Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Wrath (2001)

Mariska Hargitay: Detective Olivia Benson

Quotes 

• Olivia Benson : We blame all kinds of people for creating monsters. Why not ourselves?

• [a murderer is stalking Olivia] 

  Elliot Stabler : I didn't tell you about the detail because I knew you'd refuse.

  Olivia Benson : Only the rat-squad puts cops on other cops, Elliot, without telling them. I deserve better than that. Especially from you.

  Elliot Stabler : [pauses]  You've been under a lot of stress lately...

  Olivia Benson : I've always backed your play.

  Elliot Stabler : And I did what I had to do. The guy's murdered four people, what's to stop him from coming after you, Olivia?

  Olivia Benson : If you can't trust your partner, Elliot, it's time to get a new one.

• Dr. George Huang : Three victims. Different race. Different gender. Different age. This is about revenge. The real target is Detective Benson.

  Olivia Benson : It's personal.

  Dr. George Huang : You've enraged someone so much, they want you twisting.

  Donald Cragen : Why the body farm? Why transport three victims ninety miles outside the city?

  Dr. George Huang : He wanted them found and studied. He dumped them in a research facility that's federally funded.

  Olivia Benson : Guaranteeing national attention. But how did the suspect find them? How did he get into my files? How did he even know that they're my cases?

  Donald Cragen : Tina Cordell case had a lot of national press coverage, right? High school kid raped, strangled with her purse strap by her boyfriend Victor Klaussen.

  Elliot Stabler : Latching onto a news story doesn't explain the other two victims, though.

  John Munch : The foster mother said that you supervised meetings between Clayton and his father. Why?

  Olivia Benson : Because the man is a drunk. I thought if I stuck around that he'd get some help. I know what it's like to live through that.

  Elliot Stabler : You maintained a personal relationship with Carmella Barrantes.

  Olivia Benson : Well, she needed help. My day doesn't end when we catch a perp or get a conviction.

  Dr. George Huang : No one's blaming you, Detective.

  Olivia Benson : Well, you think that I led him to these people? That... that I have a stalker?

  Dr. George Huang : If that's how he chose them, he wasn't stalking you. There was no sexual fixation. It was reconnaissance.

  Olivia Benson : Well, let's look into my files and see who has a grudge.

• Olivia Benson : I'm fine.

  Elliot Stabler : I'm not. Some lowlife's out to get you.

  Olivia Benson : Look, if he wanted to take me out, he would have tried it already.

  Elliot Stabler : Oh, now you can read minds and you got eyes in back of your head.

• Olivia Benson : You worried about something?

  Donald Cragen : Your safety.

  Olivia Benson : No protective detail. Trust me, I'm not trying to be a hero. Just that a protective detail is exactly what this guy expects.

  Donald Cragen : And what happens when this hump comes after you next?

  Olivia Benson : He wants me twisting, not dead. He wants me thinking about him, obsessing as much as he is.

  Elliot Stabler : You can't be sure of that.

  Olivia Benson : Yes, I can, 'cause it's working.

• Dr. George Huang : Hey. I was just trying to get in our man's head.

  Olivia Benson : He hates me, so he kills people that I tried to help.

  Dr. George Huang : How's that make you feel?

  Olivia Benson : How would you feel?

  Dr. George Huang : Relax, I'm not trying to shrink you.

  Olivia Benson : Yes, you are. Every statement's interpretive. Trying to make something out of nothing.

  Dr. George Huang : It's my job. I used to interview some of the most dangerous psychopaths. It's all I did.

  Olivia Benson : Profiling serial killers, it sounds like a lot of fun.

  Dr. George Huang : It's why I joined the FBI. They had access to all the disorders that I wanted to study. Until I got complacent.

  Olivia Benson : Were you attacked?

  Dr. George Huang : I was interviewing a psychopath and I missed him calculate how much time there was to kill me before the guards hit the door. It was a... it was a close call.

  Olivia Benson : He got into your head.

  Dr. George Huang : The way this perp is in yours. Instead of attacking you directly, he's hurting the people around you. It's psychological warfare.

  Olivia Benson : [looking at crime scene photos]  He's been planning this for a while.

  Dr. George Huang : He posed the bodies comforting each other. Potassium chloride is a painless death. He's freeing them.

  Olivia Benson : From what?

  Dr. George Huang : From the miserable existence that you left them in. He felt like they were suffering, and so... he euthanized them. He identifies with them. He sees himself as your victim, too.

• [last lines, after Olivia's killed someone] 

  Olivia Benson : I gotta give my statement.

  Elliot Stabler : I'll take it...

  Olivia Benson : YOU leave me alone.

• Olivia Benson : These are our three victims. Our first victim was Peter Cordell. I met Peter in 1993 when his daughter, Tina Cordell, was raped and murdered. I kept him updated on the case. I drove him to court every day, and I held his hand when our perp, Victor Klaussen, was acquitted.

  John Munch : What went wrong with the case?

  Olivia Benson : A series of lab mix-ups contaminated the evidence.

  Elliot Stabler : Pioneer days of DNA. There was nothing you could do about it.

  Donald Cragen : What's the background on the Hispanic female?

  Olivia Benson : Victim number two is Carmella Barrantes. She was raped and beaten three years ago by a gangbanger who's now serving eight to twelve in Sing Sing.

  Elliot Stabler : I guess we can cross him off our suspect list.

  Odafin Tutuola : Why? This might be a revenge killing by the gangbanger's crew.

  Elliot Stabler : But there's no gang affiliation between the other two victims.

  Donald Cragen : Are we sure about that? What about the ten year old?

  Odafin Tutuola : Gangs are recruiting younger and younger these days.

  Olivia Benson : Victim number three is Clayton Derricks, who was physically abused by his father, Bruce Derricks. When Clayton was placed in a group home, he was sodomized by an older boy and then he was placed in foster care, and I cannot tell you what it took to get this boy to trust me.

• Olivia Benson : Those checks should go to our lab. I don't want the feds processing our evidence, doling out information whenever they feel like it.

  Elliot Stabler : Well, their lab is better equipped. It's faster, and if there are any problems, then it's on them.

  Olivia Benson : Wasn't your name stenciled on that door, so whose ass are you really covering?

  Elliot Stabler : Okay, the way I see it, the only "us and them" is cops and criminals. We are on the same team.

  Olivia Benson : Yeah, we are 'tilll the press shows up.

• Eric Plummer : How does it feel, Detective Benson, to have your credibility shattered and your life in ruins?

  Olivia Benson : It sucks.

  Eric Plummer : I was innocent.

  Olivia Benson : Yes, you were. But then you killed four innocent people.

  Eric Plummer : Three innocent people. One child abuser. I thought cops cared about the facts.

  Olivia Benson : Why did you choose them?

  Eric Plummer : They were suffering and they needed their misery to end. Who was going to help them, you?

  Olivia Benson : I'm sorry for what happened to you. I really am. I can't turn back the clock. But I can testify for you on your behalf and I can admit in open court that I am responsible for you.

  Eric Plummer : There's not going to be a trial. Not this time.

  Olivia Benson : Let her go and let's just talk about it.

  Eric Plummer : There's nothing to discuss.

• Olivia Benson : Hey, Victor, how you doing?

  Victor Klaussen : I'm working.

  Olivia Benson : Well, you need to account for your movements for the last couple of days.

  Victor Klaussen : I don't have to talk to you. A jury found me not guilty, remember?

  Elliot Stabler : Okay. We'll talk to his wife. I'm sure she'll tell us what we need to know.

  Victor Klaussen : Why can't you just leave me alone?

  Olivia Benson : Like you left Tina Cordell alone? You raped her, then you strangled her.

  Victor Klaussen : You know, you can't harass me. Not you, and not her old man.

  Olivia Benson : Her old man's dead, Victor.

  Victor Klaussen : Good. I can get on with my life now. Why don't you?

  Elliot Stabler : Well, we'd like to, except he was murdered. That makes you prime suspect number one.

  Victor Klaussen : You know, you can't pin that on me. All right? The guy was unhinged. I even had to get a restraining order, but you cops, you never enforced it.

  Olivia Benson : Well, that's 'cause we figured a murdering rapist like you can handle yourself.

  Victor Klaussen : You know, Tina had a smart mouth, too. It got her in a lot of trouble.

  Olivia Benson : That sounded like a threat.

  Elliot Stabler : Yeah, it did. Maybe we should arrest him, ruin his day.

  Victor Klaussen : Arrest me for what?

  Elliot Stabler : [grabbing Klaussen and throwing him up against his van]  How about obstruction, resisting? It's a long way to the station house. I'll think of a thousand things by the time we get there.

  Olivia Benson : We'll let you stew in the can for a few days. Maybe even leak that you're a pedophile. I bet after your arraignment, you'll tell us anything we want to know.

• Junior : Oh, I remember Detective Benson. How are you?

  Olivia Benson : Curious about some of your activities, Junior.

  Junior : Sorry, gave up my life of crime long ago. What's your beef?

  Olivia Benson : Well, you were pretty vocal about getting even when I collared you for carjacking and rape.

  Junior : I was hopped up on crack. I don't blame you for anything, Detective. At least not anymore.

  Elliot Stabler : You used to run these streets. Your crew still run drugs up to Canada?

  Junior : All my friends are either dead or in jail, so why the trip down memory lane?

  Elliot Stabler : Because we're out of time. We need some answers, Junior. Someone's got my partner in their sights.

  Junior : They must not be very good since she's still breathing.

  Olivia Benson : You were never very subtle, were you?

• Olivia Benson : We've gotten warrants based on less, why are you stonewalling?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : This is different and you know it. Once a judge hears the suspect's history, he's gonna bend over backwards for the guy.

  Olivia Benson : I saw him, Alex. Plummer is stalking me.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : How did he know where you were when he was in the interview room being questioned?

  Olivia Benson : He must've overheard.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Okay, how many businesses are in the area near Chauncey's?

  Olivia Benson : I don't know, several. Why? Where are you going with this?

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : Any decent defense attorney is going to say that Mr. Plummer was in the area running errands, that it was just a coincidence.

  Olivia Benson : He has killed four people and we're doing *nothing*.

  ADA Alexandra Cabot : How many drinks did you have? Olivia, the system made a mistake before, now everything we do is under a microscope.

  Olivia Benson : [pause]  I wasn't drunk.