Pop (5 Jan. 2011)

While investigating a boy's death, Stabler uncovers a teenage fighting ring, and tries to reach out to one of the fighters, who is being abused and forced to participate by his cruel stepfather.

Director:

Norberto Barba

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Jonathan Greene

Stars:

Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Meloni	...	Detective Elliot Stabler
Mariska Hargitay	...	Detective Olivia Benson
Richard Belzer	...	Sergeant John Munch (credit only)
Ice-T	...	Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola
BD Wong	...	Dr. George Huang (credit only)
Tamara Tunie	...	Dr. Melinda Warner
Dann Florek	...	Captain Donald Cragen
Drea de Matteo	...	Sandra Roberts
Melissa Sagemiller	...	A.D.A. Gillian Hardwicke
James Carpinello	...	Joe Gilbert
Adam Senn	...	Hank Roberts
Al Calderon	...	Nicky Roberts
Lori Prince	...	Mrs. Gilbert
Isabel Gillies	...	Kathy Stabler
Robert John Burke	...	Lt. Ed Tucker

Storyline

A young boy is found dead on a park carousel after being dropped off by his uncle Joe Gilbert. When Detectives Benson and Stabler learn that the boy was beaten to death they suspect that it could be the result of a bully at school. The investigation leads to an unsettling gambling ring. Detectives suspect that Gilbert's acquaintance, Joe Roberts is beating his wife Sandra and the case takes a horrifying turn.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 January 2011 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, Universal Media Studios (UMS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1 / (high definition)

User Reviews

Family battering

One of the more heartbreaking episodes on SVU was this one where the squad gets involved with the discovery of a dead middle school kid on an amusement park carousel. With Christopher Meloni taking the lead on this case, they uncover a teenage bare knuckle fight ring that some real extreme alpha dads are running. I use 'dad' in the loosest sense possible because the dead victim was being pimped out by his uncle and the kid who actually killed him was a punching bag for his stepdad who did legally adopt him.

It's the second one we're concerned with here. Mother and son played by Drea DeMatteo and Al Calderon are abused and battered by Adam Senn, but she has nowhere to go as if him paying the bills and putting food on the table gives Senn a right to beat up on them both.

After Senn is arrested and released on bail he winds up dead and Calderon is arrested for it. But who in fact did kill Senn, both mother and son could have done the deed and with the picture painted of Senn who could have blamed them.

Meloni doesn't in fact he gets Olympe Dukakis as a defense attorney for for Calderon. He's going to need one as prosecutor Melissa Sagemiller has an inexplicable desire to crucify this kid.

In the end Calderon has one, maybe two murders under his belt, yet he's the victim here. Weird, but true in a fascinating episode about family battering.