Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Dance, Lies and Videotape (2020)

Mariska Hargitay: Captain Olivia Benson

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dehlia : They were both in on it? Jason was always hitting on me, but Brad, he... he's a gentleman. Are you sure?

  Olivia Benson : I'm sorry, Dehlia.

  Amanda Rollins : From the looks of the video, he knew exactly what he was doing, where the camera was.

  Dehlia : In ballet, the boys move the girls; that's how it works. Brad placed me on the barre, in front of the camera. How could I be so stupid?

  Olivia Benson : You couldn't have known. And you weren't the only dancer.

  Amanda Rollins : Brad, Jason, Edward Jenkins...

  Dehlia : He's in the corps.

  Olivia Benson : They shared your video in a group text, and there were videos with other women.

  Dehlia : [taking a tablet and scrolling through pictures]  That's Beck Silva. She's in the corps, too. That's Grace Pressley. Ashley Fallon.

  [giving the tablet back] 

  Dehlia : I feel sick.

• Alistair Woodford : Rafael Barba and I go way back. He speaks very highly of you.

  Olivia Benson : And he of you. He is a fan.

  Alistair Woodford : He gave me a bit of a heads-up about the issue. I can't say I'm surprised.

  Olivia Benson : That your dancers are having sex or that they're being taped?

  Alistair Woodford : Both. One thing I've learned over the years: I can teach them to dance. I can't teach them not to be young and stupid.

  Olivia Benson : So, you've had problems before?

  Alistair Woodford : Well, like everyone else. Times have changed. When I started as artistic director, we didn't even have an HR department.

  Olivia Benson : You know, I hear you, but you should know that, um, we're maybe looking at more than an HR issue. We're talking criminal activity. Unlawful surveillance, posting on pornographic sites.

  Jason Harris : Alistair, what's going on?

  Alistair Woodford : Not now, Jason. I hope we can keep this private. We open a new ballet this week; ironically, starring Brad and introducing Dehlia.

  Olivia Benson : Oh.

  Alistair Woodford : You keep me posted. Give my best to Rafael.

  Olivia Benson : Of course.

• Olivia Benson : So, the man in the video, the other dancer, Dehlia; he's your boyfriend?

  Dehlia : Brad and I just started seeing each other. He's a nice guy. Sweet. Not like most of the jerks in ballet. There's no way he did this.

  Amanda Rollins : W-What did he say?

  Dehlia : I texted him. He hasn't answered. He's been in rehearsal. I need your help. I have to get this taken down. I mean, I already got fired from my teaching job. You know, my god... what if the National finds out?

  Olivia Benson : Dehlia, Dehlia, we are... we are gonna do everything that we can to help you, believe me. But to be honest, once these things go viral, it can... it can be difficult.

  Dehlia : Isn't it illegal?

  Olivia Benson : If you did not agree to be filmed, yes.

  Amanda Rollins : Are you sure Brad had nothing to do with this?

  Dehlia : Positive.

  Amanda Rollins : Then he won't mind talking to us.

• Olivia Benson : Okay, so Brad and Edward are willing to testify that Jason set up the camera?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, in exchange for bumping them down to misdemeanor harassment.

  Amanda Rollins : Can't we get them on misdemeanor dissemination?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : She's smart. She doesn't want that on their records.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, so this is our best chance to get one of the three boys on a felony.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, and with their testimony, we can get Jason on unlawful surveillance, dissemination, and toss in revenge porn for the hat trick.

  Olivia Benson : Which is gonna be tough to prove, because we have to show intent to harm, which, even so, is just a misdemeanor.

  Amanda Rollins : So, texting the video to a friend is worse than posting it on a porn site?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Tech lobbies, corporations, civil libertarians; they got their fingerprints all over the state's revenge porn bill. It's basically toothless.

  Olivia Benson : But Jason doesn't know that. And he hasn't lawyered up yet. This might give us some leverage.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah,

  Amanda Rollins : Yeah, well, what's Jason gonna give us that don't already have?

  Olivia Benson : You never know.

• Alistair Woodford : This is Sascha Thomas, our choreographer.

  Olivia Benson : Captain Benson.

  Alistair Woodford : I filled him in.

  Sascha Thomas : Yeah. And I'm working around three male dancers being unavailable this afternoon because they're sitting in detention at your station.

  Olivia Benson : They may be unavailable longer than that.

  Sascha Thomas : Oh, come on, now. There's no one sexier than young dancers. Get enough of them in a room together, this is what happens.

  Alistair Woodford : Sascha, this is more than just boys being boys.

  Sascha Thomas : Yeah, I get it, yes. We'll make sure that whatever's been happening stops now. And it won't happen again.

  Olivia Benson : Well, depending on where this goes, they could be looking at prison time.

  Sascha Thomas : Hmm, well... that does not work, because we have a premiere in three days. We're talking hundreds of jobs, weeks of rehearsal, millions of dollars on the line.

  Olivia Benson : Piece of advice? Let's set aside some time for understudies.

• Ashley Fallon : Yeah, so, that happened.

  Olivia Benson : You knew?

  Ashley Fallon : Did I know I was having sex with Brad? Yeah. Did I know I was being filmed? I mean, not that time, but everyone's made a sex tape or two, right? Anyway, just thank god it didn't get posted like Dehlia's.

  Alistair Woodford : Captain Benson, is everything all right?

  Olivia Benson : Uh, actually, no.

• Olivia Benson : Hey, CSU got anything?

  Katriona Tamin : A lot of bodily fluids. Sweat, blood, semen; it's like a petri dish in there.

  Olivia Benson : What about a camera?

  Katriona Tamin : Looks like a wall mount was ripped out.

  Olivia Benson : So they knew we were coming. Get me a list of... of anyone who had access.

  Katriona Tamin : On it.

• Olivia Benson : TARU went through Jason's phone. He uploaded the video to Pornmonger, but he didn't record it.

  Amanda Rollins : So who did?

  Katriona Tamin : It was texted to him by Brad. Along with other homemade sex videos.

  Amanda Rollins : So the nice, sweet guy twirling his baton out in front of the victim bandwagon...

  Olivia Benson : Are you surprised?

• Jason Harris : Revenge on Dehlia? Seriously? I get plenty.

  Olivia Benson : Well, then why did you send the video to a porn site?

  Jason Harris : I don't know. I thought it was a goof on Brad.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, Dehlia didn't consent to being filmed.

  Jason Harris : Well, that's not what Brad told me. How was I supposed to know?

  Olivia Benson : Because you're the one who installed the camera in Studio X.

  Jason Harris : What are you talking about?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, your dance buddies told us the whole thing was your idea.

  Jason Harris : Okay, hang on. I-I don't know who set up the camera, but it wasn't me.

  Olivia Benson : Well, that's not what they said. And they're willing to testify.

  Jason Harris : Testify?

  Olivia Benson : Mm-hmm.

  Jason Harris : Like, at a trial?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, like at a trial. And with unlawful surveillance and dissemination charges, you're looking at felony jail time.

  Jason Harris : This is total crap. I'm the fall guy. Everybody in the company knew about it. Brad, Edward, Sascha.

  Olivia Benson : Sascha? Your choreographer?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Jason, if you know more than you're saying, now would be your last chance to help yourself.

  Olivia Benson : And start with Sascha Thomas.

  Jason Harris : We showed him some stuff before. He never said boo. H-He would... he would watch the videos like the girls were auditioning for him.

  Olivia Benson : And he never told you to stop?

  Jason Harris : If he liked something he saw, he'd ask a girl out, and if she said yes, he'd make me delete it.

• Olivia Benson : Hey, Kat, any luck?

  Katriona Tamin : Struck out again.

  Amanda Rollins : So we're 0 for everyone?

  Katriona Tamin : They've danced their whole lives, sacrificed everything to get to the National. They have too much to lose. Sorry.

  Olivia Benson : Don't be. Just need to find somebody who already lost.

• Dehlia : So, Alistair and Sascha took a deal?

  Olivia Benson : Felonies, both of them. They'll do prison time.

  Dehlia : What about Jason?

  Olivia Benson : He'll do a few months, and we're still working to get the video taken down.

  Dehlia : Uh-huh. What happens to the National?

  Olivia Benson : Well, Brad and Edward were fired, although... they're filing a suit for wrongful termination.

  Dehlia : Of course they are. Boys in ballet. From day one, they get all the breaks. I bet they'll get their jobs back.

  Olivia Benson : Maybe, but maybe not. You heard that the new board hired an all-female artistic team?

  Dehlia : Yeah, good for them.

  Olivia Benson : Hey, have you, uh, have you ever considered going back?

  Dehlia : I spent my whole life in that world. To leap high, to spin in midair, to feel the rush of an ovation. It's the only dream I ever had. But now, I imagine dancing on stage... and the only thing I can think about is everyone in the audience leering at me on the Internet. And that... that's never going away, is it?

• Katriona Tamin : [listening to Hasim's undercover wire]  He's pretty good.

  Olivia Benson : I'm buying it.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Let's hope they do.

• Olivia Benson : So, it turns out that Sascha looked at the videos. It's not just about the boys anymore.

  Dehlia : So he knew? He didn't stop them?

  Amanda Rollins : Just the opposite.

  Dehlia : So, there was a video of Tina? That's why she slept with him? Everyone was wondering why she finally got her solo.

  Olivia Benson : Dehlia, do you know of any other dancers that were involved with Sascha?

  Dehlia : Wait, you guys are going after Sascha now? No way. I'm out.

  Olivia Benson : Hang on.

  Dehlia : No, I never should have come to you in the first place. He's the choreographer. He gets to do whatever he wants.

  Olivia Benson : Not if you're willing to help us.

  Dehlia : It's ballet! It's like my friend Hudson says, "straight male, can't fail. Gay men, it depends. But girls in ballet? Do what we say."

• Olivia Benson : Alistair Woodford, Sascha Thomas.

  Alistair Woodford : Captain Benson, what is this?

  Sergeant Hasim Khaldun : Give it a second. It'll come to you.

  Alistair Woodford : You're making a major mistake.

  Sergeant Hasim Khaldun : Not my first, won't be my last.

  Alistair Woodford : [to Sascha as he gets cuffed]  You vouched for him.

  Amanda Rollins : Don't worry, he's under arrest, too.

  Alistair Woodford : Whatever I did, I did to subsidize art. That man's your rapist!

  Olivia Benson : So you knew? And you used it as leverage. That makes you a sex trafficker. Get him out of here.

• Amanda Rollins : We need to know how all this works.

  Ashley Fallon : Every year, at the gala, dinner with the prima goes to the highest bidder.

  Amanda Rollins : Mm-hmm.

  Ashley Fallon : Everybody knows it's more than just dinner. This year, I was on the auction block.

  Sergeant Hasim Khaldun : How did he get you to agree to this?

  Ashley Fallon : Same way he got everybody else. He had a video. Me, Brad, and Jason.

  Amanda Rollins : Does Sascha know about this?

  Ashley Fallon : He gave Alistair the video.

  Sergeant Hasim Khaldun : What did Alistair say to you, exactly?

  Ashley Fallon : He said I'd already worked my way through the dancers and the choreographer for my career, so compared to that, this was a small ask.

  Amanda Rollins : And if you refused?

  Ashley Fallon : The video would be made public. He said, after that... the only way I'd be able to make a living was in porn.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : [watching with Benson]  That's enough for an arrest warrant.

  Olivia Benson : Better idea. We pick him up now.

• Olivia Benson : That's an admission.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : It's more like an innuendo. Ashley still needs to show she's willing to play for pay.

  Katriona Tamin : So, he's a trafficker and we're going after the victim?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : She has not been cooperative so far, right? We need the leverage. I know you wish there was a better way, but...

  Olivia Benson : Yeah, I do.

• Rose Sullivan : That was a lifetime ago.

  Olivia Benson : That was at the gala last year. It's right after you got picked to be the principal.

  Rose Sullivan : How did you get my name? I quit the company a year ago. No one from the National has even called.

  Amanda Rollins : We read the interview in your hometown paper, the Suffolk Times. How excited you were to get your first lead, and you never actually danced.

  Rose Sullivan : You're with NYPD. Why do you care?

  Olivia Benson : Well, we're looking into a... a company-wide pattern of... of sexual abuse.

  Rose Sullivan : You're actually investigating those pricks?

  Olivia Benson : We are.

  Rose Sullivan : How did you even find out about this? Who came forward?

  Olivia Benson : Dehlia Kelly, initially.

  Rose Sullivan : Oh, no. She was one of my students. Sascha raped her, too?

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Okay, so the highest bids at every gala auction are for "dinner for two with a ballerina." That doesn't prove these women are being sex trafficked...

  Olivia Benson : You said that you wanted a pattern, and we have one.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Go ahead.

  Olivia Benson : So, the male dancers are secretly recording the women having sex with them. Sascha is using the tapes to blackmail these women into re-enacting these videos, right? So if they consent or if they just fail to fight him off, they get solos.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, but none of these women are willing to testify.

  Amanda Rollins : Rose Sullivan is. She told us that Sascha coerced her, and when she went to Alistair with it, he doubled down, blackmailed her, and told her if she didn't sleep with the highest bidder, that she would lose her job.

  Olivia Benson : We're looking at sex trafficking here.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Okay, maybe. Did she actually go through with it? No?

  [groaning in frustration] 

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : So the board's gonna circle the wagons, the dancers aren't talking, and these donors sponsoring ballerinas, they certainly won't. So at the end of the day, this is Rose's word against Sascha and Alistair's.

  Amanda Rollins : All right, you got any ideas, or are you just gonna keep playing the "I'm the ADA, I need more" card?

  Olivia Benson : Rollins.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : You know what would be helpful? A confession. How about that idea?

  Amanda Rollins : I don't see that happening.

  Olivia Benson : Or we catch him in the act. This year's gala is tomorrow night after the premiere. We put in a UC, and we get Alistair on tape promising to deliver the goods.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Huh.

  Amanda Rollins : How about Hasim Khaldun?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Your transit-groper cop?

  Olivia Benson : He could pass as an oil heir.

  Amanda Rollins : Or a venture capitalist from Silicon Valley. He's... he's a chameleon.

• Dehlia : Now anytime someone searches my name, this video comes up. How long before my parents see it?

  Olivia Benson : Cybercrimes are tracking down the sites one by one, enforcing the court order. Dehlia, it's just... it's not easy.

  Amanda Rollins : In the meantime, we can help you get the links removed from the search engines.

  Dehlia : No one knows who I am in the ballet world. This is what I'm famous for? The National's gonna fire me.

  Olivia Benson : Dehlia. They're not gonna fire you.

  Amanda Rollins : They're too busy covering their own asses.

• Olivia Benson : Is Sascha the reason that you left the company?

  Rose Sullivan : Well, he's the reason I'm here. Jason made a sex tape of me. Sascha got a hold of it, told me he could make it go away if I did to him what I did to Jason. He wouldn't take no for an answer. I just gave up and let him do it.

  Olivia Benson : Rose, I'm... I'm so sorry.

  Rose Sullivan : A few days later, he promoted me, told me that what happened was just between he and I, and that he'd do it again any time he wanted.

  Amanda Rollins : Did you tell anybody? I mean, any other dancers or friends or family?

  Rose Sullivan : I told the one person who I thought could help me; Alistair. Alistair said he would help me, that I could do a lot better than Sascha.

  Olivia Benson : And what did he mean?

  Rose Sullivan : Every year at the gala auction, dinner with the prima ballerina is the top item. But what's expected is not just dinner. Alistair said if I'd let him auction me off, he'd get Sascha to back down. Then he told me if I said no, he'd leak Jason's sex tape, fire me immediately for cause, and blackball me with every other company.

  Olivia Benson : So that's why you left.

  Rose Sullivan : I didn't even dance the premiere. I couldn't go on that night. And Alistair was right. I've never danced since.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Tina said the sex was consensual?

  Amanda Rollins : But it wasn't. She just doesn't wanna see it that way. Sascha's her boss, he gave her the choice of losing her job or getting a solo, depending on whether or not she was gonna re-enact that video with him.

  Olivia Benson : It's forcible coercion, rape three.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : In theory, yes. But his defense attorney's gonna say the relationship was consensual. At worst, transactional, one in which she was a willing part of.

  Katriona Tamin : Sascha? From what the other dancers said, this is happening all the time at the company.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Then we need to try to establish a pattern. Are there any other allegations against Sascha?

  Amanda Rollins : No official complaints lodged with the National HR department.

  Katriona Tamin : Yeah, the cone of silence in ballet is real. I knew a few bunheads at LaGuardia; rehearse nonstop, never spoke out of turn, never ate... I mean, that kind of conditioning sticks with you

  Olivia Benson : Listen, this isn't just ballet. It's churches, news organizations, movie sets. When your boss is a predator, people are afraid.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, unless someone breaks ranks, we're stalled.

  Olivia Benson : [checking her phone, she groans]  More bad news. Cybercrime said somebody ran Dehlia's image through facial recognition. Her identity has gone viral.