If you’re trying to talk to someone, make sure you have the right phone number.
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Staff writer
Law and Order: SVU “Revenge”
Season 20, Episode 4
Airdate: 10/11/2018
There’s not much to say about this week’s SVU. “Revenge” was a well written, if somewhat dull episode. The episode focused entirely on the case and was comprised of what was mostly by-the-book, competent police work. This left no time for the squad’s personal drama, which is absolutely fine. It felt sort of like an episode of the show from early in its run, which was a welcoming feeling.
CASE DETAILS:
Before we talk about this case, I do think it’s important to define what an incel group is, as I was not familiar with the term before viewing this episode. Basically, the term “incel” means “involuntary celibate.” An incel is someone who is unable to have sexual relationships, despite having the desire to participate in them. They are also people who cannot build relationships with women and blame them for their own shortcomings.
In the opening to “Revenge,” a couple by the name of Rick and Ann are attempting to have relations at Rick’s apartment when there is a knock at the door. Rick opens up and finds a man wearing a motorcycle helmet and holding a pizza. Rick is pistol whipped and knocked unconscious, and Ann is sexually assaulted. Here’s the kicker: the attacker refers to Rick and Ann as “Chad” and “Stacey.”
When Benson and Fin arrive on the scene, they are informed of this oddity and deduce that the attacker hit the wrong apartment. Rollins and Carisi questioned the building’s doorman (who seems to be very irritated), and find that there is a Chad located in the building, but not a Stacey. While the guys check out pizza joints in the area looking for the perp (which is a dead end), Benson and Rollins pay Chad and his wife Brianna a visit. While both do not know the victims, Brianna seems very unsettled as Benson and Rollins continue to ask questions.
Brianna later shows up in the squad room and lets Benson know that she cheated on Chad the year prior with a man named Jake (who taught her spin class). She says he didn’t take it well when she broke off the affair, and she’s afraid he might have attempted revenge.
The detectives chase Jake down and take him into to custody, but he’s not their guy. As he’s being questioned, Benson is informed of another assault, one with the same modus operandi (M.O.).
This time the victims are Paolo and Beth, but during the assault, they were referred to by the names Chad and Stacey. As they are being questioned, the detectives get yet another call, with the exact same M.O., and another Chad and Stacey. Running those names through the various police databases gets them nowhere, but it’s Carisi’s trip to the “dark web” that really gets things rolling. A “Stacey” he finds out, is not a specific person, but is defined any woman that an incel wants but cannot get because of guys called “Chads.”
Through some solid police work, the detectives are led to their first legitimate suspect, a man named Riley Porter. He denies raping Beth, but after some prodding by Tutuola and Carisi, his true character begins to show. He says that there is no such thing as rape, and uses the Constitution (specifically the part that says all men are created equal and entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) to attempt to justify that view. It’s disgusting to hear, and it seems like the squad is on their way to getting their man. But there’s a twist coming: there’s another perp. Rollins informs Benson of another rape, but this time the perp shot the boyfriend.
The shooting victim, John, doesn’t make it. While he wasn’t called “Chad,” the perp was dressed extremely similar to the person who assaulted Ann. Slowly but surely, the squad pieces together the existence of the incel group; these individuals raped those who wronged them, but picked victims that they didn’t know personally in order to attempt to cover their tracks. While they have to let Riley go, but manage to get a warrant for his computer. Using this info, they trace a second offender down, a man named Chris.
Chris is nerdy and awkward, but he’s also a terrible person who doesn’t apologize for his actions. It’s only after Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone threatens to use Civil Asset Forfeiture (which would temporarily displace his mother from their home) that he gives them a third name: Tony Kelly.
Tony is taken into custody. The only hard evidence they have against him is his cell phone’s GPS putting him at the scene of John’s murder. There’s a problem with that though; under the recent Carpenter v. the United States Supreme Court ruling, that GPS can’t be used as evidence without requesting a search warrant. Despite being given that evidence by the cell phone company, it still cannot be used against Tony without an official warrant. A judge dismisses the case when it’s brought to trial, and Tony is released.
But the squad has one more card left to play. It turns out that Tony once pined after a woman named Carol, who was the girlfriend of John the murder victim. Carol ultimately rejected him, and thus he felt the need to get revenge when the opportunity arose. His mistake was committing the rape himself, unlike his other incel groupmates.
In the episode’s final act, Benson and Stone bring in Carol to confront Tony face to face. Angered by her past rejection and the fact that she never returned his calls, he confesses his crime and is promptly arrested. It’s only after the handcuffs are put on that Carol, clearly upset and emotional, makes a surprising confession: she never returned his calls because he was calling the wrong number.
JACOB’S FINAL VERDICTS:
- I have no idea how I even made the connection, but the incel group’s plan was similar in structure to the final mission of Grand Theft Auto V, if you picked the third option at the end. There were three people who committed the crimes, and each of the three picked victims that they had no relation to or any interaction with in order to cover their tracks, with the exception of one person.
- Benson has buffalo nuts, according to Tutuola during Riley’s interrogation. It’s said as a figure of speech to get him to talk, but I consider it canon. Benson finds it humorous, too.
- Either Riley’s character is a moron, or the writer’s room screwed up. The phrase “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” comes not from the Constitution, but the Declaration of Independence. Since no one mentioned anything about the error afterward, I’m assuming it was the latter.
- The scene with Dave “Do-What” Arnold was legitimately hilarious (admittedly it doesn’t take much to get a chuckle out of me) and I hope he comes back.
- I really want to see what else Carisi can find on the dark web.
