Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Swimming with the Sharks (2020)

Mariska Hargitay: Captain Olivia Benson

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Quotes 

• Olivia Benson : [to Melanie]  How could you do that to another woman?

  Melanie Franks : Lori? Luna? She spent her whole life doing that to other women. Growing up, we didn't have a lot. One Christmas, my father got me a gold heart necklace. I know I shouldn't do it, but I wore it to summer camp. Then one day, it disappeared. I was wrecked. I lied to my parents. I told them I didn't like it anymore. The next summer, who shows up wearing my necklace? Lori. I asked her if it was mine. She denied it, but then she said I could borrow it sometimes. She spent her whole life doing this stealing what is mine, then acting gracious, letting me have just a little back. It's a crazy kind of gaslighting.

  Olivia Benson : So you gaslighted her right back.

  Melanie Franks : We-B-Well was my idea. I made the business plan. Luna... she's gorgeous, charming, radiant. I just wanted her to tell me she was sorry. You know, I just wanted her to give me my necklace back.

• Luna Prasada : [When Olivia and Carisi talk to Luna and her lawyer in Rikers]  The other inmates held me down, and I heard somebody say, "Oh, yeah, she needs to know what it's like to be raped by another woman."

  Olivia Benson : Oh, Luna, I am... I am so sorry.

  Luna Prasada : The thing is, she was probably right. I mean, I must be guilty 'cause there is no other explanation.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Your client wants to change her plea?

  Dara Miglani : Against my advice.

  Luna Prasada : I... I can't go through the trial. I just want this to be over.

  Olivia Benson : Are you saying that you did embezzle from We-B-Well? That you did assault Tisa Chee?

  Luna Prasada : I'm saying that I can't remember. At first, I thought, "Oh, oh, they're setting me up." Someone's gotta be setting me up. " I read your emails. I read the documents. It sounds like me. It's got to be me.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Ms. Prasada, if you're gonna change your plea to guilty, you have to admit your guilt.

  Luna Prasada : So I've got to swear to crimes that I don't remember or I have no awareness of? Oh, my God. Have I lost my mind? I gotta be crazy! I mean, that's the only thing that makes any sense! Oh, I mean, as a woman, you know, I always thought, "I've gotta be strong. "I'm... I can I can get on top of things. I can take control of things, 'cause I'm a woman!" You know? I've always been about empowering women. Women, because we can overcome things. We can overcome anything. We can. We're women, okay? We're women! I can't overcome this. I feel like I've been betrayed by my mind. I'm going insane. I think I'm going insane!

• Olivia Benson : Okay, Ms. Hadid, guilty people, they mitigate, deny, they blame others, but they don't blame themselves. They don't think that they're losing their mind.

• Counselor Art Blumfeld : What exactly do you have on my client?

  Olivia Benson : She's part of a conspiracy with Vinay Gupta and Bobby Frost to frame Luna for embezzlement and to rape her.

  Melanie Franks : No. No, that was never part of the plan.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : When you help plan a rape, you're just as guilty as the rapist.

  Melanie Franks : [Blumfeld whispers in her ear]  No, Bobby told me that never happened, that Luna was making it up.

  Olivia Benson : Well, after he saw the rape kit results, he told us that it was consensual sex.

  Melanie Franks : God damn it. Bobby... he never got over her dumping him.

  Olivia Benson : And you had nothing to do with this assault?

  Melanie Franks : No, I swear. It was all to protect the company. We all knew that at some point, Luna was going to drive us over a cliff, with an HR lawsuit, the FDA. She has no boundaries. It's all about her all of the time.

  Counselor Art Blumfeld : Have Bobby and Vinay cooperated yet?

  [Carisi shakes his head] 

  Counselor Art Blumfeld : So we get the cheese?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : The whole wheel.

  Olivia Benson : He has to cut a deal with you, but... if it was up to me...

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Luna is... is not faking this. She had... she had a breakdown right... right in front of us.

  Vanessa Hadid : Okay, I hear you, but we're not dropping the charges against Luna. In fact, we're moving forward on the prosecution.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : What?

  Vanessa Hadid : Prep all four accusers for a grand jury.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Why? So they can nail down their stories? Get immunity? All due respect, Ms. Hadid...

  Vanessa Hadid : If they're going to lie, I want them on record. Right now, they think they've gotten away with toppling Luna. If this is some sort of conspiracy, we don't want them to know we're on to them.

  Olivia Benson : Fair enough. Start with the victim Tisa. There's no way that she's the mastermind.

• Olivia Benson : [to Luna]  So Bobby took a plea. He'll do at least seven years, and Vinay does five.

  Luna Prasada : Whew. And my old friend, Melanie?

  Olivia Benson : There was no case without her.

  Luna Prasada : So she walks. Was it just about the money?

  Olivia Benson : For the men, yes, but for her...

  Luna Prasada : I could've been a better friend. I've been thinking about it. When you arrested me. I thought it was karma. I burned a lot of bridges in my time. Hell, I burned my whole house down.

  Olivia Benson : Well, you know what happens when your house burns down? You get a clear view of the sky.

  Luna Prasada : You mind if I steal that?

• Luna Prasada : [while Luna is at the hospital after her assault]  I just wanna take a long, hot shower.

  Olivia Benson : Well, we're almost done here. She's gonna get you some antibiotics.

  [hands Luna a cup of water] 

  Olivia Benson : Here's some water.

  Luna Prasada : Thank you.

  Olivia Benson : Luna, you said that Bobby came up to your room?

  Luna Prasada : Yeah, he's our CFO. I keep putting him off because he's always got bad news. I call him "Bum Me Out Bobby."

  Olivia Benson : Okay, go on.

  Luna Prasada : Well, I offered him a drink to relax him a bit. I have to admit, I was ahead of him on that front.

  Olivia Benson : That's okay.

  Luna Prasada : We never got to the financials. He took a shot of tequila. He pushed me down on the bed. I wanted to push him off, but I just froze. It was just like you said. I... I just wanted to survive.

  Olivia Benson : And your relationship with him, has it changed recently?

  Luna Prasada : It's become more tense. We were about to announce our IPO... Oh, my God. I can't do this. If this comes out, the whole thing is just gonna go poof. I can't believe he did this to me. I can't believe it. Look, you can do your investigation, but I'm not gonna press charges.

  Olivia Benson : That is your decision, but the good news is that if you change your mind, we... we got the rape kit done.

  Luna Prasada : I don't think you realize this, but my whole brand depends on women wanting to be me, and uh... rape does not fit into that picture.

• Luna Prasada : [about Bobby]  He raped me, and now he is just making stuff up, all right? It's pathological. Maybe it's neurological. Maybe his frontal lobe is shot. I don't know.

  Olivia Benson : Well, he claims that he has evidence.

  Luna Prasada : Well, he can't because there is none. I mean, We-B-Well is my child. It's my life. I just don't even know where I end and it begins.

  Olivia Benson : Luna, I hear you, but we are obligated to investigate his charge.

  Luna Prasada : Well, maybe that's a good thing because I did not do this and you will see that. And in the meantime, you will arrest him.

  Olivia Benson : Well, not yet. The DA thinks that if his defense is your claiming rape, to cover up embezzlement, then...

  Luna Prasada : Then we have to hold off. Come on, this is psychotic. He's still working for me. I mean, I gotta go. I gotta fire him.

  Olivia Benson : No, no, no, no. You can't have any contact with Bobby. Listen to me, you can't do anything to strengthen his hand.

• Katriona Tamin : [When the SVU squad watch the news coverage of Luna's arrest on TV]  When they turn, they turn.

  Amanda Rollins : Also known as "the harder they fall."

  Olivia Benson : Oh, the press and the public cannot get enough of her humiliation. I've seen male serial predators get more respect than this.

  Katriona Tamin : Yeah, quite a dramatic crash from a week ago.

  Amanda Rollins : What I don't get why make a false rape accusation with so much to hide? It's like she was asking to get caught.

  Olivia Benson : I'm not sure that that accusation is false. I don't know, but to be honest, none of this makes sense to me.

• Katriona Tamin : Captain, how's Luna doing?

  Olivia Benson : Still under observation in the psych ward. Did you find anything?

  Katriona Tamin : Not a slam dunk, but your conspiracy theory, there might be something there. Sequoia confirmed that she and Luna spent every night in Lake George in a hotel suite, not the cabin.

  Olivia Benson : Oh, that doesn't track with Tisa Chee's story.

  Katriona Tamin : Nope, so I checked Tisa and Luna's phone records. No texts or calls between them that week, but I did find multiple late night calls between Tisa and Vinay Gupta, the chief tech officer, going back six months.

  Olivia Benson : Late night. Maybe they're having an affair. He gets her to make a false charge. Rollins, anything in Luna's e-mails?

  Amanda Rollins : Maybe. The account is the same that Luna uses at work. The IP address matches, too, and they sound like her somewhat.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, well, that's her sign-off. "Be well, be hot, be happy."

  Amanda Rollins : But there are phrases with more aggressive, more male energy than in Luna's idiolect. Uh, "Keep my powder dry", "cut to the chase", "red ocean".

  Katriona Tamin : Red ocean?

  Amanda Rollins : It's an MBA phrase; one that's used quite a bit in Bobby Frost's group e-mails. Here's one Bobby sent in November.

  Katriona Tamin : So Bobby ghosted her e-mails and set this whole thing up. Is that enough to get the charges dropped?

  Olivia Benson : If only. Look, all we have is... is an alternate theory.

  Amanda Rollins : One that Hadid is going to hate.

• Luna Prasada : So, Tisa admitted I never assaulted her? Well, why would she make that up?

  Olivia Benson : Because she was having an affair with Vinay. He talked her into it. He told her that they had to force you out.

  Luna Prasada : Why would he do that?

  Amanda Rollins : He's denying all of this. He said that Tisa came to him, and he believed her.

  Luna Prasada : And do you believe him?

  Dara Miglani : What is going on here?

  Olivia Benson : We think that Bobby, Vinay, and Melanie conspired to frame you for the embezzlement and assault.

  Luna Prasada : So the e-mails, I never wrote them?

  Olivia Benson : No. We believe that Bobby did.

  Amanda Rollins : We assume it was Vinay that broke into your accounts, but we can't prove that.

  Luna Prasada : Okay, but my... my passwords would be very difficult to hack. They're very complicated.

  Amanda Rollins : First pet, street you grew up on?

  Luna Prasada : Yes, but also my home phone number from when I was a kid. It was unlisted. Only a...

  [realizing] 

  Luna Prasada : ...a few friends knew it. Pinky.

  Olivia Benson : Pinky?

  Luna Prasada : Melanie's name; her nickname from when we were kids. We used to go to summer camp together.

  Olivia Benson : Luna, you... you never mentioned that.

  Luna Prasada : It never... that was a lifetime ago. I'm not Lori from Hackensack anymore. I evolved.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, but is it possible that you evolved, but Melanie didn't?

• Luna Prasada : Tisa Chee, she was in product testing. New scents, toys...

  Olivia Benson : Vibrators.

  Luna Prasada : Well, hopefully not in the office.

  Olivia Benson : Mm. And how about on a... on a corporate retreat?

  Dara Miglani : You said new allegations have been raised. Can we get to them?

• Olivia Benson : Tisa Chee is claiming that you bondage-taped her and then used the device on her against her will.

  Luna Prasada : Wait, what? That's insane.

  Olivia Benson : Now, but she did come on the corporate retreat to Lake George?

  Luna Prasada : It was a team-building event. I-I think her whole group came.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, were you ever alone with her?

  Luna Prasada : It's possible.

  Dara Miglani : What is she claiming, exactly?

  Amanda Rollins : That Luna invited Tisa back to her cabin, offered her tequila, and then when she wouldn't test - the Vi-Brildo, is it? - bondage-taped her to the bed and forced it on her.

  Luna Prasada : Okay, this is ludicrous, because I never stepped foot in that cabin. I stayed in the main lodge in a suite with Sequoia.

  Dara Miglani : What is this, open season on my client? Anyone who wants to can make up a completely specious claim?

  Olivia Benson : We do have an apology e-mail that you wrote to Tisa. This is your e-mail account?

  Luna Prasada : I never wrote this.

  Amanda Rollins : And you didn't authorize these 11 payments? Or this NDA?

  Luna Prasada : [giving it a glance]  I've never seen this.

  Olivia Benson : That... that's not what your COO said.

  Luna Prasada : Oh, Melanie? Well, that's impossible.

  Dara Miglani : We need some time to go over these documents.

  Olivia Benson : Yeah, you do.

• Vanessa Hadid : Late-night phone calls, phrases in an e-mail, three company executives and a staffer all conspiring to frame their CEO? It's insanely elaborate.

  Olivia Benson : You mean elaborate enough to drive someone insane.

  Vanessa Hadid : That's more likely than the scenario that Luna is crazy and guilty?

• Olivia Benson : Luna, we need to know everything that happened; everything that Bobby knows. And you didn't mention to us that Sequoia walked in.

  Luna Prasada : I did not mention Sequoia because I was trying to protect her. The fact is, he raped me. And now he is accusing me of making this up?

  Olivia Benson : That's what rapists do. His DNA is on the kit, so he admits what he can't deny and denies what he can't admit.

  Luna Prasada : Son of a bitch. He thinks he'll get away with this because he knows I'm not gonna jeopardize my company.

  Olivia Benson : And there's always reasons for women to stay silent. But the good news is, the world is changing. There's no stigma in coming forward. It can be empowering; heroic, even.

  Luna Prasada : Survival takes strength.

  Olivia Benson : Yes.

• Katriona Tamin : Security cams show Frost entering Luna's suite at 8:30 p.m. and exiting 34 minutes later.

  Olivia Benson : Did we get results from the rape kit and her exam?

  Amanda Rollins : Yeah, tox screen showed high levels of alcohol, marijuana, and Adderall.

  Olivia Benson : Which she also told me about.

  Katriona Tamin : Also the presence of trauma and semen, not inconsistent with assault.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, also not inconsistent with rough sex if he gets a good defense attorney.

  Olivia Benson : [sarcastic]  Thank you, counselor.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : How... how cooperative is Luna?

  Olivia Benson : She said that we can start the investigation, but she's afraid of how it will affect her company's upcoming IPO.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Any outcry witnesses?

  Olivia Benson : Yes. Her assistant, Sequoia, texted me right after it happened.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : All right, take her statement, and let's see if we can catch this guy Frost off guard.

• Sequoia Rees : Luna didn't want to bother you, but...

  Luna Prasada : Olivia?

  Olivia Benson : Hey, Luna. What's going on? What happened?

  Luna Prasada : I was raped. Oh, god, why would he do this to me?

• Katriona Tamin : The audience really appreciated you.

  Olivia Benson : Well, they were there for Luna.

  Amanda Rollins : So was Luna. But why invite you on the panel if she's gonna cut you off every five seconds?

  Katriona Tamin : She is high-energy, I'll give her that.

  Amanda Rollins : Don't tell me you bought something.

  Katriona Tamin : What? My sister's birthday is coming up.

  Olivia Benson : [her phone rings]  Text from Luna's assistant. She says it's urgent.

  Amanda Rollins : Whatever she's asking, just say no.

  Olivia Benson : [turning to head back in]  See you guys later.

• Olivia Benson : Bobby Frost.

  Bobby Frost : In the middle of a meal here.

  Olivia Benson : Yeah, we're gonna need you to come with us.

  Bobby Frost : Whatever Luna said to you, it's a lie.

  Olivia Benson : Well, then you have nothing to worry about. Come talk.

• Luna Prasada : You're arresting me? Are you serious? For what?

  Amanda Rollins : Embezzlement, money laundering, sexual assault.

  Luna Prasada : I didn't do any of these things. Look, they're lying. I don't know why they're lying, but they are lying, and you need to help me.

  Olivia Benson : I'm sorry. Call your lawyer and have her meet you at Central Booking.

• Luna Prasada : So when we're attacked, our brains don't process information in a linear way. We revert to our... lizard brain?

  Olivia Benson : Yes, because the frontal lobe shuts down and our body reacts in a... .

  Luna Prasada : So when lawyers or senators ask why we don't remember all the specifics, it's because...

  Olivia Benson : It's because trauma is processed in a sensory way by sounds or smells, not who, what, and when. Revisiting trauma isn't easy. Survival takes strength.

  Luna Prasada : Survival takes strength. Wow. You mind if I steal that?

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : [after Luna's breakdown]  What, is she trying for a psych defense?

  Olivia Benson : I think she's trying to figure out what the hell is going on here. She spent her entire career empowering women and now she just falls apart? Look, either she's got a split personality...

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : That's not likely.

  Olivia Benson : Or her employees are framing her and she's having a breakdown because she's being gaslighted.