The Drowned and the Saved (Season 19, Episode 22)
Premise: The murder of a charity executive with a secret S&M habit leads to the governor’s wife and a scheme to swap a Senate appointment for a prestigious job, just as McCoy’s election nears.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 19, Episode 22
- Detectives
- Det. Cyrus Lupo (Jeremy Sisto), Det. Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson)
- ADAs/DA
- Exec. ADA Michael Cutter (Linus Roache), ADA Connie Rubirosa (Alana de la Garza), DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston)
- Guest stars
- Tom Everett Scott as Governor Donald Shalvoy, Alison Elliott as Rita Shalvoy, Luke Kirby as Bobby Amato, Susan Kelechi Watson as Thea Curry, Francie Swift as Caroline Reeves
- Ripped from the headlines
- The episode is inspired by the corruption charges against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was accused of trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.
- Director
- Fred Berner
- Writers
- Richard Sweren & Gina Gionfriddo
Summary
The Investigation
“The Drowned and the Saved” begins with the murder of Charles Whitley, a top executive at the Boland Initiative charity, found stabbed in the back in Inwood with ligature marks on his wrists and an Auschwitz-style number penned on his forearm. His standing car-service rides lead to Lorraine Flockhart, who poses as a nutritionist but runs an S&M dungeon where Whitley paid to play a prisoner. A video of a session has reached a newspaper, and his boss, Caroline Reeves, admits a copy was sent to her to force him out; he refused to quit and had turned down an early retirement offer.
Flockhart’s former employee Vera Laslen admits a man calling himself Phil paid her $10,000 to plant a camera. An ATM sighting leads to security consultant Bobby Amato, whose computer runs the camera, and he is arrested for extortion. His papers include a reference from Rita Shalvoy, the governor’s wife, who befriended Amato after a stalker killed his sister and fought for the anti-stalking statute named for her. Rita tells McCoy that Amato is devoted to a fault, but Whitley’s nosebleed at a dinner in the Shalvoys’ home suggests she pointed Amato toward his secret.
Reeves turns out to be involved with City Councilwoman Thea Curry, who has quietly toured a Washington school. The prosecutors see a trade: Governor Donald Shalvoy appoints Curry to New York’s open U.S. Senate seat, and Rita gets Whitley’s job.
The Trial
Offered manslaughter, Amato says Rita paid him with a diamond necklace to dig up dirt on Whitley and later asked him to remove the man. A private talk at a bail hearing draws no admission from Rita, who then tells McCoy, with the governor beside her, that Amato confessed to her, and Shalvoy hints he could help McCoy against Joe Chappell. McCoy convenes a grand jury, where Curry says she understood her appointment hinged on a job for the governor’s wife. After Shalvoy publicly names McCoy as his top Senate pick, the grand jurors make McCoy testify that he never sought the seat, then indict the governor under seal.
McCoy offers to drop the indictment if Shalvoy backs up Amato. Citing an exception to spousal privilege, the governor says he saw Rita take the necklace from their safe, and Rita lashes out at him over his affairs with prostitutes before her arrest.
Spoiler, the ending: Cutter then confronts Shalvoy with a claimed list of his recent meetings with prostitutes and demands his resignation. The governor resigns, crediting Deputy Attorney General Joe Chappell, and McCoy is unsure he approves of Cutter’s move. No trial for Rita or Amato is shown; the season ends with the prosecutors raising a toast hours before the polls open.
Why it stands out
- The season 19 finale concludes the storyline begun in the Season 18 episode “Excalibur,” in which Tom Everett Scott first appeared as Governor Donald Shalvoy.
- McCoy is called to testify before the grand jury he convened after the governor publicly floats him for the Senate seat.
- Cutter forces a sitting governor out of office by threatening to expose his visits to prostitutes, a move McCoy is not sure he approves of.