Benson and Stabler look for a man who impersonated a cop on the phone and tricked a man into strip searching his employee. The trail leads to Merritt Rook (Robin Williams, in an Emmy-nominated performance), who squares off in court against Novak and wins an acquittal.

Rook becomes a folk hero, saying we’ve all become sheep to authority. He organizes a flash mob in Grand Central Station where he kidnaps Olivia. Elliot tracks Rook to a recording studio where he’s holding his partner. Stabler hears Benson’s shrieks of pain from electric shocks, but they’re only sound effects. As the detectives arrest him, this supervillain has one more trick up his sleeve: he activates an explosive that blows up the studio and gets away. Benson and Stabler chase him to the banks of the East River, but Rook vanishes, never to be seen again.

We’re talking about SVU’s 200th episode: season nine, episode 17, “Authority.” Our guest from our February 27, 2019 show is Michelle Rubenstein from the "It Takes Three podcast" network. This episode was inspired by a 2004 phone scam at a Kentucky McDonald’s.

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When the Bakers, a chastity-espousing reality TV family, come to New York to celebrate Lane's purity ceremony, they discover the 13-year-old is pregnant. After interrogating a cameraman, Fin and Carisi learn that accusations of inappropriate touching by the oldest son, Graham, were buried by the Bakers' powerful supporters. Before Benson and Dodds can question him, the family pastor says the boy has been sent to a camp in Ecuador. After binge-watching their show, Rollins suspects Graham fathered a child with a different sister. But the DNA points in a different direction. The pastor himself has been preying on the daughters and blaming the son.

We're talking about Special Victims Unit season 17 episode 7* "Patrimonial Burden." Our returning guest is Melody Carlisle from the "Heaving Bosoms" podcast.

This episode is inspired by the scandal around reality TV stars, the Duggar family.

*Note: Because of a two-part season opener, some streaming services list this as episode 6.

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As Detectives Briscoe and Curtis work a drug sting, Lt. John Flynn shoots the dealer. Lenny backs up his old friend's story that Ruben Morales went for his gun, but Rey is suspicious about Flynn's connection to the dealer. They learn Morales was going to testify against a kingpin who had Flynn on his payroll.

Prosecutors Jack McCoy and Jamie Ross want to charge Flynn with murder, but the dirty cop gets a deal in exchange for testifying before a police corruption commission. In front of the cameras, he accuses Briscoe of stealing drugs from the evidence locker. Lenny struggles to defend himself because the incident happened during his drinking days. The married woman he had an affair with comes forward to provide him with an alibi, but is humiliated by the commissioners. While wearing a wire, Briscoe gets Flynn to confirm his innocence. His perjury nullifies his deal, and before Lenny can take him in, Flynn shoots himself.

We're talking about Law & Order season 7 episode 5 "Corruption." Our special guest is author and NPR reporter Sonari Glinton.

This episode takes cues from the real life police scandal around drugs stolen from the famous "French Connection" operation.

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A jogger who died of a heart attack leads police to the unrelated murder of a woman who's been using the Social Security number of Marcella Celaya, who was killed ten years ago. Detectives Briscoe and Green learn that Rafael Berseño, the victim's husband, used to have the last name Celaya also. Before they question him further, they spot a jealous wife running over her husband with her car again and again. Then, Green discovers a note on a bathroom mirror from a pregnant woman saying she's been kidnapped. Meanwhile, they hear Rafael's brother Reynaldo just got out of prison for killing his wife Marcella, though her body was never found.

Reynaldo tells McCoy and Southerlyn he already served his sentence for killing Marcella, even though she wasn't dead, and they can't convict him twice for killing the same person. Still on the job, Briscoe and Green learn Rafael and Marcella set up Reynaldo so they could be together. When he got out of prison, he forced his brother to kill his (their) wife.

Briscoe gets a lead on the kidnapping. The mom-to-be was abducted by an infertile woman. They rescue her just as she goes into labor, forcing Lennie to deliver the baby himself. Before they can finally punch out for the night, Dr. Rogers calls to say that jogger didn't have a heart attack...he'd been poisoned!

We're talking about one crazy day for the detectives in Law & Order season 13 episode 23* "Couples." Our guest is Sarah Carradine from the Crime Seen podcast.

Among the many inspirations for this story include the case of Clara and David Lynn Harris.

*Note: Hulu incorrectly lists this as episode 24.

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After the body of a mummified child is discovered, Benson and Stabler run out of leads. At a vigil for "Cherish Doe," Fin meets Violet (Gloria Reuben). She's fresh from rehab and fears the unidentified girl is her missing daughter, Nina. The detectives learn the victim is a different girl, but both children were taken from their homes by a man posing as a social services worker. The trail leads to a handyman with an obsession for expensive dolls (David Harbour). In order to get him to say where the missing Nina is, Violet must convince him she's not a bad mother.

We're talking about Special Victims Unit season 4 episode 7 Dolls. Our returning guest is Lani Diane Rich.

Some plot points share similarities with the 1991 investigation into an unidentified child known only as “Baby Hope.”

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The squad investigates the murder of Bobbi O'Rourke, a book author who'd written about her life as a teen prostitute. Carisi finds out the victim was just posing as the writer for public appearances because no one has ever seen the real Bobbi. Fin traces the royalty payments to the home of Joe and Ben Edelman (Judd Hirsch and Wallace Shawn), two bickering, old Jewish men who have lived as hoarders and shut-ins for decades. Benson learns there is no Bobbi; Ben wrote the sexually-explicit book under the pseudonym. But before they let the brothers go, Carisi discovers their dead mother's body in a locked freezer.

ADA Peter Stone charges the Edelmans with murder. Based on the book, Olivia believes Ben might be a past sexual assault victim. Rollins learns Joe was also molested, but the brothers have never told each other about their trauma. At trial, Joe takes the blame for smothering their dying mother decades ago - then has a massive heart attack. Visiting his older brother's death bed, Ben finally shares his secret.

We're talking about Special Victims Unit season twenty episode ten "Alta Kockers." Our returning guest is Lauren Milberger.

Characters in this episode are inspired by Homer and Langley Collyer.

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Goren and Eames investigate the murder of an aspiring writer. Kira Danforth was surrounded by unsavory literary figures, including a lecherous book agent (Fisher Stevens), an author with a hardscrabble back story (Pablo Schreiber), and a publishing giant who hasn't had a bestseller in years (Peter Coyote). The detectives learn Kira discovered TJ Hawkins' gritty biography was a lie and that the washed-up Lionel Shill plagiarized her unpublished novel. Did one of the writers kill her to protect their secret?

We're talking about Criminal Intent season seven episode seven "Self-made." Our returning guest is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dr. Marcia Chatelain.

Among the literary scandals that inspired this episode is that of J.T. LeRoy.

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Benson and Stabler connect an assault on a child (played by a young Sabrina Carpenter) to the rape of Larissa, who'd been forced into child pornography decades ago. The rapist leads them to Orville Underwood, the man acquitted of making the explicit videos years earlier. He explains that his DNA was on photos found at the rapist's home because he decided to rub one out in the bathroom and it got everywhere.

Unable to make a case against Underwood, Olivia and Elliot look for Daniel, Larissa's scene partner. The detectives discover he's making his own child porn and refuses to testify against his old kidnapper. After Underwood gets the case thrown out of court, Larissa takes matters into her own hands.

We're talking about Special Victims Unit season 12 episode 12 "Possessed." Our returning guest is Lauren van der Meer from the "Drinks with Death" podcast.

Aspects of this episode take some inspiration from the case of Alex Cabarga.

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