Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 4)

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The fourth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was originally aired between September 27, 2002 and May 16, 2003. It consists of 25 episodes in total. DVDs of the fourth season were released in box-sets on December 4, 2007 in region 1, September 10, 2007 in region 2 and November 21, 2007 in region 4.

B.D. Wong is added to the opening credits this season as Dr. George Huang.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Episodes

Ep. # Title Writer(s) Director Airdate Prod. code
1 "Chameleon" Tara Butters & Michele Fazekas Jean de Segonzac September 27, 2002 E3151
The detectives go on the trail of a recently paroled rapist responsible for the murder of a prostitute during a raid at a men's club and are called to the scene where he was shot in self defense by his own gun. However, the murder weapon was also used in another crime while he was still in prison, leading the detectives to investigate the victim through a trail of previously unsolved cases, a spending spree and another victim.

This episode bears some resemblance to the Aileen Wuornos case.
2 "Deception" Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters Constantine Makris October 4, 2002 E3105
A family portrait painted by a kindergartner leads the detectives to investigate her mother for child sexual abuse of her teenage stepson. When the boy's father is found murdered, the focus of the investigation shifts to the boy - and his stepmother goes to great lengths to protect him and prevent the detectives from learning the truth. The stepmother is played by actress, Sherilyn Fenn.
3 "Vulnerable" Lisa Marie Petersen & Dawn DeNoon Juan J. Campanella October 11, 2002 E3104
When an elderly woman breaks into an apartment, the detectives discover she had been mistreated but have to investigate with no credible information from the victim because of Alzheimer's disease. They discover that she had been released from a nursing home to the custody of her financially scheming son who becomes the prime suspect. However, they go back to the nursing home to find a pair of suspects, including the director who details the dangers faced by both patients and staff with her own heroics precariously standing out.
4 "Lust" Amanda Green Michael Fields October 18, 2002 E3102
The wife of a retired attorney, a public health doctor, is found murdered and raped in Central Park. Her work involved contacting sexual partners of HIV patients which gives the detectives a long list of suspects. The discovery of a second body in Central Park with the same signature shifts the focus to a serial killer; however, the trail leads to a man who has no knowledge of the crimes but has a distant connection to the doctor and her husband.
5 "Disappearing Acts" Judith McCreary Alex Zakrzewski October 25, 2002 E3101
The detectives respond to a brutal rape only to have the victim taken into custody by federal agents on racketeering charges. The investigation leads them to a father-son duo who are in the federal witness protection program and an agent who appears bound and determined to protect them, regardless of consequence, so they can testify against the Russian mob.
6 "Angels" Jonathan Greene & Robert F. Campbell Arthur W. Forney November 1, 2002 E3106
An unidentified boy is found unconscious (and later dead) in the luggage compartment of a motorcoach bus, and bruising is found all over his body. Benson and Stabler then go back to the crime scene and find a piece of another boy’s shirt caught in a hole in the fence by the buses' parking lot, as well as a teddy bear that the boy was holding (which has dried blood on it). The detectives watch the bus's security tapes from the previous night, where they see the victim walking with the boy whose shirt was torn.
7 "Dolls" Amanda Green Darnell Martin November 8, 2002 E3114
When the decomposing body of sexually molested five-year-old girl is discovered, Detectives Benson and Stabler's investigation leads them to the painful reality that they are searching for a serial pedophile as they race to save the life of his latest victim. As the mother of the missing girl frantically awaits news of her daughter's whereabouts, she must reconcile the fact that her own recent bout with addiction may have played a part in her daughter's fate.
8 "Waste" Dawn DeNoon & Lisa Marie Petersen Donna Deitch November 15, 2002 E3111
The investigation into the rape of a comatose woman leads to a doctor whose stem cell research is funded by a billionaire with Parkinson's disease who is desperate for a cure.
9 "Juvenile" Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters Constantine Makris November 22, 2002 E3112
A cancer patient who was growing marijuana in her apartment is found raped and murdered, sending the detectives on a hunt for two junior-high students, each blaming the other. The prosecution team is faced with the dilemma of trying the older boy as an adult, despite evidence that he was not mentally capable of being able to carry out the crimes.
10 "Resilience" Patrick Harbinson Joyce Chopra December 6, 2002 E3113
When a fifteen year old girl is saved from jumping in front of a train, SVU is called in to help her. She falsely accuses an ex-boyfriend of raping her, but when the search turns to her dysfunctional family, surprise discoveries are made. From an overly helpful father, mysterious children, an overaffectionate little girl, a bracelet, and finally sperm from two men who never raped, SVU discovers that the family is even worse off than they thought.
11 "Damaged" Barbie Kligman Juan J. Campanella January 10, 2003 E3109
When a six-year-old girl who was critically injured in an apparent robbery gone bad later dies and tests positive for a sexually transmitted disease, detectives investigate the family, the store clerk, and the son of a prominent attorney who had appeared to foil the crime. After evidence turns up that the little girl's older sister was dating the alleged sexual predator, ADA Cabot attempts to eradicate the deal that had been made with the older sister for her testimony.
12 "Risk" Robert F. Campbell & Jonathan Greene Juan J. Campanella January 17, 2003 E3115
Cocaine being smuggled in baby formulas leads detectives to a good cop gone bad. When they start to get closer to the truth they have to put Detective Elliot Stabler undercover.When things get really heated it ends up putting Stabler's life in danger and he ends up having to make a choice to either kill or be killed.
13 "Rotten" Judith McCreary Constantine Makris January 24, 2003 E3119
In their investigation of a prisoner's death, Benson and Tutuola learn that he was assaulted before being incarcerated.
14 "Mercy" Christos N. Gage & Ruth Fletcher David Platt January 31, 2003 E3118
When the body of a baby girl is found inside a cooler, the detectives need to investigate just who she is, and how she got there. They soon learn that the little girl had a genetic disorder known as Tay-Sachs disease, and that her name is Sarah Brown, and she is the only daughter of Andrea and Daniel Brown. When Andrea admits to having killed her daughter, Alex has to put aside her own feelings of sympathy to prosecute Andrea Brown for the murder of her daughter.
15 "Pandora" Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters Alex Zakrzewski February 7, 2003 E3120
Stabler hunts for a missing 14-year old girl who may have been abducted by a foreign child pornographer.
16 "Tortured" Lisa Marie Petersen & Dawn DeNoon Steve Shill February 14, 2003 E3121
A Tibetan woman who was tortured in her home country is found murdered, with her foot missing, and after an exhaustive search of potential suspects, the killer is a victim of torture himself.
17 "Privilege" Patrick Harbinson Jean de Segonzac February 21, 2003 E3122
Detectives Benson and Stabler are called to a crime scene – a young woman dressed in a maid's uniform has apparently committed suicide; however, because of the degree of sex-related bruising, they believe she might have been raped and murdered.
18 "Desperate" Amanda Green David Platt March 14, 2003 E3124
After a young boy witnesses the brutal sexual assault and murder of his stepmother, his father blocks the efforts of the detectives to question him.
19 "Appearances" Stephen Belber Alex Zakrzewski March 28, 2003 E3110
On a field trip, a student tells his teacher about a suit-case he found. The teacher immediately contacts NYPD to call the bomb squad out. The police find a body of a little girl inside the suit-case. The case is then handed over to Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson. They discover that the girl was on the beauty pageant circuit. One of the suspects tells the detectives how he came across a way to kill the girl. A pornography maker is put on trial for giving instructions on how to kill via a child porn story on his company's website.

This episode appears to come from the JonBenét Ramsey case, although in the fictional scenario, the parents were quickly cleared as suspects; the parents became the main suspects in real life.
20 "Dominance" Robert F. Campbell & Jonathan Greene Steve Shill April 4, 2003 E3123
A quadruple homicide with sexual overtones is just the start of an intense rampage of killings that brings a homicide detective into the mix. As the entire squad races against time to prevent further victims, the evidence leads Tutuola to a building superintendent, his two sons and a cross to bear.
21 "Fallacy" Barbie Kligman Juan J. Campanella April 18, 2003 E3117
Benson and Stabler try to prove self-defense when a rape victim kills her attacker. Events take an unusual turn when they find out that the victim is a pre-operative transsexual.
22 "Futility" Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters Alex Zakrzewski April 25, 2003 E3125
After arresting a man accused of raping several neighborhood women, Detectives Benson and Stabler attempt to obtain an indictment for their suspect with the help of a key eyewitness - his last victim. However, the suspect's decision to handle his own defense casts some doubt over the trial's outcome as he proves to be a formidable opponent for A.D.A. Cabot.
23 "Grief" Adisa Iwa Constantine Makris May 2, 2003 E3116
A dead girl is found outside a bar. The death, however, is ruled a suicide because the victim's boyfriend continually raped her but the victim's father snaps on the side and vows revenge against his daughter's rapist.
24 "Perfect" Jonathan Greene & Robert F. Campbell Rick Wallace May 9, 2003 E3126
A murdered 14-year-old girl leads the detectives to a prominent physician who specialises in reproductive therapy.
25 "Soulless" Dawn DeNoon & Lisa Marie Petersen Chad Lowe May 16, 2003 E3127
A rape victim, Chloe Dutton, is brought into the hospital one night with a bar stamp on her hand, and when Benson tries to interview her, she insists that she wasn't raped after all and that she was drunk; then she refuses to accept Benson's help. A short time later, the nurse announces that the rapist snatched Chloe from the hospital. The detectives locate the bar that the stamp is from, and they find that the ID that Chloe used to sign in belongs to Jenna Sterling.

[edit] See also

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[edit] External links

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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
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