Called Home (Season 18, Episode 1)
Premise: Det. Cyrus Lupo returns from four years overseas when his brother dies of a lethal injection, and a second assisted suicide points to the daughter of a paroled right-to-die doctor.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 18, Episode 1
- Detectives
- Det. Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto), Det. Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Michael Cutter (Linus Roache), ADA Connie Rubirosa (Alana de la Garza), DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston)
- Guest stars
- Brad Dourif as Dr. David Lingard, Marin Ireland as Mila Hames Lingard, Michael McKean as Bill Nolan, Elizabeth Marvel as defense attorney Grubman, Guenia Lemos as Jenny Lupo
- Director
- Allen Coulter
- Writers
- René Balcer
Summary
The Investigation
“Called Home” opens as an assisted suicide case. Thomas Lupo, 36, dies in a hotel room after a dark-haired young woman is seen going in, and the medical examiner finds a fatal dose of potassium chloride. His brother, Det. Cyrus Lupo, flies back from four years with NYPD Intelligence abroad. Tom’s melanoma had spread to his lungs and liver and he had paid off his mortgage, so Van Buren classifies the death as a likely suicide and keeps Lupo off it.
When Larry Driscoll, who uses a wheelchair, dies the same way, Van Buren pairs Lupo with Green on the new case. Both men were given a timed drip of three drugs, the method of Dr. David Lingard, who went to prison for murder after confessing on a TV news program and was paroled a month ago. A diner worker connects Driscoll to hospice nurse Mila Hames, who proves to be Lingard’s daughter. She says TV journalist Bill Nolan, who is producing a special on her father, has video of both deaths.
On his tape, Driscoll credits a medical report from Nolan showing he had ALS, but the autopsy finds a milder spinal muscular atrophy he had long lived with. Rubirosa gives Mila immunity for her role in the suicides, Mila blames Nolan for the bad report, and Executive ADA Michael Cutter charges the journalist with second-degree manslaughter.
The Trial
Newly appointed DA Jack McCoy scolds Cutter for charging a reporter, but the judge refuses to dismiss after Cutter cites a precedent on reckless acts that lead to suicide. Nolan says his source, lab worker Rick O’Dell, came through Driscoll. Lupo learns O’Dell once used Mila as a rental reference, and Mila’s prison letters to Lingard show she had known Driscoll since summer camp and blamed Nolan for her father’s conviction. Cutter charges her with two murders, arguing that staging the deaths to frame Nolan falls outside her immunity, and Judge Agnes Reisman lets both stand.
At trial O’Dell admits Mila had him rig Driscoll’s test results. Tom’s widow, Jenny, refuses to testify and accuses Lupo of ignoring his dying brother. Cutter confronts Mila with petitions she signed calling potassium chloride agonizing in executions, the drug she assured both men was painless. Lingard then testifies that he built the devices himself, dodges every question, and collapses after announcing he has taken a large dose of beta-blockers.
Spoiler, the ending: Lingard dies, and the judge declares a mistrial. With her father having taken the blame in his last words, the prosecutors see little point in trying Mila again. A closing flashback shows Tom Lupo’s recorded goodbye, in which he says he hid his illness from his wife so she could not stop him.
Why it stands out
- Jeremy Sisto (Det. Cyrus Lupo) and Linus Roache (Executive ADA Michael Cutter) make their first appearances; Sisto had guest-starred as a defense attorney in the Season 17 finale.
- Jack McCoy opens the season as District Attorney, appointed to finish Arthur Branch’s term after Fred Thompson left the series to return to politics.
- A defense witness collapses on the stand after revealing he has overdosed, forcing a mistrial in the middle of testimony.