Law and Order: Special Victims Unit has no shortage of dark and twisted episodes. After all, the show, which is going into its 27th season, follows detectives dealing with cases involving sex crimes. The crimes are horrific by nature, and it’s not a show for the faint of heart. Every episode and case that is dealt with is disturbing in its own right, but there are some that stand out more than others, and stick with fans long after the credits roll. There are heavy hitters like “Undercover,” in which Benson (Mariska Hargitay) goes undercover in a women’s correctional facility, and “Charisma,” in which a cult leader is discovered to have a 12-year-old pregnant wife, and perhaps the most memorable, as much as fans would like it not to be? The entire William Lewis (Pablo Schreiber) arc.
But an early disturbing episode for the series happened in Season 4 with the episode “Resilience.” The episode follows the case of a 15-year-old girl named Jackie Landricks (Rachael Bella) who attempts to take her own life, but the reasons behind the attempt turn out to be much more sinister than the detectives initially thought — and you’ll never see its twists coming.
What Happens in ‘Law & Order: SVU’s “Resilience”?
“Resilience” begins with 15-year-old Jackie nearly jumping off a subway platform in an attempt to take her own life, when she is stopped by a man in the subway. Benson and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) get involved and review the footage, discovering that Jackie was being followed before her attempt, and only ran off when she tried to jump. It is soon confirmed that Jackie was restrained and sexually assaulted. It is also noted by Dr. Warner (Tamara Tunie) that the marks on Jackie look vaguely similar to those of a Chelsea Doe, who was retrieved from the river with no head or fingers. She also reveals that Jackie was raped by more than one person, and that one of them takes medication for high cholesterol.
As is protocol, Stabler requests that each male member of Jackie’s family give a DNA sample. Her father, Tom (Bosch‘s Titus Welliver), has no problem with this and offers his DNA willingly, and he is proven not to be a match. But during a house visit later, Stabler meets Jackie’s younger sister, who informs him that a man named James Randall (Drew McVety) lives with them, and when Stabler does some snooping, he finds medication for high cholesterol, and also discovers that Randall’s room is right next to Jackie’s. The second DNA sample comes back positive for an ex-con who lives nearby. When both men are questioned, they insist they never touched Jackie — but they both admit to having had relations with her mother, Angie (Cynthia Ettinger).
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It’s soon revealed that Angie and Tom are unable to have any more children due to infertility, so Tom has started bringing in men off the street and using Jackie to have the babies for them, without her consent. It’s a horrific reveal, especially when Jackie describes the moment as her father chasing her down with a syringe and telling her she needs to “save the family.” It’s made all the more heartbreaking when Jackie reverts to a childlike state as a coping mechanism for the trauma, and confides in Stabler everything that has happened to her. And as if that wasn’t enough, Jackie is revealed to be pregnant, and she initially wants to keep it until the detectives prove that Tom was the one who killed Chelsea Doe and find her remains in the house. The episode keeps on pulling out sinister twists that you just can’t predict, and it’s shocking to watch unfold.
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Law & Order: SVU typically gives disturbing details and shows brutal crime scene photos, to the point where you sometimes just have to turn away. “Resilience” has a layered plot, with the episode beginning with a teenage girl nearly taking her own life, the reveal that she was sexually assaulted, and then finding out that it was all orchestrated by her own parents. But the moment that really sticks out as the most gut-wrenching and haunting is the aforementioned scene between Jackie and Stabler, when she reverts to a childlike state.
At first, she is innocently playing with toys, but then the mood shifts, and she starts talking suggestively to Stabler, and informs him that she knows how to “make him feel good” because she’s watched her mother. It’s a disgusting moment of realization of just how much this young girl has gone through, so it’s satisfying to watch as Stabler offers her genuine kindness with no strings attached. He’s not going to hurt her, but rather, he’s going to be the one to save her and her siblings. Yes, Jackie and her siblings are saved at the end of the episode, but their lives will forever be changed, and it makes the episode so bleak and twisted. There are a lot of SVU episodes that disturb, but “Resilience” is one that really settles into your bones and refuses to leave.
- Release Date
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September 20, 1999
- Network
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NBC
- Showrunner
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Robert Palm, David J. Burke, Neal Baer, Warren Leight, Rick Eid, Michael S. Chernuchin, David Graziano