade secrets. Group member Tina Parven reveals that Corinne was having an affair and that Ben had secretly had a vasectomy. Corinne wakes with no memory of the past six months.
The DNA matches Tina’s husband, Joel Parven, who admits the affair but says Corinne was fine when he left. In a voice lineup Katie picks Joel as the man in the bedroom, then repeats the later argument word for word and says the attacker’s voice was different. When the Parvens’ older son, Alex, uses the same insult at home, Katie recognizes his voice, and he is arrested. Ben vanishes before Katie’s competency hearing, and the detectives find her hidden with Tina Parven. Katie is allowed to testify, and when the defense argues that she only says what adults want, Novak tests her by whispering questions. Katie answers them and adds that her father told her to keep quiet about money a Mr. Kim brought him.
Spoiler, the ending: Alex Parven takes a plea, so Katie will not have to testify at trial. Ben admits he took money for a prototype dispersion system that he says does not work, without telling the FBI, and must now cooperate to avoid prison. Planning to divorce Corinne, who remembers neither the affair nor the pregnancy, he pulls a protesting Katie away from her at the hospital while Corinne pleads to come home.
Why it stands out
- Paulina Gerzon plays Katie, a girl with Williams syndrome whose acute hearing cracks the case.
- Vincent Spano reprises his role as FBI Agent Dean Porter, and Aidan Quinn guest stars as Katie’s father, Ben Nicholson.