LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT {LAW AND ORDER: SVU}: REPRESSION {THIRD SEASON PREMIERE} (TV)

Summary

One in this series of police dramas—a spin-off of "Law & Order"—about the sexual crimes investigated by the elite Special Victims Unit of the New York Police Department. In this episode, an 18-year-old woman named Meghan Ramsay reports that her father sexually abused her from the time she was in first grade until she was fourteen, and says that she recently saw him molesting her 7-year-old sister, Lily. The detectives investigate and interview the girl’s mother, who says that Meghan tells lies for attention and that her recent work with a therapist has only made her anger worse. When they talk to the therapist, Dr. Wharton, she says that Meghan denied the abuse for many years, but was able to uncover it through psychiatry and is on the way to recovery. They soon learn that the father was investigated for sexual abuse when Meghan was eleven after she went to the hospital with suspicious injuries, but the case was dropped. Olivia and Elliot interview Lily and the other sister, Jody; neither directly report any abuse, but Jody mentions some questionable behavior on her father’s part that seems to support Meghan’s story. Mrs. Ramsay tries to deny the allegations, but eventually accepts the truth when she talks with Meghan. Distraught, she gives the detectives permission to search their home, and they find child pornography under Lily’s mattress, as well as men’s underwear behind the bed. Mr. Ramsay arrives home from a business trip and is immediately taken to the precinct.

Under questioning, he strongly denies ever touching his daughters, and explains that he has other issues with Meghan that are causing her to lash out. Despite a lack of physical evidence, Alex agrees to try him, and he is officially arrested. At the hearing, he is barred from entering his home or seeing his family. Dr. Huang interviews Lily, as Meghan’s testimony is not enough on its own, but she does not confirm abuse, although Dr. Wharton speaks to the girl as well and agrees that she was molested. The detectives then learn that the pornographic photos were printed out when Mr. Ramsay was out of town. They question Meghan, who provides a flimsy alibi, and nothing suspicious turns up on Mr. Ramsay’s computers. It turns out that the photos were printed at Meghan’s university library, and she admits she planted the photos and the underwear so her father would not get away with his crimes again. This causes the case to be dismissed due to lack of evidence. Mr. Ramsey forgives his daughter, but his family shuns him again. Later, Elliot receives a phone call saying that Mr. Ramsey has been murdered in his office.

One of his officemates states that he had been arguing with his father-in-law recently about business issues and the rape charges, and they go to interview the man. He expresses clear hatred for his son-in-law, but denies killing him, and offers to show the detectives his gun collection to clear his name. However, it seems that his Derringer is missing, leading them to assume that he disposed of it after killing Mr. Ramsey. The gun is recovered and proved to be the murder weapon, but the prints on the shell casings do not match the father-in-law, and they turn their investigation to Mrs. Ramsey and her daughters. Jody confirms that she and Meghan went to see her father in his office the night he died, but does not clearly admit that Meghan killed him. Meghan, in turn, states that she does not know what happened as she sometimes suffers blackouts, pointing to the fact that she did not “remember” her childhood rapes until recently. They talk to Dr. Wharton again, who explains that she used sodium amytal, or a “truth serum,” to unlock Meghan’s repressed memories. Huang explains that the chemical works more as a drug for “the power of suggestion,” saying that the psychiatric society largely disregards its use because it is unreliable and often causes patients to believe false truths. When Meghan’s physical comes back and they learn that she is a virgin, they realize that Mr. Ramsey never raped his daughter at all and that Meghan believed a falsehood because of the doctor’s treatment.

However, they still have the murder case to deal with, and on the stand, Jody at first repeats her previous story, but then breaks down and admits that she accidentally shot her father. Alex is frustrated because Jody has immunity, but when they interview the girl further, she says that Meghan and Mr. Ramsey had an angry confrontation, and she was trying to protect her sister when the gun went off. Elliot and Olivia tell Mrs. Ramsey that Jody will not be prosecuted for his death, but she says that their family is still ruined all because of the doctor’s unethical treatment of Meghan. Alex and the detectives arrive at Dr. Wharton’s office to arrest her, citing reckless endangerment in Mr. Ramsey’s death and malpractice on Meghan’s part. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: NBC
• DATE: September 28, 2001 10:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:43:13
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:71781
• GENRE: Drama, police/detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective; Asian American Pacific Islanders Collection
• SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1999-
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Peter Jankowski … Executive Producer
• Neal Baer … Executive Producer
• Ted Kotcheff … Executive Producer
• Dick Wolf … Executive Producer, Created by
• Arthur W. Forney … Co-Executive Producer
• Judith McCreary … Co-Executive Producer
• Jeff Eckerle … Supervising Producer
• Roz Weinman … Producer
• Lisa Marie Petersen … Producer
• Dawn DeNoon … Producer
• Joe Lazarov … Producer
• David DeClerque … Producer
• Jonathan Greene … Co-Producer
• Robert F. Campbell … Co-Producer
• Lynn Goldman … Co-Producer
• Jonathan C. Brody … Associate Producer
• Eric Overmyer … Consulting Producer
• Henry J. Bronchtein … Director
• Marilyn Osborn … Writer
• Mike Post … Music by
• Christopher Meloni … Cast, Detective Elliot Stabler
• Mariska Hargitay … Cast, Detective Olivia Benson
• Richard Belzer … Cast, Detective John Munch
• Stephanie March … Cast, A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot
• Ice-T … Cast, Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola
• Dann Florek … Cast, Captain Donald Cragen
• Amy Irving … Cast, Rebecca Ramsey
• Brian Kerwin … Cast, Evan Ramsey
• Shirley Knight … Cast, Dr. Wharton
• Kelly Hutchinson … Cast, Meghan Ramsey
• Blythe Auffarth … Cast, Jody Ramsey
• Tamara Tunie … Cast, Dr. Melinda Warner
• Jose Zuniga … Cast, Computer Forensics Technician
• Joanna Merlin … Cast, Judge Lena Petrovsky
• Sarah Hyland … Cast, Lily Ramsey
• Tom O'Rourke … Cast, Judge Mark Seligman
• Ron Leibman … Cast, Stan Villani
• B.D. Wong … Cast, Dr. George Huang
• George Hearn … Cast, Charles Southerland
• Jim Frangione … Cast, Richard Weiss
• Steven Mark Friedman … Cast, Attorney Wilmington
• Lou Carbonneau … Cast, CSU Tech
• Opal Alladin … Cast, Marina
• Tom Verri … Cast, Uniform Policeman
• Cheryl Alexander … Cast