Heart of Darkness (Season 16, Episode 13)
Premise: A freelance journalist with a severe mood disorder is found drowned in a hotel bathtub beside a forged suicide note, and his girlfriend’s claim that she simply helped him die begins to crack when a video shows a third person in the room.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 16, Episode 13
- Detectives
- Det. Joe Fontana (Dennis Farina), Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), ADA Alexandra Borgia (Annie Parisse), DA Arthur Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson)
- Guest stars
- Jessalyn Gilsig as Angela Burquette, Corey Stoll as Gerald Ruane, John Rubinstein as Mr. Thurber, Jenny Sterlin as Mrs. Ruane, Phil Burke as Tadhg Ruane
- Director
- Richard Dobbs
- Writers
- Carter Harris
Summary
The Investigation
“Heart of Darkness” begins with an apparent suicide: journalist Tadhg Ruane is found dead in a bathtub at the Athena Hotel, beside a note that quotes Keats and misspells his own name. He had alcohol and alprazolam in his system, but he drowned, and bruises on his shoulders suggest he was held under. His old editor says he was fired after missed deadlines and an incident with a woman at the office, though he was still pursuing an exposé on gun trafficking.
The story leads to Alfred Biso, a dealer who reported most of a 500-gun shipment stolen. Biso says Tadhg wanted to buy a gun because he feared someone was after him, and neighbors back his alibi. The note’s handwriting matches love letters from Angela Burquette, Tadhg’s girlfriend of two years, who says he had dysphoric mania. His psychiatrist says Angela talked him off his medication after he confessed to fathering a son with Sarah Ridell, and that Angela then warned Sarah off.
A call to Angela from a tavern near Tadhg’s apartment and a limousine ride to a pharmacy where she is a regular tie them together that night, and she has been filling alprazolam prescriptions. Pressed, Angela says Tadhg wanted to die and that she helped him.
The Trial
McCoy charges her with second-degree murder, and her lawyer, Thurber, turns over a video in which Tadhg says he is tired of living. McCoy argues that his illness left him unable to choose death. On cross, the M.E. concedes the pills alone would have killed him and that the bruises could possibly have come after death, and Borgia doubts a jury will convict.
A shadow in the video’s mirror then reveals a third person in the room. Under cross-examination, Angela names Tadhg’s older brother, Gerald, saying she left the bathroom and heard splashing, and she agrees to plead to manslaughter and testify. A parking ticket near the hotel breaks Gerald’s alibi, and his plan to move to Arizona with their mother had been wrecked by Tadhg’s gambling debts. Gerald testifies that he eased his brother under gently, but McCoy confronts him with years of trouble Tadhg caused him.
Spoiler, the ending: Gerald later asks to speak with the prosecutors and admits that at the final moment Tadhg wanted to breathe. He accepts a manslaughter plea with 15 years and asks for leniency for Angela, whose sentence is then cut to three years.
Why it stands out
- The case turns on whether a man with a treatable mental illness can validly choose an assisted suicide.
- A video meant to show that the death was voluntary instead exposes a hidden participant through a shadow in the bathroom mirror.
- Jessalyn Gilsig and Corey Stoll guest star as the victim’s girlfriend and older brother.