Law & Order SVU: Rhodium Nights

As Michael Corleone once said: “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.”

We haven’t been watching Law & Order SVU because we were bored to tears with their plot recycling. Well, tonight, it came on after “The Voice,” and nobody changed the channel, so we watched it, more or less, not even realizing, until the very end, it was the finale of Season 13.

 
“Rhodium Nights” began at a bachelor party with a lot of half-naked girls. A couple decide to take their party a little more private into a bedroom where they find a girl dead as a doornail in the bed they were just planning to use. Clayton Hannigan is some kind of guy that doesn’t want any scandal so when the SVU detectives show up, they find the body in the swimming pool. Dr. Warner of course finds out that drugs, not drowning, was the cause of death but that still does not mean it was murder. High profile people at this party included professional athletes, prominent businessmen, secret service agents and the party was being thrown for none other than Will Brady, the police commissioner’s son. But no one knows anything.

Things start getting really strange pretty quickly. Nick Amaro has some kind of problem going on with his wife, who says that sooner or later they will have to talk about it. Fin talks to Amaro about strip clubs, and Amaro says he’s been in them on assignment but they always make him uncomfortable. It was weird how Fin made fun of him. But weirder still when Carissa, the escort came in for questioning and hit on Amaro and he didn’t leave immediately. Cragen had to pull him out of the room and he claimed to be just listening to a suspect talking. But Cragen wasn’t quite buying it and neither were we.

Carissa’s information leads Detective Rollins and Amaro to a big party and who should be there but Detective Brian Cassidy, who is now the bodyguard of escort provider, Bart Ganzel. The party is at Ganzel’s home. Cassidy punches Amaro and Amaro not only returns the favor, he arrests Cassidy. Back in interrogation, Benson fills Amaro in on who Cassidy is — her ex-lover! LOL. Just kidding about her telling Amaro but she did sleep with Detective Cassidy back in the day when he was Munch’s partner, then gave him the big brush off.

After more twists and turns than Minos’ labyrinth, the trail leads to Delia Wilson, another escort provider and Bart Ganzel’s main competition but Delia claims to be just a big-hearted gal who feeds baby goats and runs a match-making service as a hobby. She’s heard of Bart Ganzel but doesn’t know him. Everyone starts telling everyone else to back off the case after this. Cragen gets some photos slipped under his door from when he was undercover and he is schmoozing an escort. He fears they will be used against him in some yet unrevealed manner. Then an ex-governor turns up dead. He was with one of Delia’s escorts when he kicked the bucket and the drugs Dr. Warner finds in his system are the same ones she found in the first body.

More investigation gives them enough cause to arrest Delia and later when Amaro is leaving the station, who should show up but Carissa claiming she thinks she’s next. When Amaro tries to take her into the station house, she refuses to go and he stupidly gives her his card. Delia’s lawyer puts up her bail of $2 million and warns everybody to back off, saying that they don’t know what they’ve gotten into. Delia has the goods on everyone. He tells Amaro that if he thinks he’s got problems with his wife now, just wait and see what happens. Well, if it gets worse for Amaro, he’ll have no one to blame but himself, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to involve Carissa anymore.

In the shocking conclusion, Cragen wakes up in the middle of the night with blood all over his hands and a liquor bottle on the table. Carissa is in his bed with her throat slit. It’s like that scene from the Godfather where the congressman woke up with the dead girl in her bed only no Tom Hagen is going to show up to rescue Cragen. The coming attractions show Cragen in jail.

Next week, the new season picks up the story in a two hour premiere on Wednesday, September 26th.

Don’t kill Brian Cassidy!