  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | The first to flinch loses... I don't flinch. | „ |
| ~ John Conway trying to dominate the SVU detectives. |
John Conway is the main antagonist of the two-part Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Man Up"/"Man Down". He is an abusive father who rapes his own son, Sam, to "teach him a lesson" about showing weakness.
He was portrayed by Dylan Walsh, who portrayed Malcolm Royce in an earlier episode of the same series and Grady Edwards in the 2009 remake of The Stepfather.
Biography[]
John is a cruel, abusive bully who maintains total control over his family with violence and manipulation. He is especially abusive to his sons, Brian and Sam, whipping them and insulting their masculinity if they cry, show fear or compassion, or fail in any other way to live up to his toxic ideal of manhood. He also keeps his wife, Molly, in a state of terrified obedience by threatening to leave her and take their sons unless she does whatever he tells her.
"Man Up"[]
Sam is first seen on a hunting trip with Brian and Sam. He shoots and mortally wounds a rabbit, and tells Sam to finish it off by slitting its throat. When Sam cannot bring himself to kill the rabbit, John chastises him for letting the animal suffer, and puts it out of its misery snapping its neck. He then tells Sam, "You just need to learn - and you will."
That night, John rapes Sam to punish him for showing weakness. Molly walks in on the rape, but John forces her to keep silent and destroy evidence of the rape by washing Sam's bloodstained underwear.
The following day, Sam goes to the nurse's office at school bleeding from the rectum, claiming to have fallen. The nurse suspects sexual abuse, however, and calls the NYPD's Special Victims Unit. While Detective Dominick Carisi Jr. tries unsuccessfully to get Sam to tell him what happened, Sam throws his weight around until Lieutenant Olivia Benson has no choice but to release Sam into his custody.
When Brian attacks Sam at school for talking to the police, the SVU detectives arrest him, believing that he is sexually abusing Sam. John shows up at the SVU precinct and lies about Sam having sex with another boy on the hunting trip to explain his injuries. When Benson appears skeptical, John intimidates Sam into going along with the lie. Benson and Carisi go to the Conways' home and question Molly, who admits to seeing John rape Sam. John comes home moments later, and Benson and Carisi arrest him.
Assistant District Attorney Peter Stone charges John with rape and child sexual abuse, and charges Molly as an un-indicted co-conspirator so she can testify against him. John's lawyer tricks her into saying that she does not really know what happened, however, and Sam lies that his father did not hurt him, so the jury finds him not guilty. John then tells Sam, "I don't know why I bother."
"Man Down"[]
After the verdict, Sam brings one of John's hunting rifles to school and opens fire, killing two other students and wounding several others. The SVU detectives respond to the shooting, and Carisi manages to talk Sam out of committing suicide and persuades him to give himself up. John goes to the SVU precinct and hits Sam in the face in front of the detectives, who have to hold him back. He then forces Sam to plead guilty, and the boy receives a life sentence. Stone charges John with criminally negligent homicide, arguing that his abuse drove Sam to commit the shooting.
During the trial, John says that he only wanted his sons to grow up to be men. In rebuttal, Stone calls Sam to testify about the way John raised him, as Sam reluctantly tells the jury that, whenever he fell short of his father's ideal of manliness, John would call him girl's names and make him wear his mother's dresses. When Stone asks Sam what he was thinking when he committed the shooting, Sam looks angrily at his father and says, "Be a man." The jury agrees with Stone's closing argument that John taught Sam to equate manhood with violence, and finds him guilty.
External Links[]
- John Conway on the Law & Order Wiki
