Play with Fire Part 1 (Season 24, Episode 19)
Premise: A woman’s burned body near a Washington Heights warehouse echoes a killing Brady never solved, and when the victim turns out to be an undercover detective Olivia Benson mentored, SVU joins the hunt.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 24, Episode 19
- Detectives
- Det. Vincent Riley (Reid Scott), Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Kate Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez), Det. Terry Bruno (Kevin Kane), Det. Violet Yee (Connie Shi)
- ADAs/DA
- DA Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn)
- Guest stars
- Marisela Zumbado as Ana Machado, Dani Montalvo as Det. Maria Recinos (“Sofia”), Reinaldo Faberlle as Lt. Paul Gomez, Travis West as Travis Mitchell, J. Anthony Pena as Miguel Pinto
- Director
- Jean de Segonzac
- Writers
- Rick Eid & Art Alamo
Summary
The Investigation
“Play with Fire Part 1” opens at Father Alberto’s shelter, where Ana Machado tells a friend called Sofia only that a man attacked her at a warehouse on 169th Street. ICE agents raid the shelter; as the women scatter, Sofia gives Ana a number to call if anything happens and heads for the warehouse. Hours later Ana phones Capt. Olivia Benson of SVU to report a body and hangs up. The charred victim goes to Homicide, and SVU’s Det. Kate Silva stays to work with Riley. Brady knows the block: two years earlier she caught the matching murder of Rosa Ortega, whose suspect, Carlos, fled to Mexico.
Rosa’s cousin Edgar reluctantly reveals that Carlos is back dealing drugs, and he is arrested at a bar, but video puts him in Guadalajara the day Rosa died and in Newark during the new killing. Brady tells Riley she was divorcing and drinking when she caught the first case. Yee spots the victim’s belt buckle on nearby video, Father Alberto identifies her as Sofia, and a restaurant worker recalls her arguing with a man: Lt. Paul Gomez, who reveals she was Det. Maria Recinos, undercover to catch a trafficker preying on undocumented women. Benson, who rescued Recinos as a child sold to a predator and was mentoring her, joins the case.
Silva and ADA Dominick Carisi Jr. trace a number from a missing woman’s belongings to an untraceable WhatsApp account. Baxter refuses Benson’s plea to pressure tech companies but suggests using the number, and Det. Terry Bruno, posing as a customer, follows coded texts into a building of locked rooms, each holding a woman. The raid that follows leads to a lookout across the street, where Travis Mitchell holds a woman at gunpoint before he is taken. He faces trafficking charges, but alibis clear him of both murders.
Video of a burner phone purchase identifies the caller as Ana, who had denied everything. After Benson asks Brady to step out, Ana tells her that Sofia went after the man who raped her, then slips away while the two commanders argue. Within hours Ana is found strangled, with semen on her clothes that matches Miguel Pinto, a sex offender out of prison three weeks. Brady halts Benson’s angry questioning of him, and after a deli owner places Pinto nearby, Brady urges Baxter to charge him with Ana’s murder.
Spoiler, the ending: Pinto’s alibi holds: video and photos show he was on Staten Island when Ana died. The investigators conclude that the real killer planted Pinto’s DNA to frame him, and the episode ends with the killer unidentified and no one tried; the story continues on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Why it stands out
- The episode begins a two-part crossover that concludes on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in “Play with Fire Part 2.”
- Mariska Hargitay’s Capt. Olivia Benson works the case alongside SVU’s Det. Kate Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez) and Det. Terry Bruno (Kevin Kane), and clashes with Brady over how to handle witnesses and suspects.