Zoonotic (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)

"Zoonotic" is a second season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Plot summary

In this episode, Detectives Goren and Eames investigate the murder of a corrupt policeman found trapped in a full-height subway turnstile and stabbed to death.

Goren and Eames initially discover the dead cop had been blackmailing female escorts who had become ill with infectious diseases. Investigating other female patients with infectious diseases, the detectives find a common link — the victims all dated a South African infectious disease specialist, Dr. Roger Stern. His former dates had all been infected with uncommon zoonotic viruses normally found in animals in Africa. It is not long before Goren find holes in his story, and refocuses the investigation towards the voyeuristic doctor (Goren notices the mirrored cabinets in Stern's office, which allow him to secretly watch his unsuspecting patients behind the examining curtains).

As the team begin to stitch together the pieces, they trace the suspect's association with an exhibitionist veterinarian, Dr. Scott Borman, who might have been involved in infecting the female dates with zoonotic viruses. When Goren look deeper into the case, he realizes there are unequivocal psychological components. Finally in the holding cell, Goren confronts both doctors by pitting them against each other.

During the confrontation, Goren reveals that Stern hated his mother, a refined, cultured woman who made him feel inferior. He now dates refined, cultured women and enjoys watching them be humiliated and degraded as Borman has his way with them. He subsequently gives his dates a gift of earrings secretly coated with a zoonotic virus that makes them sick and can eventually kill them. Borman trapped Stern's blackmailer, the corrupt cop, in the malfunctioning subway turnstile, then repeatedly stabbed him.

As this episode ends, two grams of anthrax bacterium go missing, which leads into the season finale, "A Person of Interest".

Cast

External links

• IMDb entry
• Official Website