Facing Cassidy’s Demons on Law & Order: SVU

We knew the demon being faced in “Facing Demons” (2-21-19) is Brian Cassidy’s abuser because we found out about it in last year’s “Chasing Demons” (2-28-18) when Brian revealed as much to ADA Peter Stone. Good thing, too, because Stone saved him from making a big mistake in this episode. As for Olivia Benson, whoa! She might as well have been wearing a “Liv 💗 Brian” tee shirt.

SVU was called in on the apparent suicide by suffocation of Micah Fuller, a 20-something year old man who had some Polaroids of young boys in various states of undress laying around. The detectives thought he was a repentant pedophile. At the bookstore where he worked, they learned he conducted a reading group for 11-to-15 year old kids, no parents allowed. They got the names of the kids and called their parents in. None recognized their kid in the photos but Micah’s parents recognized Micah– they were taken in their home when he was a teen.

Further investigation revealed that Micah had recently broken up with a girl named Helen. She told Amanda Rollins that Micah confessed he had been molested after being unable to consummate their relationship. This led them to a 63-year-old man named Gary Dolan at The Gray Rabbit Magic Shop. As a boy, Micah had a keen interest in magic tricks and Dolan had been showing him how to perform them. One day, his friend Billy Ryan told the police, Micah threw all his magician’s stuff away, and presto! Suddenly he had no interest in this hobby he had loved so much.

Gary Dolan claimed he did not know Micah when Fin and Carisi showed him a photo. But seeing as how Dolan had polaroids of his customers on display and was telling two parents that he would show their boy “how to turn a dollar into a C note” if they brought him by, they knew they had their guy. Benson got some more info from the Fullers that enabled Stone to get a warrant and search Dolan’s apartment. Rollins saw some photos of Dolan as the coach of a youth league back in the ’80s and wondered how many young boys Dolan victimized then. Benson’s attention was drawn to one little boy’s face in particular. She just told Rollins that the boy looked like someone she used to know.

Benson hightailed it over to Brian Cassidy’s apartment. He said he was flattered that she recognized him in the picture but denied any knowledge of any wrongdoing by the coach. “I played for him for, I don’t know, one season? It was nothing.” The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Cassidy’s neighbor Madison, who strolled in without knocking and said she forgot the laundry key. Cassidy introduced Madison as his neighbor and Olivia as his friend. Benson was clearly discombobulated by the notion that Cassidy might have a girlfriend and made a hasty exit.

Cassidy’s neighbor, Madison, must be doing his laundry, too

Back at SVU, Benson discussed the case with Peter Stone and told him about Cassidy being in the Hudson Youth League when he was a kid. Stone was alarmed and asked her if she talked to Cassidy. She told him about that (not the Madison part) and as soon as he was sure she was out of earshot, Stone called Cassidy and left an urgent message on his voicemail. Later, Stone stood across the street from Dolan’s apartment and watched Dolan come home. Just as he suspected, Cassidy was right behind him. Stone wrestled with Cassidy who said “You don’t wanna mess with me right now.” Stone replied: “Really, well, I hope you’re ready to shoot me too ’cause that’s what it’s gonna take.” He managed to calm Cassidy down and they went to a nearby bar to talk.

Stone told Cassidy they could put Dolan away for good with his testimony and Cassidy lost it again. No way was he going to do that and he made Stone promise not to tell Benson: “She’s the only person who’s ever seen any good in me. And I can’t not have that. I need that.” He told Stone to find another way but later, Cassidy met up with Stone and told him that he went through social media pages and found a couple of guys from the Youth League who may have been targeted by Dolan. They went to Connecticut and Rhode Island to visit them.

They struck out with Rob Dennison in Connecticut. He was sarcastic about the whole thing and said they just assumed Dolan picked him because he was “the gay guy” but it was really because Cassidy remembered that Dolan bought Rob a Wilson A2000 mitt. (The inflation calculator says that would have cost about $100 in 1985.) They had better luck with Leo Berry in Rhode Island. Although initially reluctant, Leo decided that testifying was the right thing to do. Cassidy privately told Stone that he felt like a hypocrite asking these guys to testify when he wouldn’t do it but, he reasoned, they don’t live in New York City. They can testify and go back where no one knows their secrets.

When Stone brought Leo in to give a statement, he told Benson he found Leo by making a lot of phone calls. But Benson had already tried that route and was told there were no records of the team roster from back then. She put two and two together and knew that Cassidy led Stone to Leo. Benson went over and roughed Gary Dolan up. She brought up Cassidy and said he had a lot of balls to molest a cop’s son. She put him under arrest and said he would pay for what he did to Micah Fuller and Cassidy. “Oh, good luck making any of that stick,” Dolan sneered. Benson told him that she never gives up “especially when you hurt somebody that I care about.”

Her next stop was to confront Cassidy. He did not want to hear it and said he was not one of her survivors. “I care about you,” Benson said, “and I’m scared that if you don’t deal with this, Brian, that I’m gonna get a call one day that you’re the one who has a plastic bag over his head.” Cassidy said he was dealing with it his way and drove off.

At the station, Benson continued to be exceedingly upset and confided in Rollins. She could not believe that Cassidy told Stone about this and not her. “I lived with him, Amanda,” she moaned, “I considered having his children.” Rollins told her: “It’s not on you to take care of him.” Oh, but it is! As Cassidy said in “Chasing Demons”, she’s “The Olivia Benson.”

This is about you, confronting him. Facing your demons, Brian.

What followed was entirely predictable: Leo’s testimony was stricken because he admitted to drinking alcohol to calm his nerves. Cassidy was about to go on another rampage and Benson stepped in this time to talk him down, tenderly cradling his face in both of her hands and convincing him that it was time to forgive that little boy in the picture and face his demons. The show ended with Cassidy testifying and exchanging encouraging smiles with Benson. We didn’t get to see Dolan get convicted.

What we did see is that Peter Stone got a good look at how much Benson and Cassidy mean to each other. He was poised to step into the “masculine energy” role with Noah before this. So we could have a real love triangle here if the writers want to go that way. C’mon, writers, it would be fun!

Selected Cast of Facing Demons:
Mariska Hargitay – Olivia Benson
Dean Winters – Brian Cassidy
Kelli Giddish – Amanda Rollins
Ice-T – Odafin Tutuola
Peter Scanavino – Dominick Carisi Jr.
Philip Winchester – Peter Stone
William Sadler – Gary Dolan
PJ Marshall – Leo Berry
Jason Cottle – Rob Dennison
Justin Mark – Micah Fuller
Jonathan Walker – Nathan Fuller
Sayra Player – Amy Fuller
Lydia Grace Jordan – Helen Schiller
Jordon Bolden – Billy Ryan
Virginia Preston – Madison