The Best Episodes Written By Dawn Denoon

Every TV Episode Written by Dawn Denoon Ranked from Best to Worst by Thousands of Voters

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    undefined Season 3 Episode 13 - Prodigy
    8.8/10(10 votes)

    #1 - Prodigy

    S3:E13

    Two people are found murdered in the park, including an animal rights activist who has been raped and then decapitated. Benson and Stabler must determine which of their two main suspects -- a sociopathic teenager and a recently paroled rapist -- is responsible for the murder.

    Director:N/A

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  2. undefined Season 8 Episode 6 - Infiltrated
    8.8/10(4 votes)

    #2 - Infiltrated

    S8:E6

    Novak tries to find Benson when the case for a previous rape victim, Chelsea Arndale, hinges on her testimony. Benson, meanwhile, is still living as Persephone James and has been arrested in Oregon after the ecologist's group she has infiltrated is involved in a fracas with the local police. After the local sheriff advises her that her group is being looked at in connection with a recent murder, Benson decides to do a little investigating on her own and learns that the man was a pedophile. When she finally finds his private hideaway, it leads to a shocking conclusion.

    Director:N/A

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  3. undefined Season 9 Episode 1 - Alternate
    8.8/10(10 votes)

    #3 - Alternate

    S9:E1

    Benson and Stabler investigate a suspected child abuse case only to learn that the woman who reported it is the real case.

    Director:N/A

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  4. undefined Season 1 Episode 11 - Bad Blood
    8.6/10(19 votes)

    #4 - Bad Blood

    S1:E11

    A moral coalition leader's gay son is found murdered on the roof of his apartment building. Initially, Benson and Stabler investigate his father, a Conservative well-known for his homophobic viewpoints, but once they start looking into the young man's living arrangements they realize the person they're looking for may be closer than they think. Munch tries to help Benson find the man who raped her mother, and could potentially be her father.

    Director:N/A

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  5. undefined Season 2 Episode 15 - Countdown
    8.6/10(11 votes)

    #5 - Countdown

    S2:E15

    The detectives become a little edgy after working around the clock to find an abducted girl when clues point to a serial murderer and rapist who kills his victims on the third day. After trapping the killer, they are prepared to give him the death penalty until they find out that one of his victims was never found and he offers her location as a plea bargain.

    Director:N/A

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  6. undefined Season 5 Episode 5 - Serendipity
    8.6/10(10 votes)

    #6 - Serendipity

    S5:E5

    A newborn baby is found dead in a gutter, sending the detectives on a hunt for the mother. She too turns up murdered, and the clues point to a serial child molester.

    Director:N/A

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  7. undefined Season 6 Episode 4 - Scavenger
    8.5/10(7 votes)

    #7 - Scavenger

    S6:E4

    The entire squad races against the clock to solve the puzzles and uncover the clues scattered throughout the city by a serial killer who is taunting them to find him and the next victims on his list.

    Director:N/A

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  8. undefined Season 2 Episode 11 - Abuse
    8.5/10(13 votes)

    #8 - Abuse

    S2:E11

    Parental neglect may have led to the tragic death of the son of two famous singers, leading them to fear for his sister. Benson develops a strong attachment to the girl who has a history of serious injuries.

    Director:N/A

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  9. undefined Season 3 Episode 19 - Justice
    8.4/10(11 votes)

    #9 - Justice

    S3:E19

    A rebellious 16-year-old teenager is raped and murdered; the case becomes complex when they learn that her stepfather is a judge with whom she has had major problems.

    Director:N/A

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  10. undefined Season 8 Episode 21 - Pretend
    8.4/10(7 votes)

    #10 - Pretend

    S8:E21

    The team investigates the death of a partially clothed teenage boy wearing a leather mask. The detectives discover that the victim's best friend is the killer and has a video, showing that the boy's death was the result of a backyard wrestling match gone wrong.

    Director:N/A

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  11. undefined Season 9 Episode 14 - Inconceivable
    8.3/10(6 votes)

    #11 - Inconceivable

    S9:E14

    The robbery of fertilized embryos from a sperm bank call for Benson and Stabler to track down the thief. Clues from the clinic's security tape lead them to a long list of suspects including two publicity-hungry extremists. The detectives race against the clock to find the missing embryos, but that isn't the only clock that's ticking - Olivia considers her own fertility and the possibility of motherhood.

    Director:N/A

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  12. undefined Season 7 Episode 6 - Raw
    8.2/10(6 votes)

    #12 - Raw

    S7:E6

    After a six-year-old boy dies in a school shooting, detectives trace the gun used back to a white supremacist's gun shop. Munch and Tutuola both face hatred and prejudice from the major suspects in the case, but their investigation soon takes them from the man who pulled the trigger back to the gun shop owner, who makes no bones about his hatred of anyone who isn't white.

    Director:N/A

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  13. undefined Season 3 Episode 17 - Protest Too Much
    8.2/10(5 votes)

    #13 - Protest Too Much

    S3:E17

    When an off-duty cop tries to stop a bank robbery, he is disarmed by the "Bonnie and Clyde" robbers who take his gun and wound an innocent bystander. Meanwhile, Frank considers getting romantically involved with a woman from the ACLU who happens to be Erin's acquaintance.

    Director:N/A

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  14. undefined Season 12 Episode 23 - Delinquent
    8.1/10(8 votes)

    #14 - Delinquent

    S12:E23

    When a young woman finds a teenage boy asleep and naked in her bedroom, his mother, Bree Walsh, is quick to defend him. While Detective Benson and Detective Stabler try to figure out what truly happened, they also have to manage the sneaky teenager and his naive mother. As the detectives dig deeper, they discover how deceptive appearances can be.

    Director:N/A

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  15. undefined Season 3 Episode 9 - Care
    8.1/10(11 votes)

    #15 - Care

    S3:E9

    The battered body of a five-year-old girl in foster care is discovered and suspicion soon turns to members of the girl's foster family as well as to the girl's biological mother; who is the real guilty party and who is only a red herring?

    Director:N/A

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  16. undefined Season 6 Episode 12 - Identity
    8.1/10(12 votes)

    #16 - Identity

    S6:E12

    Complications ensue in the investigation of a Stone Cold Assassins gangbanger who fell off a building after the victim that he tried to rape bit him in self-defense when the vic's twin sister cops to the crime, seemingly impossible due to the evidence until the secrets regarding the sister's true genetic identity are revealed.

    Director:N/A

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  17. undefined Season 6 Episode 18 - Pure
    8.1/10(7 votes)

    #17 - Pure

    S6:E18

    After an 18-year-old girl is kidnapped, psychic Sebastian Ballentine comes forward claiming to have information on the killings. Stabler refuses to believe that Ballentine is a real psychic, and is convinced that the hints he is dropping about the case indicate he is somehow involved.

    Director:N/A

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  18. undefined Season 10 Episode 21 - Liberties
    8.1/10(4 votes)

    #18 - Liberties

    S10:E21

    A favor for a judge who is hearing a harassment case sends Stabler and Benson to interview a death-row serial killer in order to determine the fate of his son.

    Director:N/A

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  19. undefined Season 11 Episode 16 - Witness
    8.1/10(6 votes)

    #19 - Witness

    S11:E16

    Soon after a young girl, Laine McAlister, is raped in her apartment building's stairwell, Detectives Olivia Benson and Eliot Stabler meet Laine in the hospital and find her extremely shaken with a large cut on her hand. After an unpleasant exchange with a man she claims is her boyfriend, the detectives become suspicious that she may have fabricated her rape to get attention. Their suspicions grow when she waits to reveal that there was an eyewitness. As the gravity of the situation intensifies, Benson and Stabler find themselves in a race to track down the witness and get a testimony before it is too late.

    Director:N/A

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  20. undefined Season 5 Episode 3 - Mother
    8.0/10(11 votes)

    #20 - Mother

    S5:E3

    A psychiatrist with unconventional methods is found sexually assaulted, unconscious and near death in a crack house. It's easier said than done to get her to cooperate with the investigation as they are hampered by doctor-patient confidentiality as she may have been attacked by one of her patients.

    Director:N/A

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  21. undefined Season 2 Episode 8 - Taken
    8.0/10(13 votes)

    #21 - Taken

    S2:E8

    The case of a seventeen-year-old rape victim during a gala for the opening of a luxury hotel takes a strange turn when her immediate family tries to keep the scandal quiet. Detectives soon discover that the girl isn't the innocent that she pretends to be. Benson struggles to deal with her mother's death and she learns about her past.

    Director:N/A

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  22. undefined Season 1 Episode 16 - The Third Guy
    8.0/10(14 votes)

    #22 - The Third Guy

    S1:E16

    An elderly woman is found tied up and sexually assaulted in her apartment, and suspicion is initially on the young men that had broken into her home and robbed her, but once the detectives are surprised to learn that the rape was committed after the robbery – by someone else.

    Director:N/A

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  23. undefined Season 8 Episode 1 - Informed
    8.0/10(5 votes)

    #23 - Informed

    S8:E1

    Benson is called in after a young woman shows up at the hospital, raped and beaten with her head shaved. Haley Kerns refuses to submit to a rape kit, but Benson steals her underwear before leaving the apartment and gives it to Warner to check out. When Benson returns to her apartment she encounters Star Morrison, who admits that Haley is a federal informant working with them on eco-terrorism. After Stabler is wounded while out on a search with Morrison, Benson and she work to get information from Haley before the eco-terrorists can strike.

    Director:N/A

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  24. undefined Season 3 Episode 11 - Front Page News
    8.0/10(5 votes)

    #24 - Front Page News

    S3:E11

    Jamie must deal with the emotional consequences of his actions on the job. Meanwhile, Erin questions Mayor Poole on the witness stand.

    Director:N/A

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  25. undefined Season 1 Episode 4 - Hysteria
    7.9/10(23 votes)

    #25 - Hysteria

    S1:E4

    When a young African-American woman is found dead, she is initially believed to be a prostitute and the latest in a long line of victims, but when looking into her home life Benson and Stabler realize that she does not fit the pattern, and may not be connected to the other deaths after all, but the other deaths have a connection no one anticipated.

    Director:N/A

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Dawn DeNoon Ratings Summary

"Prodigy" is the best rated episode written by Dawn DeNoon. It scored 8.8/10 based on 10 votes. It was directed by N/A. It aired on 1/18/2002 and is rated 0.0 points higher than their second-best episode, "Infiltrated".