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| “ | I love all the women in Accredo, and they love me. | „ |
| ~ Beck bragging about his power over his victims. |
Arlo Beck is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Accredo". He is a charismatic motivational speaker and con artist who manipulates women into sleeping with him, giving him all their money, and even killing for him through his "empowerment seminars".
He was portrayed by Sebastian Roché, who also portrayed Clarence "C-Square" Carmichael in the original Law & Order and Balthazar in Supernatural.
Early life[]
Beck started Accredo, a series of motivational seminars marketed toward successful, career-oriented women who want more from their personal lives, five years before the events of the episode with his then-wife Marina Basso. However, she eventually divorced him after he became possessive and controlling toward her, as well as cheating on her with Accredo's intake coordinator, Lilah Finch.
To lure women into Accredo, he fabricated an incredible biography in which he was educated at Cambridge and deferred a post-doctoral appointment at NASA to move to the Amazon, where he spent three years studying an indigenous tribe to "learn the true meaning of happiness". Handsome, intelligent, and charismatic, he listened to his clients' problems and told them what they wanted to hear about "having it all", until they would do anything for him. He preyed on their devotion, getting them to sleep with him by making them believe he was the only man in the world who loved and understood them. He also talked them into signing over most or all of their money to him, turning Accredo into a combination of a con game and a cult.
The power he held over the women in Accredo eventually went to his head, and he began calling himself their "lord", and they his "serfs". When one of his "serfs", Vicki Parson, tired of his possessiveness and decided to leave Accredo, Beck was outraged, and ordered Lilah to kill her. Lilah did as she was told and stabbed Vicki to death, mutilating and sexually assaulting her post-mortem to make her death look like the work of a rapist.
In "Accredo"[]
Captain Olivia Benson and Detective Amanda Rollins of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit investigate Vicki's murder, and learn of her membership in Accredo. Rollins and her partner, Detective Dominick Carisi Jr., tell Beck about Vicki's death, and he feigns grief. He also zeroes in Rollins, who is several months pregnant, telling her that pregnancy suits her, but that he can tell that she fears the loss of physical control that goes along with it. Rollins is deeply unsettled by Beck's remarks, but still manages to question Beck and Finch about Vicki's murder. They steer the detectives toward suspecting Vicki's ex-boyfriend, Brad Simon, who had put naked photos of her online and posted death threats on her Facebook page.
Carisi and Sergeant Fin Tutuola question Simon and search his apartment, where they find Vicki's blood on his shoes. They arrest Simon, who claims to have been at a bar with another woman at the time of the murder. The detectives find security camera footage of Simon leaving the bar with Gina Goodrich, who turns out to be another member of Accredo. Benson and Rollins question Gina, who backs up Simon's alibi. They also talk to Beck, who once again needles Rollins, insinuating that she became a police officer to get back at men who have hurt and disappointed her, and saying that he can tell she is not married to her unborn child's father.
Benson and Rollins question Basso, who tells them of Beck's tendency to manipulate and control women, while Tutuola and Carisi talk to Goodrich's husband, who tells them that Beck brainwashed his wife into becoming his sex slave. He also shows Tutuola a photo of Gina sexually dominating Vicki, which gives him probable cause to bring her in for questioning. As Benson, Rollins, and Carisi interrogate her, Gina explains that she was helping Vicki through one of Accredo's exercises, which she calls "starting over", so she could reach her full potential; as Gina's "serf", Vicki had to do what she said or she would not advance to the next level of realization. Disgusted, Rollins screams at her to get down on the floor and puts her foot on her back, and mockingly asks if she feels empowered now, before Benson finally pulls her off of Gina.
Playing the "good cop", Benson tells Gina that Beck is nothing but a con artist, and not worth going to prison for the rest of her life. Frightened, Gina says that Lilah killed Vicki, and then ordered her to put blood on Simon's shoes to frame him. She then explains that, to get into Accredo, women must give Beck the deeds to their houses, naked photos as "collateral", and then he brands them with a tattoo reading "AHM", which stands for for "At His Mercy". Benson gets a warrant for Lilah's fitness tracker, which shows that her heart rate went up at the exact time that Gina said the murder took place.
Rollins and Carisi arrest Beck and Lilah and separate them, with Benson interrogating Lilah and Rollins and Carisi interrogating Beck. Benson convinces Lilah to turn on Beck and tell them what he made her do in return for a chance to get out of prison before she turns 50, and then confronts Beck himself, calling him the worst kind of predator - one who makes his victims believe he cares about them. Beck responds with an arrogant smirk, and once again tries to antagonize Rollins, saying that he can tell that she does not love her baby's father. Rollins replies that, while she made mistakes with men, she is strong enough to stand up to men like him.
After Beck is arraigned on sex trafficking, larceny, and fraud charges, he posts bail thanks to his lawyer - and lover - Claudia Bell. Rollins confronts Bell outside of court and asks her why she lets a man like Beck manipulate her. She then tells Bell that they are both damaged when it comes to love, but that they are both strong enough to know what is right and to stand up for themselves. Bell realizes that Rollins is right, and makes an anonymous phone call to the police letting them know that Beck is about to flee the country in his private jet, a violation of his bail agreement. Benson and Rollins go to the airport in Westchester County, where Beck and Basso are being arrested by local police. Beck starts to make a wisecrack at Benson and Rollins, but Basso tells him to shut up. Beck is then found guilty and imprisoned for life, while Lilah takes a plea bargain in which she will serve 10 years in prison in return for her testimony against him.
Trivia[]
- Beck is inspired by Keith Raniere, the former leader of the NXIVM cult.
External links[]
- Arlo Beck on the Law & Order Wiki
