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"Bang" is the 22nd episode of Season 12 in "Law & Order: SVU." It aired on Wednesday, May 4th at 10 pm ET on NBC and featured guest-stars Lori Singer, John Stamos and Noelle Beck.SPOILERS!
The title of this episode is ironic, suggesting both "bang" in the sense of intercourse and "bang" in the sense of dynamite.
The episode begins with a baby being found behind a child's play-place, almost frozen to death. The child's blanket leads police to an expensive baby store where they track the address of the baby's adoptive mother, Dede (Singer). Police find that a nanny was watching the baby while Dede was away, claiming that she was alone, but a statement from a neighbor and a fresh condom in the trash proves the nanny had someone over. She reveals her lover as Ken (Stamos), who is also Dede's finance.
Dede arrives at the precinct and reveals she wasn't away on business but was in the city pondering her recent pregnancy. Dede says the adoption of Jasper (the baby found outside) was closed, and Ken took care of all the paperwork. Dede finds Ken to be caring, gentle and compassionate, while the nanny claims Ken to be a sex maniac. Benson then takes the liberty of telling Dede about Ken's affair with their nanny. Dede calls Ken into the room (he is also her lawyer) and reveals her pregnancy, to which he is eerily elated.
From the couple's conversation, and from the earlier condom found, Benson makes the mysterious conclusion that Ken is a reproductive abuser. Such abusers take measures like deliberately poking holes into condoms pre-intercourse in order to impregnate women without their suspecting otherwise; the "fail rate" for condoms breaking or not working is 1%, so Ken's trail of broken condoms had to be the result of more than just his being a "maniac" in bed.
Detectives discover from DNA fibers that Wade, Dede's neighbor, was the one who kidnapped the baby and left him outside. Wade's defense was that Ken was a monster, manipulating Dede and sleeping with several women on the side, distracting even the nanny from her duties to the child. He also overheard of Ken's exploits.
Police learn from Ken's records that he has fathered 20 kids in the last 10 years, while he is also the biological father of baby Jasper. A woman who was formerly a drug addict got pregnant by Ken, and Ken convinced her to have the baby, paying for childcare, etc. He then convinced her she wasn't fit to be a mother and took the baby away, giving it to Dede and claiming the baby was adopted. When faced with all this information, Ken simply grins, stating "I love kids," and we see that indeed his most dangerous quality is his charm, but "being a creep isn't illegal." During all of this, Benson seeks the help of a Dr. named Audrey (Beck) who is familiar with reproductive abusers, hoping to find a flaw big enough in Ken to arrest him. Audrey reveals her opinion that reproductive abusers should be treated as rapists, as they are purposely putting semen into a woman without her knowing, but sadly the system doesn't punish such acts of deceit.
Police arrest Ken on the small misdemeanor of never filing paperwork on his "adopted" son. Says Ken, "I'm just trying to follow my natural urge to procreate -- I'm making people's lives richer -- I'm an Aztec leader with 4,000 concubines and who knows how many kids -- " Stabler points out that being a father consists of love and support and not just creating spawn, but Ken isn't phased.
In an almost ridiculous attempt at getting Ken to admit his wrongdoings, the cops bring in the majority of Ken's ex-lovers and their children into the precinct. Ken goes around trying to charm all the single mothers, saying at least he sends a check each month, to the disdain of every woman in the room. Ken throws in the face of detectives that he has over 47 children (including in Europe) and loves each one; this is said with a straight face of snobbery even after Ken encounters a mother who tells him her daughter killed herself and her (his) son after she found out Ken abandoned them.
Ken is released, only to be found dead later, with his insides on the outside. He was killed with a wasp injection knife- developed for navy seals- in which the handle shoots compressed CO2 into whatever you're stabbing, inflating and blowing it up. Police suspect Wade an eventually Dede, but learn that it was Audrey who killed Ken.
Ken had the audacity to call Audrey for a date at Dede's apartment. Audrey obliged, excusing herself to find a knife, intending "just to cut his penis off," when his body exploded after stabbing him. The audience is left with a depiction of Audrey being the true psychopath, with police finding her calmly drinking wine and playing with the bloody knife, expecting her arrest.
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In the past "SVU" had tackled the issue of polygamy- but what makes a polygamist and a reproductive user any different? Both seem to consist of an arrogant male who has countless female partners, some of whom take on the role of mother and wife, as well as lover.
It appears one of the differences between Stamos' character and a polygamist was what Detective Stabler mentioned above love and support; a polygamist presumably has multiple wives he lives and sleeps with, and therefore is around to father his children. A reproductive abuser simply sleeps around but doesn't stick around to provide care for the child (care beyond what money can offer in the case of this episode). Moreover, a polygamist would want children and therefore may not even choose to use a condom since he trusts his wives, but a reproductive abuser chooses not to marry and settle down, resulting in the need for a condom in order to secure the trust of the woman he's seducing.
I admire "SVU" for trying to bring to the forefront a new subject (let alone new terminology), yet I wish they would have delved more into the psychology of why reproductive abusers want children. If it all boils down to them inflating their egos, that's extremely pitiful yet brilliant at the same time. Many men plant their seeds then leave the woman to be a broke single parent, but Ken was providing monetary support; what else could the mothers want?
Clearly this episode raises the question of whether such acts of deception should or could be punished legally, not to mention how women should be weary of condoms that miraculously keep breaking.
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