Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Service (2018)

Mariska Hargitay: Lieutenant Olivia Benson

Photos 

Quotes 

• Olivia Benson : [to Preston]  Do you have any family in the military?

  Jim Preston : No.

  Olivia Benson : Friends?

  Jim Preston : Just the ones I made after I enlisted.

  Olivia Benson : So when you enlisted, you were just being a patriot? You just wanted to help people. In fact, you couldn't imagine not helping people. Believe me, I get it.

  Jim Preston : I enlisted to serve my country.

  Olivia Benson : Then serve its people.

• Olivia Benson : Tell me, what do you remember about them? There's no detail too small. Anything?

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : Uh, they had short hair. No hair.

  Olivia Benson : Okay.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : One of them was young.

  Olivia Benson : How young?

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : Maybe 20. It was his first time. He was sweet, actually. "Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am." He was supposed to be the only one. It was the second guy who hit me. He was old, like... 40. Uh... he wanted a freebie. I said no way. That's when he hit me and forced me to f...

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : [watching outside, he turns the intercom off]  Sounds like rape. Lieutenant's pretty good at this.

  Amanda Rollins : After I teed it up for her.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : You were pretty convincing in there. You okay?

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : Lieutenant, you guys are wasting your time. Jim Preston is never gonna testify.

  Olivia Benson : We just got to break this damn military code.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : It's got nothing to do with any code. We just got the blood back from the lab tests, and it's a match for Jim, but the DNA in the blood is genetically female. Jim Preston is a transgender man.

  Olivia Benson : Well... that's why he won't testify.

  Peter Stone : The courts will never uphold any law against transgender people serving in the military.

  Olivia Benson : That's right, but there's a huge distance between the law and life.

• Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : When he was done, he left, and, uh, the third guy came in. I hit him with a lamp, he started bleeding, and that's when grandpa came back and beat the crap out of me.

  Olivia Benson : Sky, I just want to tell you that I am... very sorry that that happened to you.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : Right. The joke's on them. The nervous virgin left his money clip on the nightstand before any of the drama went down.

  Olivia Benson : And you took it?

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : [handing it over]  I earned it.

  Olivia Benson : U.S. Army.

• Peter Stone : It's called perjury, Billy, and believe me, I will prosecute.

  Army Pvt. William 'Billy' Shaughnessy : They yell at me. You yell at me. Why does everybody have to yell at me?

  Olivia Benson : That's gonna be the least of your problems when you end up in prison.

  Army Pvt. William 'Billy' Shaughnessy : They already told me! There's no way the jury is gonna believe Sky over the Staff Sergeant. That means you lose, Mr. Stone.

  Peter Stone : And if you're convicted in a military court of making unsubstantiated allegations against a superior officer, you end up in Leavenworth.

  Army Pvt. William 'Billy' Shaughnessy : [sobbing]  I just wanted a woman. I wanted to be a man.

  [standing and composing himself] 

  Army Pvt. William 'Billy' Shaughnessy : I'd rather be a criminal, Mr. Stone, than a traitor. Can I go?

  [Peter nods, and he leaves] 

  Olivia Benson : Wha...? You let him go? Just like that?

  Peter Stone : There's nothing we could have said to convince him.

  Olivia Benson : He has a beating heart. He has a conscience.

  Peter Stone : Which isn't going to get in the way of a loyalty that goes back 250 years. We'll never break him.

  Olivia Benson : So because he's a good man, he's gonna do the wrong thing?

  Peter Stone : Our only hope is that Jim isn't as good a man as Billy is.

• Peter Stone : [to Preston]  Okay, here's the deal. As of this moment, all charges against you are dropped with prejudice. In exchange, I expect you to willingly testify against Staff Sergeant Jones. Now get out.

  [Preston and his lawyer stand to leave] 

  Peter Stone : [holding Preston back]  If you refuse, you will be subpoenaed, and failure to appear will be met with the strictest punishment the law allows.

  [he stands aside, and Preston leaves] 

  Olivia Benson : You'll ruin his life if he testifies.

  Peter Stone : And if he doesn't, you'll ruin Sandy's. It's your choice.

• Olivia Benson : [to Sandy]  I am so sorry. I apologize for Detective Rollins' attitude.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : Yeah, she's a real bitch with a capital "C".

• Olivia Benson : [shows Sandy a photo]  Number three is Billy Shaughnessy. He's confessed to raping and beating you.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : Why would he do that? He didn't do anything bad to me.

  Olivia Benson : Looks like he's willing to go down for his friends.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : He's one of those trustworthy people you were talking about.

  Olivia Benson : See? They really do exist.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : Yeah. You offer absolution in your spare time?

  Olivia Benson : No, no, that's... that's above my pay grade. But, um... but I can offer some solace, and some hope.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : Why bother?

  Olivia Benson : Because it matters. Because you matter. And what happened to you matters. I'll tell you what doesn't matter is why you were in that hotel that night.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : That I get paid to have sex.

  Olivia Benson : My priority is putting away the person who did this to you, but I need your help.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : I'll have to go to court?

  Olivia Benson : You will.

  Sandy 'Sky' Ksenivch : Eh, people looking at me, judging me...

  Olivia Benson : You know what, Sandy? The only opinion that matters is yours.

• Jim Preston : [to Olivia about Sandy]  I didn't do anything, Lieutenant. I didn't touch her.

  Olivia Benson : I know that, Jim. I know. I bet when you enlisted, you were in high school.

  Jim Preston : College.

  Olivia Benson : You could have done anything with your life, and you chose to serve your country.

  Jim Preston : And if I testify, my country will attack me.

  Olivia Benson : Not your country. Some closed-minded people who work for a difference without a distinction.

  Jim Preston : I'd like to help you put Staff Sergeant in prison, but if I do, I'll be putting myself in a prison of my own making.

  Olivia Benson : Kind of like the one you're in now? You're worried how your fellow soldiers will see you?

  Jim Preston : I'm so far beyond that. The least of my worries is having people laughing at me behind my back, craning to get a look at me in the shower. But once I'm outed to officials, there's no going back in and by the stroke of a tweet sent from Air Force One, I could lose my job, my career. Everything I've ever worked for.

  Olivia Benson : I know that things feel uncertain, but do you get any comfort knowing that that tweet did not become a law?

  Jim Preston : Today maybe. What about tomorrow? I don't know what's gonna happen. Do you?

  Olivia Benson : No, I don't.

  Jim Preston : Look at me! I'm a soldier, Lieutenant. A damn good soldier. I couldn't stand being stuck behind a desk.I love what I do. This job is who I am.