'Law & Order: SVU' Season 16 Spoilers: Plot Recap for Episode 16 'December Solstice'
On a brand new episode of "Law & Order: SVU," a woman is accused of abusing her elderly husband, who's a famous author, and his health and his fortune becomes the focal points of a battle between his wife and his daughters from his previous marriages.
"December Solstice" starts with an affluent-looking man making the rounds at a party, looking slightly dazed. His younger wife leads him to the car, and as they are about to leave, two women run up to the car and tells the man—who happens to be their father—that his new wife has banned them from the house and won't let them see him. The man, Walter Briggs, doesn't seem to recognize his own daughters.
The next day, the women, Judith and Delilah, head to the police station and they tell Olivia that their father is being raped by his wife Charmaine. According to them, the housekeeper told them that Charmaine has been secretly dosing their father with Viagra and forcing him to have sex with her so that she could get pregnant and the baby can get a share of the estate. They consider it as rape since their father is 80 years old and has dementia.
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Carisi talks to the Briggs' housekeeper and she confirms the sisters' story. Rollins and Carisi talk to Walter and Charmaine, but he insists that he enjoys being intimate with his wife.
Later, Carisi and Rollins receive a call from the hospital saying that Walter has been brought into the ER and was having a heart attack. Olivia and the team rush over to the hospital, only to find out that Charmaine has sneaked Walter away in a private ambulance.
In the ambulance, it is revealed that Charmaine is planning to take her husband to Canada. When the ambulance driver refused to take them to the airport, Charmaine leads her husband out of the ambulance and into a cab.
Nick and Carisi track the couple down at the airport, and Charmaine tells them that she has every right to take her husband on vacation. They retort that she does not have Walter's best interests in mind. A judge rules that Walter should go back to the hospital and that his daughters will get visitation rights.
The next day, Walter dies. It was confirmed that that Charmaine had a specialist extract his sperm after he died so that she could try to get pregnant. Murder charges are pressed against Charmaine.
In court, Judith, Delilah and Charmaine all get a video message from Walter on their cellphones. In the video, Walter rages at his daughters and tells that that they failed to treat his new wife well.
Later, the three women fight over what Walter would have wanted. Charmaine is offered a plea deal, and she takes it and will plead guilty as long as Judith does not get any rights to Walter's books. Moreover, Charmaine tells them that she hired a surrogate to carry her and Walter's baby.
"Law & Order: SVU" airs on Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
