Law & Order/Recap/S13/E02 Shangri La

We open with the body of a female high school teacher being found in the janitor's closet. Along the investigation, Detectives Briscoe and Green discover that she was part of a love triangle: both she and one of her students were dating another teacher, Mr. Bergen. As you might guess, said student is underage. The Detectives go to the other teachers apartment to find him playing around with the aforementioned student, Fiona Reed, with both parties only wearing their undergarments. Both are arrested.

As the trial goes on, it is discovered that Fiona is not who she says she is. She is actually a woman in her twenties instead of a sixteen year old high school student. Jack and Serena discover that every time she turned "eighteen", she would run away from her foster family and to a new town, with a new name and a new sobstory to gain sympathy, and started back at sixteen. It turns out that the victim once taught "Fiona" in another town, under a previous identity. "Fiona" killed her so she could keep her secret. Skoda tells Serena that youth is her safety net, so to speak. They bring in Fiona, her lawyer, and her foster mother to talk about a deal. After laying out her plan to get acquitted, her foster mother offers to testify. She takes the deal.


 * Dawson Casting: Subverted. Fiona is first presented as a sixteen year old, her actress is about 20.  Then they go and reveal that the character is about 26.
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: Fiona says that she didn't get the part in a recent school play because she "didn't look mature enough". Keep that in mind when they reveal that she's at least 26.
 * Oh Crap: This is basically Fiona's response to her mother saying "What about me, Fiona? They'll believe me."
 * Smug Snake: "Fiona", in spades!