Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 1 quotes

Benson

Something did happen on that hunting trip.

Fin

White people and rifles. Don't ask me.

My dad and I talk and stuff...

Sonny

Oh, yeah. What about?

Umm...

Sonny

See, that's why I figured they invented sports. To give dads something to talk about with their sons.

A war you can't win is the only one worth fighting.

Benson

I'm a cop and a mother, Fin. That's all I am.

Fin

That's more than most.

Benson

And what happens if tomorrow I wake up and I can't do one of those things? Does that make me only half the person I was the night before?

Fin

Excuse me for being redundant, but it's still more than most.

Benson

Well, that's very nice of you to say, but the fact of the matter is, the truth is, I got winded. Chasing that Conway kid... I had to stop. And now an innocent woman who was riding her bike has a broken leg because of me.

Fin

And no matter how hard you sucked for air, your lungs couldn't take in enough breath.

Benson

Yeah.

Fin

And your legs felt like lead.

Benson

Right.

Fin

Welcome to the club. Liv, nobody expects you to be Wonder Woman.

Benson

I do.

Fin

Yeah, and I used to think I was Superman.

Benson

So what happened?

Fin

Life. Time. Whatcha gonna do?

Sonny

It wasn't your dad's fault. It wasn't your brother's fault. That only leaves one person, Sam. This is all on you, but maybe you're right. Go ahead. Kill yourself. It's probably easier than facing your father in the state he's in right now, Sam.

What? You talked to him?

Sonny

Yeah, I talked to him. He's worried, he's worried sick about you. But maybe you're right. Just shoot yourself. That'll show him how much you hate him.

No, no. I don't hate him, I love him.

Sonny

So maybe you want to tell him that, and maybe he wants to tell you that too. Because that's the thing about dads, no matter how much you screw up, they still love you.

Benson

You were trying to save his life.

I didn't have to cross-examine him.

Benson

Yes, you did. His father raped him, for God's sake.

And I raped him all over again on the witness stand.

The last time I put Sam on the witness stand...

Benson

This isn't the time, Peter. Kids are dead. Two sets of parents are mourning the loss of their child.

Sam is already locked up.

Benson

We already lost Sam. This is about the next Sam Conway.

How did your father act when he wasn't happy with you?

He... He called me names.

What else?

He called me a baby.

What else?

He called me a fag and a pussy, alright?

Like when you couldn't shoot the deer.

Yeah, right.

He wasn't proud of you.

No. He said until further notice, I was a little girl. He called me Samantha. Threw one of Mom's dresses at me, told me to wear it.

Did he hit you?

No. He said I deserved it, though, but he'd never hit a girl.

The moment before you shot your classmates, what was going through your head?

[mutters] Be a man.

Can you speak up, Sam?

Be a man! This voice in my head kept saying, "Do it, be a man, be a man!" [jumps up from the stand, screaming at his father] BE A MAN! I DIDN'T FLINCH, ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?

Men are strong. They're the hunters. They're the fighters. The spear throwers, the sword swingers, the gunslingers. They sit in bars and toss back shots while they regale other men with stories of their sexual conquests. That's what makes them masculine - that's what makes them men. You get in a fistfight? That's okay - it'll make you a man. You grab a little ass? Hey, that's what men do. But what if you cry or show empathy or, God forbid, you can't shoot a little rabbit? Well, I'm sorry, but you just don't deserve to be my son. The problem is, Sam is John's son. The problem is, Sam just wanted to make John proud. The problem is, John wasn't preaching strength. He was preaching power over others, and that's not being a man - it's being a criminal.

Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know she was on something. When she started zoning out, I tried to help her. I took her to the hospital. That was the right thing to do, wasn't it?

You heard that, right, Sarge?

Fin

Yeah. So, you are the person who brought her to the hospital? Okay, well, you're free to go.

What, really?

Fin

[drops the act] No, asshole, sit down!

Fin

How'd the babysitting go?

Sonny

Played 19 games of checkers, and I learned to read Green Eggs and Ham in Spanish.

[after losing in court] We tried, huh?

Benson

We lost the battle. Maybe we'll win the war.

Benson

Hi, we're here to see Gabriela Sosa.

Is she stationed here, ma'am?

Benson

She's one of the children who's being detained here.

I'm sorry, ma'am, those kinds of visits are not authorized.

[getting out of the car] Get your CO down here right now.

I'm sorry, sir. I'm not authorized to do that.

Listen, son, I didn't hump through the mountains of Quảng Tri for 3 years to have some baby-faced MP tell me what's authorized. Am I clear?

Uh...

Soldier!

Yes, sir. [leaves]

[to Benson] That was fun.

If I thought anyone wanted to rape Brianna, you would have from heard from me a long time ago.

Maybe someone who had some kind of grudge against you. Maybe someone from your past, maybe somebody at work...

I'm a dentist. Everybody hates me.

Fin

There's absolutely no reason to be involuntarily celibate. That's why God invented hookers.