Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

The Undiscovered Country (2018)

Raúl Esparza: ADA Rafael Barba

Photos 

Quotes 

• Jack McCoy : We don't pay you to think, we pay you to work.

  [indicating the drink in Barba's hand] 

  Jack McCoy : Sure, I'll have one. You know, I always wish the law was more like chemistry. You heat up water to 212 degrees, and the son of a bitch boils.

  Rafael Barba : Sans bias, sans judgment.

  Jack McCoy : Sans conscience. So what's so interesting out that window?

  Rafael Barba : My father... almost seven years ago, dad went into a diabetic coma, and he was on life support for six weeks.

  Jack McCoy : I'm sorry.

  Rafael Barba : No, don't be. He was not well-liked. By anyone. Especially me. Still, I was at the hospital every morning before work, and every night, until the nurses threw me out. The doctors said that there was nothing they could do for him. There was no brain activity. They highly recommended that we end it. And I said "No. Where there's life, there's hope." I could've eased his suffering, but I didn't. And I told myself that it's because Father Mike wouldn't approve.

  Jack McCoy : I'm sure he wouldn't.

  Rafael Barba : I was selfish. I hated the man. But still, I didn't want the burden of being the reason that he took his last breath. I was selfish. I let him suffer.

• Olivia Benson : Rafa, what the hell?

  Rafael Barba : Latte, right?

  Olivia Benson : I don't want coffee. You killed the baby?

  Rafael Barba : I expedited his passing.

  Olivia Benson : That's gonna be a tough hair to split in a courtroom.

  Rafael Barba : The court room's the last thing I was thinking of when I was in that hospital room.

  Olivia Benson : You could go to prison.

  Rafael Barba : You don't think I know that? Sometimes you have to act without concern for the consequences.

  Olivia Benson : Not you. You wear suspenders and a belt.

  Rafael Barba : I had no option.

  Olivia Benson : [sighs]  I gotta fix this.

  [walks off] 

  Rafael Barba : Liv. Liv! Liv, you can't help me.

• Jack McCoy : Prosecute Aaron Householder.

  Rafael Barba : For doing the same thing I did to my dad?

  Jack McCoy : The law is what the statute says it is.

  Rafael Barba : It's a shame. No matter how hard we try, we can't legislate morality.

  Jack McCoy : We're not in the compassion business, Rafael.

  Rafael Barba : Sure. Why not?

  Jack McCoy : [finishing his drink and standing to leave]  Cut a deal. Offer him probation. Go to church. Say three Hail Marys. Then come back here and fish off that bottle.

• Randolph J. Dworkin : I have to admit, I thought my surprise quotient was filled for the year when McAdoo benched Manning. But this, I gotta tell you, on the all-time scale is up there between Bucky Dent and Charlie Rose.

  Rafael Barba : If you don't want to represent me, that's fine.

  Randolph J. Dworkin : I don't wanna represent you, I have to represent you. Cases like this whet my whistle, so to speak. So, what did the little bastard do to you?

  Rafael Barba : [standing to leave]  This was a mistake.

  Randolph J. Dworkin : Okay, okay. I'll skip the whole self-defense angle.

  Rafael Barba : I'm sorry I wasted your time, Mr. Dworkin.

  Randolph J. Dworkin : Randy. And my point is this whole thing is a sick joke. You killed something that nine out of ten doctors would say wasn't alive.

  Rafael Barba : What about the tenth doctor?

  Randolph J. Dworkin : Look, you wanna prove a point, and I wanna prove a point. It's what my nana would call the perfect shidduch.

  Rafael Barba : What point do you want to prove?

  Randolph J. Dworkin : That the government's power has grown too damn much. That the bigger the government gets, the smaller it leaves the individual. That once the government takes away our right to die, it takes away our right to live. How am I doing so far?

  [as a response, Barba sits back down] 

• Olivia Benson : I feel so guilty about this.

  Rafael Barba : What did you do?

  Olivia Benson : I called you about this case.

  Rafael Barba : You know, when we first started working together, what was it, five years ago?

  Olivia Benson : Six.

  Rafael Barba : [exhales deeply]  The world was an old movie. It was all black and white and it was high noon. I was Gary Cooper.

  [chuckles] 

  Rafael Barba : I was absolutely sure absolutely who were the good guys, who were the bad guys. And then you... you started to weasel your way into my world, and the black and white became different shades of gray. Don't say it. Before I knew it, there were blues and greens and yellows and reds. I'm you now, Liv. You opened my heart. and I thank you for it.

  Olivia Benson : And?

  Rafael Barba : I've got to move on.

  [walks away as Olivia stands outside the courthouse alone] 

• Olivia Benson : It's not right that a guy like that goes to prison.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Well, the law says it is.

  Odafin Tutuola : Sometimes the law sucks.

  Rafael Barba : I concur.

  Olivia Benson : You think we should lock him up?

  Rafael Barba : My dad always said he wasn't scared of being dead, he was scared of dying. That kid is dying every day. He's taking his folks with him.

• Rafael Barba : Christ.

  Olivia Benson : Nobody's forcing you to prosecute.

  Rafael Barba : If I don't, I'm telling the world that baby Drew has no rights.

  Amanda Rollins : What about his right to die?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Unfortunately, that's not in the Constitution.

• Rafael Barba : Let's find out if daddy's little excursion yesterday caused the baby any harm.

  Olivia Benson : So you can let Aaron go with a clear conscience.

  Rafael Barba : So I can prosecute, and maybe get some sleep in the next decade or so.