LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Vet Neal Baer Looks Back on Season 12: ‘Wet,’ ‘Branded,’ ‘Trophy,’ ‘Penetration,’ ‘Gray,’ and ‘Rescue’

September 17, 2024 by Marisa Roffman

Credit: NBC

[To read part 1 of the LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT season 12 retrospective with former showrunner Neal Baer, please click here.]

With LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT now moved into its new New York City soundstages after the filming of “Merchandise,” the series now had its next big task ahead: Introduce a new ADA. Following the exit of Diane Neal’s Casey Novak in season 9, the squad (and the series) had dealt with a handful of temporary ADAs, and the hope was finding someone to stick around. But, naturally, things took another turn.

Here, Neal Baer—who recently released a book, THE PROMISE AND PERIL OF CRISPR, and is also teaching Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health at the Harvard Medical School graduate program—breaks down the next arc of LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNTIL season 12, as the characters juggled a handful of ADAs, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) encountered a life-changing case, Stabler’s (Christopher Meloni) family proved key to solving a college rape, and more. (And check back tomorrow for more episodes.)

Christopher Meloni and Paula Patton in “Wet.” (Photo credit: NBC.)

“Wet” (Written by: Speed Weed; Directed by: Jonathan Kaplan): A woman was found dead after an inexplicable bout of public indecency, and the detectives realized she worked for a soft drink company that was trying to privatize water—a potential motive to her death.

Baer, who is also a doctor, frequently infused the show with timely topics from his own research. (The series also had a full-time researcher.) “I am on the faculty of Yale School of Public Health [and] I teach a course called ‘Soda Politics’—I wonder where that episode came from?” Baer says with a laugh. “I love when Ice T[‘s Fin] says something to the effect of, ‘You know, if they care about everybody so much, why do they have to plaster their names everywhere?’…It’s about what sodas can do to people. And so they let me do that.”

Guest star Rosemary Harris, who plays the rich grandmother of the murderer, was a long-time dream co-star for the show, too. “We always wanted to have Rosemary Harris on, and then we did,” he says. “Little did I know that I would be doing A GIFTED MAN with her daughter [Jennifer Ehle].”

The hour also introduced—and quickly said farewell to—new ADA Mikka Von (Paula Patton). Benson and Stabler were initially wary of the new character (whose name is an anagram for Kim Novak, one of Baer’s favorite actresses) given how fast the unit went through ADAs, but Mikka took a big swing to buy them more time to make their case. Unfortunately for Von, it led to her being sent home.

Off-screen, “we liked her a lot,” Baer recalls. But Patton booked a lead role in MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL and Baer allowed her to break her contract with the show.

“I think [we found out about the movie] while we were shooting the episode,” Baer says. “It was like, [we’ll] let her go do this, it’s a big future—she’s only done one episode. And then Melissa Sagemiller came on.”

Melissa Sagemiller and Mariska Hargitay in “Branded.” (Photo credit: NBC)

“Branded” (Written by: Chris Brancato; Directed by: Peter Leto): Sagemiller’s Gillian Hardwicke was introduced in the very next episode. (Like Mikka Von, Casey Novak, and Kim Greylek before her, Hardwicke’s name was inspired by Kim Novak: Gillian for the real-life Novak’s character’s first name in BELL BOOK AND CANDLE and Hardwicke for her character’s last name THE NOTORIOUS LANDLADY.)

The new ADA was dropped into a complex case: Men were inexplicably branded by an intruder, but denied a tie to each other. Benson and Stabler caught their attacker, Camille (Bess Rous), who had been gang-raped—and left pregnant—by the trio when she was younger.

“Bess was amazing,” Baer gushes.

Though Benson and Hardwicke initially butted heads—as Bess stood trial for her present-day attack on the men—Hardwicke helped derail the case, a bit, as she helped Benson (and Bess’ defense) find Bess’ daughter…who was proof of the attack and led to a confession about what the men did to her.

“I thought it would be helpful to have them connect,” Baer says. “You always want that—there’s always natural antipathy between [the cops and the ADAs] sometimes, because they’re not taking the [same approach to the] case.”

Mariska Hargitay, Maria Bello, and R. Lee Ermey in “Trophy.” (Photo credit: NBC.)

“Trophy” (Written by: Ken Storer; Directed by: Donna Deitch): Baer called on Maria Bello—whom he worked with on ER—to play Vivian, the daughter of a now-incapacitated rape survivor…and also, unknowingly, the product of the attack.

“I’m very close with Maria and she’s such a great actor,” Baer says. “Maria and Mariska became very, very close friends on ER. I always wanted Maria to come on because she’s such a fierce actor.”

Benson—also a product of rape—bonded with Vivian, even briefly thinking the duo might be half-sisters. (They weren’t.) But Vivian had her own demons, struggling to take care of her ill mother, as well as her son, Calvin (Charlie Tahan), and the discovery of her mother’s decades-old attack and its relevance to her paternity shocked her.

Vivian accidentally met her biological father while at the precinct (where he had been questioned by the cops), and, to her horror, realized who he was. “That scene between her and R. Lee Ermey, the late R. Lee Ermey from FULL METAL JACKET, we’re like, ‘Whoa,’” Baer recalls. “We knew that we’re going to get something. I always loved the intensity that we could get on the show—sometimes quiet intensity like at the end of ‘Locum.’ Sometimes Mariska with Henry Ian Cusick, that kind of [intensity] to really stir things up.”

“I thought, we’ve got these two actors, and I know what Maria can do, and I saw, certainly FULL METAL JACKET…[it could be] crazy town,” he continues. “And it was great, amazing. And Donna Deitch directed it. That was great.”

Ultimately, Vivian spiraled and left Calvin at the precinct—with custody assigned to Benson. After years of contemplating parenthood (and getting rejected in her attempt to adopt), Benson found herself a de facto mother.

In planning for the arc, “we wanted [a child] who was older because we didn’t want to deal with a young actor—there’s so many issues about time and set and teaching,” Baer shares. “[And story-wise] it felt interesting, as opposed to having a little kid.”

Marcia Gay Harden in “Penetration.” (Photo credit: Screengrab/NBC.)

“Penetration” (Written by: Christine M. Torres & Dawn DeNoon; Directed by: Peter Leto): Marcia Gay Harden’s FBI Agent Dana Lewis returned for the first time since season 8, in a very different capacity: Rather than encounter the detectives while undercover (as a white supremacist, in season 7’s “Raw”) or as the bridge to Benson’s eventual FBI undercover work (in season 8’s “Informed”), she sought out Benson to help her solve her own rape. (The one consistent factor? Stabler once again got injured while in her vicinity, this time by an accidental bullet ricochet.)

Dana going to Benson, at home, also allowed a little glimpse into the detective’s new life with Calvin. “We didn’t want it to be so crazy that it would take the show in another direction, that she’d have to be dealing with the kid so much,” Baer says of seeing the duo settled into their new arrangement. “And it was [also] to give Mariska what she wanted, too, which we were always open to.”

As Benson and Stabler worked Dana’s rape case, the motives behind the attack were unclear until her rapist mentioned “Star”…and Benson realized he meant the name, AKA Dana’s alias while undercover in “Raw.”

Tying the attack to the old case came later in the development process for the script, Baer notes: “We didn’t know, but we loved her so much…she’s so tough. It’s interesting, it’s like, oh, let’s find out a little more about her.”

Though the hour does briefly recap Dana’s history with the assault mastermind, Baer says they were also “trusting the audience” would understand and follow the story. And, he points out, “back then I was doing those bubble tweets to remind people.”

(“Raw” also had another longer-reaching tie to the series: John Rubinstein, whose Judge Schuyler was fatally shot in the hour, is the real-life father of Michael Weston, who played Olivia’s half-brother, Simon.)

Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Christine Lahti, and Ice T in “Gray.” (Photo credit: NBC.)

“Gray” (Written by: George Huang; Directed by: Helen Shaver): Though the series had previously tackled rape on college campuses, the showrunner points to this season 12 hour—that put the topic center stage—as an underappreciated installment of the series.

“It was a really interesting show because I could not get publicity for it,” he says. “I talk about this a lot—you needed an accrual of shows and stories about this, and then suddenly it seems like it’s everywhere. And [it was] the case with rape in the military, which we did with Brooke Adams[‘ season 10 episode, ‘PTSD’] a few years before, and now this episode with Kate [Nelligan] and Christine [Lahti].”

“And it wasn’t until Kirby Dick did his documentary, THE HUNTING GROUND—and then also the one that he did on rape in the military,” he continues. “So what was interesting to me is that he’s got all this attention—but we did it before. I don’t know what the tipping point is, and what publicity has to do with it, but you can’t necessarily expect when you do these shows you want to have an impact—and I did. You don’t know for sure what will happen [outside of your control].”

“Behave,” he points out, resonated and had a strong impact in part because of how proactive the team was “which was great.” “But the rape on college campuses was really an important episode that didn’t get the attention for whatever reason,” he says. “But, ultimately, it’s not really about can one show change the world. Then suddenly you get this documentary that’s at Sundance, and it gets attention, and it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s out of nowhere.’ But no, that’s not true…it’s part of what starts when somebody sees it and says, ‘Oh, I want to do that too, and I want to explore that.’ So how do you track that? I’m not sure…So that’s an important episode, as well, in terms of policy.”

Personally, he delighted in bringing back a few favorites: “I really think Kate Nelligan is so brilliant, we have to have her on,” he says of her Trial Judge Sylvia Quinn, who was first introduced in season 11. “And then Christine is brilliant, let’s have her on.”

The return of Lahti’s Sonya Paxton came a season after the ADA’s alcohol addiction led to her derailing a case—and letting a murderer walk free. In season 12, she was sober…but still butting heads with Stabler. Making things extra complex? Stabler’s daughter, Kathleen (Allison Siko) helped with key evidence—through her own methods, which was technically legal, but put her future at risk. Stabler struggled with how to protect his daughter, who was still vulnerable after her mental health crisis a few years earlier, while also making sure he was able to put a rapist away.

Baer, who also teaches writers and producers how to write character-rich procedurals, points to another Meloni-centric episode as a template for how the show balanced the personal with the cases.

“I showed [the season 7 hour] ‘Ripped’ to the class—that was Chris’ Emmy nomination,” he says. “And the writers and producers were crying when they saw it, and they were like, ‘This is so interesting. You did all this procedural, and then you did a whole act in one room.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s the whole point. We switch it up. You don’t know.’”

“Chris is so good at this,” he continues. “And the end [of ‘Ripped’] is so heartwarming, [despite the heartbreak]: The bad stuff is over. And that’s reflected in Chris’ face at the end.”

“Rescue.” (Photo credit: Screengrab/NBC.)

“Rescue” (Written by: Daniel Truly; Directed by: Peter Leto & Constantine Makris): With Calvin solidly bonded to Olivia—even going so far as to put his name as Calvin Benson on a piece of artwork—the newfound family unit blew up when Vivian collided with an unrelated SVU case.

Benson and Stabler were ordered off the case as soon as the tie became clear—an order Benson ignored. Vivian begged Benson to let her go; Calvin could stay with her forever if she just turned the other way and allowed Vivian and her girlfriend to leave. Stabler, who found the duo after being tipped off by Fin and Munch (Richard Belzer), told Benson the decision was up to her.

And though Benson did the correct thing and brought Vivian in, it backfired. Vivian retaliated and revoked Benson’s custody…and Calvin was ripped from the detective’s arms.

“I think we were a little bit nervous about it,” Baer acknowledges. “They like to give the audience what they want, but then take it away, like in [season 10’s] ‘Wildlife’—of course, they’re in their underwear. I said to them, ‘Will you guys do this?’ And they’re like, ‘Sure!’ And I said, ‘This way, we’ll give the audience [what they want], we’ll freak the audience out, and they’ll love it, but it has to always be pretend because you’re gonna get [almost] murdered by this bad guy.’”

“So, it’s that kind of thing,” he continues. “As I reflect back on it, I thought this was giving her and the audience what they want—and then of course it’s always good to take it away. Which is what they’re doing with [Benson and Stabler] now…she’s with him, she’s not with him.”

On a personal level, Baer got to bring back Rita Gardner for her third (and final) appearance on the series. “I loved THE FANTASTICKS when I was a kid,” he shares.

[Read part 3 and 4 of the retrospective series.]

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, Season Premiere, Thursday, October 3, 9/8c, NBC

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LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Vet Neal Baer Looks Back on Season 12: ‘Wet,’ ‘Branded,’ ‘Trophy,’ ‘Penetration,’ ‘Gray,’ and ‘Rescue’

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