Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Legacy (2000)

Richard Belzer: Detective John Munch

Photos 

Quotes 

• John Munch : Now I'm a pain in my own ass.

• John Munch : We've been assuming the attacker is male because of the sexual abuse, but suppose it was Jamie all along. It's possible these injuries aren't even sexual.

• Olivia Benson : [Olivia goes up to the roof of the police station at night to find Munch standing at the ledge of the building]  It's good work, John... took a chance with that bluff about Emily coming out of her coma. I'm not sure what we would have done if Jamie had pressed to see her...

  John Munch : [snapping]  She didn't care about the kids!

  Olivia Benson : ...How did you know...?

  John Munch : We searched her house I looked at that four-year-old

  [referring to the little boy who'd been watching Munch in the hallway during the home's investigation] 

  John Munch : it was just like that little girl that used to live across the street from us in our old neighborhood on the Lower East Side. She had that same look in her eyes.

  Olivia Benson : What look?

  John Munch : ...Sad, lost... she used to stand on her porch every afternoon when I came home from school... like she was waiting for me. Sometimes, she'd have a black eye or a bloody lip. Never said anything to me, just looked at me like she was trying to tell me something, but I was too full of my own teenage crap to pay any attention.

  [takes a deep breath, looking on the verge of tears] 

  John Munch : One day, I came home she wasn't there... found out her mother threw her through a plate glass window! Went to the funeral, saw her dad... it's the first time I saw a grown man cry...

  Olivia Benson : [looking shocked]  What happened to the mother?

  John Munch : They sent her to a sanitarium... she told my mother she didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

  [glances to the side, avoiding Olivia's horrified gaze] 

  John Munch : "She was the one that had to get a new window!" Months later, I'd come home and I'd look up at the porch.

  [blinking back tears] 

  John Munch : I swear, I saw that little girl standing there, looking at me with that look... I almost let her down again.

  [walks away sorrowfully, leaving Olivia staring blankly into the distance] 

• Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola : [Munch is stuck in a child sized chair]  Can you move?

  John Munch : If you get me a forklift.

• Jamie McKenna : Emily's a liar.

  John Munch : Now why would she lie?

  Jamie McKenna : Her father poisoned her against me. It's been very painful, very hurtful.

  John Munch : I know, Jamie. Been carrying the pain long enough. Just tell me your side of the story and you can start to heal.

  Jamie McKenna : We were driving home and she wouldn't stop crying, so I pulled over to try and talk to her. But when she told me she and her daddy were leaving me forever, I pulled her out of the car and she hit her head on the curb.

  John Munch : How?

  Jamie McKenna : She fell.

  John Munch : Come on, Jamie.

  Jamie McKenna : I didn't shove her hard. I just wanted her to stop whining so I could talk to her.

  John Munch : Did that stop her?

  Jamie McKenna : It was the first time she was quiet all day and she was sleepy. So when I got home, I put her to bed and Michael and I went to the drugstore, but when we came back, she was crying again. I told her how important it was for her to be a good girl so that her new daddy could love her, too, but she wouldn't stop. It was like she was doing it to spite me.

  John Munch : Is that why you used the hairbrush?

  Jamie McKenna : I had to teach her discipline. My mother used a hairbrush to teach me, but Emily just kept screaming louder and louder. What was I supposed to do?

  John Munch : The only thing you could do.

  Jamie McKenna : I threw her against the wall.

  John Munch : Then what?

  Jamie McKenna : She finally stopped. And then I tucked her into bed, kissed her on her cheek and then I told her I loved her. I just wanted her to stop crying. Was that too much to ask?

• Jamie McKenna : [to Munch]  This is my file. I thought it was sealed.

  John Munch : I have a friend in Children's Services. She remembered you.

  Jamie McKenna : How?

  John Munch : She remembered how nervous her superiors were about investigating an ambassador for sexually abusing his 11-year-old daughter. It must have been a very painful time for you.

  Jamie McKenna : Yes, it was.

  John Munch : How did your mother take it?

  Jamie McKenna : She was jealous because Daddy couldn't stand to touch her, so she sent me away to boarding school. I begged her not to, but what Mother wants, Mother gets.

  John Munch : She abandoned you, Jamie.

  Jamie McKenna : I survived.

• Mrs. Fergus : I haven't seen Denny since yesterday. He's usually working or looking after that sweet little girl of his.

  John Munch : Did he seem upset or agitated when you saw him?

  Mrs. Fergus : Huh?

  John Munch : [speaks louder]  Did he seem upset?

  Mrs. Fergus : You don't have to shout.

• John Munch : [about Jamie]  She seems almost disappointed.

  Olivia Benson : Her husband may never walk, her daughter's in a coma, her stepson is going to jail and her ex-boyfriend's facing deportation. She's not disappointed, Munch. She's numb.

• Henry Abidin : [introducing himself]  Henry Abidin.

  Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola : Odafin Tutuola.

  Henry Abidin : Oh, Tutuola. "The gentle one."

  Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola : You know Yoruban?

  Henry Abidin : In my business, one tends to know a little about a lot.

  John Munch : John Munch. Romanian. "The handsome one."

• John Munch : Hi Jennifer. I'm Detective Munch.

  Jennifer : [giggles]  That's a funny name. Munch.

  John Munch : You think that's funny? I guess if I ever have kids, I'll have to call them munchkins.

  Jennifer : [giggles]