Terrorized Recap – Law & Order: SVU

Law & Order SVU kicked off its 18th season with an episode called “Terrorized” (9-21-2016) that involved a woman who had been terrorized into taking part in terrorist activities. It first came to the attention of Lt. Olivia Benson while she was out in Central Park with her little boy, Noah. Detective Carisi called up with a lost child situation right there. Benson went to take care of it and was confronted with a little boy who didn’t know a word of English and had a gun in a backpack!

Ahzy Robertson as Ali in “Terrorized”

The child was the nephew of Rahima Babic, the woman who died when she was hit by a bicycle in the opening scene. So Carisi and Amanda Rollins went to her apartment to find out more. They found out the boy’s mother was named Ana Kapic and were able to figure out where she worked all quick like because there were leftovers in the fridge from the Parthenon diner. Her boss says Ana was a 3-day no show for work but helpfully provides her address and phone number, only the address is fake and the phone is a burner.

Natia Dune as Ana Kapic

Meantime, they have lifted a partial print off the gun that little Ali was wielding and that leads them to Luka Terzik, a guy who bears a resemblance to the boy and could be his father. They don’t find anyone home at his place but Fin breaks down the door and they do find a virtual arsenal of weapons.

Tino Tsutras as Luka Terzik

They are able to track down an insurance agent named Armin Sidran who has been paying Luka’s rent. Armin says Luka is his half-brother and Anna is Luka’s fiancée and he doesn’t know where they are. Carisi demands that he call Luka up but Armin refuses. He wants to call his attorney instead. Carisi grabs the phone and calls Luka. Armin shouts something to warn Luka off. They take Armin away for who knows what– refusing to make a phone call?

Thom Bishops as Armin Sidran

So there we have the 3 main figures in the case at hand. Luka is an American citizen. Anna is a Bosnian national in the country legally. Not sure of Armin’s status, but none of them have records or are on any watchlist. One of them will soon be out of the picture.

A traffic cam picks up an image of Anna and Luka entering Central Park. The cops rush to the park while the armed duo saunter over to a performance event. An off duty police officer among the spectators notices that Luka is armed. Luka sees the officer looking at him and when the former goes for his gun, his police badge comes into view. Luka opens fire. He kills the officer and continues to shoot into the dispersing crowd as he grabs Ana and makes an escape. The SVU officers give pursuit up some stairs. When Luka shows his face, he is mowed down by a police sniper. They then find Ana who pleads with them not to shoot her and wants help. In addition to the dead police officer, four people were wounded and two are critical.

Benson is sent to get Ana to open up because she won’t talk and only wants to know where her son is. Through that process, Benson learns that Ana was not a willing participant in Luka’s plans and was herself a victim of Luka and Armin, who beat her and raped her. District Attorney Barba and Deputy Chief Dodds don’t care about that or even that she was not the shooter. She was armed at the scene and that makes her guilty of murder and attempted murder. Benson goes on a crusade to help Ana.

A rape kit corroborates Ana’s story, as do the results of Ali’s DNA tests that show Armin to be his father. Benson and Rollins confront him and he eventually admits that he had sex with Ana, but claims it was consensual. There is video proof of the rape but it is on a locked phone that the phone manufacturer won’t unlock despite a court order. A lengthy appeal process will have to be resolved before it can be obtained. So Ana is advised to take a deal and Ali is sent to live with her sister in Bosnia. As for Armin, he was hauled away by the Feds to a safe and secure hotel because of his connections with a controversial mosque.

On the personal side

On an emotional level, Deputy Chief Dodds blames Olivia Benson for the death of his son, Sgt. Mike Dodds (in the Season 17 finale). Benson blames herself as well. Although there is some friction between them, we think it will be cleared up.

Ed Tucker is no longer with Internal Affairs. He is now with the Conviction Integrity Unit, sort of like the Innocence Project. He and Olivia are getting closer. We don’t know about you, but Tucker looks more like Noah’s grandpa to us. Ah, well, someday Olivia Benson will realize that Brian Cassidy is her one true love.