Lunacy

TriviaColonel Finley says 'the last thing NASA needs is another astronaut-in-a-diaper story.' He is referring to the case of Navy Captain Lisa Nowak, a NASA astronaut and mission specialist on the space shuttle Discovery during mission STS-121 in July, 2006. Nowak gained international attention on February 5, 2007, when she was arrested in Orlando and charged with the attempted kidnapping of U.S. Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman. Nowak drove from her house in Houston to Orlando without stopping, reportedly by the use of space diapers, to kidnap Shipman from Orlando International Airport. Police thought she intended to kidnap and murder Shipman out of jealousy over Shipman's relationship with a fellow astronaut.

The death of a woman who happened to be a celebrated astronaut is originally thought to be part of a string of crimes connected to a serial rapist. But when he's caught he's got a very good alibi for not being the perpetrator of her homicide. The investigation leads to the space program itself and it also leads to Christopher Meloni becoming reacquainted with James Brolin formerly of the US Marineslike Meloni and now a senior astronaut. The squad gives him courtesies that they normally wouldn't allow. Brolin also expresses a real interest in Mariska Hargitay. Two suspects emerge, a young crystal meth addict played by Dane DeHaan who is found with the deceased's credit card and an astronaut buff/stalker who had a thing for the victim played by Chris Elliott. The eventual solution is quite the shocker and the motive was pure jealousy on someone's part.

Nice casting all around and an interesting conclusion.

Contents PlotA famous astronaut is found dead and 's assists the investigation.SummaryA couple discovers a woman's corpse in the ocean water. It is later determined that she was killed on Friday night. Stabler and Benson see Rick, Darren, and Rosie, who were filming an anti-Muslim porn movie during the time-frame of the murder. Rick's tape shows that a taxi, numbered 2X89, which almost them ran over near the murder scene on Saturday. The police find out that Taxi 2X89 belongs to a man named Edward 'Eddie' De Pablo, who clarified during interrogation that he wasn't driving his taxi during Friday or Saturday. They then compare a photo of Eddie's taxi to the one on Rick's video, finding that the videotaped one is a fake cab. Stabler and Benson then find out that a group of women in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx were raped by the cab driver.

Lunacy meaning: 1. Stupid behaviour that will have bad results: 2. Mental illness 3. Stupid behavior that will.

Cragen orders Fin and Munch to look for DNA near the murder scene. Benson and Stabler talk to the last surviving rape victim Leslie Schuster, who is able to recognize her rapist's voice. When Fin and Munch reach the murder scene, Fin finds urine that matches the DNA of Orlando McTeer. Orlando was previously imprisoned for aggravated rape, but was released from prison prior to the rapes.

Stabler and Benson locate Orlando, who admits to driving the fake taxi and committing the rapes, though he provides an alibi that is later positively verified: he had raped a woman in Pennsylvania during the Jane Doe's murder. Melinda later identifies the victim as Marga Janssen, an astronaut.Stabler and Benson go to Marga's workplace at NASA, where they find Dick Finley, an old friend of Stabler's who was acquainted with Marga. According to him, before Marga died, she went to a hotel, where she was witnessed arguing with another woman. The woman is identified as Andrea Patwin, Marga's lover, but she is found innocent and then says that Marga also had a necklace, which wasn't found on her body.

The second suspect is Lance Corliss, but his innocence is also proven. While they're eating and drinking, Fin informs Benson that somebody was using Marga's ATM card at a gas station three blocks away from the police station. When they go to the gas station, they see a young man who using the card. The man tries to flee, but is attacked by Finley and knocked out.At the station, the man is identified as Vincent Beckwith, who used to be in prison. He claims to have found Marga's ATM card in the street and that he never met Marga.

Vincent's lawyer then shows up. Fin later finds Marga's necklace at a store. Benson sends Vincent's picture to Fin's phone, and Fin shows Vince's picture to the store owner, who identifies him. As a result, they suspect that Vincent killed Marga, but it turns out he was innocent and found the ATM card in a purse discarded by a mysterious man wearing a baseball cap. They find out that Marga has an obsessed fan named Anton Thibodaux, who wears a baseball cap.

Anton also saw Marga at the hotel before she died, but he didn't see anyone suspicious at the hotel. Vince looks at a lineup, but Vincent doesn't identify Anton, clearing him. Afterwards, Anton expresses his desire to help the police look for Marga's killer, so Finley decides to give advice to Anton. Stabler's son Dickie later shows up at the police station because he wants to meet Finley. When Finley's done talking to Anton, he sees Dickie and talks to him. Meanwhile, when Anton sees Vincent, he accuses him of killing Marga, grabs a gun from a police officer, and kills Vincent. Benson tells Anton to drop the gun, but when he doesn't, Finley attacks Anton.

A gunshot rings out, and Finley falls off from Anton, who is dead.Stabler takes Dickie back to their house, while Finley asks Benson out to dinner. At the Stabler home, while talking about Finley, when Dickie says that anyone would do anything to go to the Moon, Stabler becomes suspicious of Finley, who had wanted to go to the Moon but was unable to. When Stabler goes to Finley's hotel room, Stabler finds a baseball cap, then asks, 'Why did you kill Marga?' Finley tries defending himself, but Stabler is unconvinced. He then reveals that the fingerprints found on Marga's necklace, which was recovered from her found purse, were compared to Finley's fingerprints on a rocket given to Dickey by him, and it was a positive match.

Finley attacks Stabler but is subdued by him and arrested. As he is led out to a police car, Finley takes one last look at the Moon before being put inside. After he is driven away, Benson shows up dressed for dinner and witnesses the last few moments of Finley's arrest. She asks, 'Is everything okay?'

He says, 'No.' Cast Main cast. as. as. as. as. as (credit only).

as Dr. as Dr. asRecurring cast. as. asGuest cast.

as Colonel. as. as. as. as. as. as.

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as Mrs. as. as. as. as.

as. as. as Gas Station Attendant. as Bartender. as Tech (uncredited). as Crime Scene Observer (uncredited)References.Quotes “From outer space to our morgue.

It's about as hard a landing as you can get.”–Elliot StablerAmateur Pornographer: Sex is dangerous. At its heart it's a power stuggle between a man and a woman.Elliot Stabler: Not if you do it right.Melinda Warner: Hands amputated mid-ulna.Olivia Benson: The killer doesn't want us to ID her. He's angry and he's smart.Elliot Stabler: That's a bad combination.Vincent Beckwith: Calling Calcutta!Donald Cragen: Where'd this guy beam down from?Elliot Stabler: Planet Methamphetamine, along with Marga's credit card.( Dick is eyeing Olivia)Dick Finley: So.?Elliot Stabler: Dick, I'm married.Dick Finley: Never stopped me.Elliot Stabler: You've got the four divorces to prove it.John Munch: Not so fast, Colonel. (holds up a picture of Finley) Autograph for a fan?Dick Finley: You got it, John.John Munch: Thank you, appreciate it.( sees Fin staring at him)John Munch: In case I'm wrong.Odafin Tutuola: I think it just started snowing in hell.( Finley has invited Olivia to go with him to a Marine Corps function)Olivia Benson: Shall I call Elliot, and see if he can join us?Dick Finley: Oh, I think you and me can handle this.Dick Finley: Okay, okay, I'm sorry about Olivia, you know, I-I should have checked with you before asking her out to dinner. I mean if you're not gonna make a move.Elliot Stabler: Dinner with Olivia is off.Amateur Pornographer 1: I'm the director.Amateur Pornographer 2: And I'm the actor.Elliot Stabler: And I'm a Jamaican jet pilot.Dick Finley: C'mon, Elliot.

It doesn't have to go down this way. We can solve this together. Two marines.Elliot Stabler: You killed that woman. You dumped her body in the river.

You had the nerve to shake my boy's hand!Background information and notes. The episode title 'Lunacy' is a popular synonym for mental disorder, stemming from the ancient belief that a full moon caused insanity in certain people. When Munch, Huang, and Finley are discussing the case, Huang mentions how the Latin root for 'Lunacy' comes froms a literal meaning referring to being 'moonsick'. The camera pans to Finley, and coupled with his obsession with going to the moon, gives a clue to the eventual ending. In this episode, says that she has been partners with for ten years, but in the previous episode ', she said they have been partners for eleven years. In the previous episode, Stabler told his mother that he always wanted to be a cop, although his mom said that he wanted to be an architect.