  |
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. |
| “ | If there's grass on the field, play ball. | „ |
| ~ Parisi rationalizing his pedophilia |
Michael Parisi is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit "Torch". He is a pedophile and pyromaniac who sexually abuses 10-year-old Kedzie Sullivan and is (wrongly) suspected of setting the house fire that killed her and her younger sister.
He was portrayed by Jeremy Allen White.
Early life[]
Parisi is a social outcast with severe acne; his nickname in his neighborhood is "Pizza Face". He is also deeply disturbed, being sexually attracted to both fire and prepubescent girls - the former because it gives him a sense of power, and the latter because he lacks the social skills and emotional maturity to have relationships with adults.
Prior to the events of the episode, he was arrested three different times for child molestation, but each time the victim dropped the charges after he threatened to burn her house down.
Parisi also set several fires in his neighborhood, only to return to the scene and masturbate while he watched the buildings that he targeted burn. He was a person of interest in multiple arsons, but there was never enough evidence to arrest him.
Shortly before the events of the episode, he groped 10-year-old Kedzie Sullivan's genitals. Kedzie was deeply traumatized by the assault, but her narcissistic mother Marcy dismissed the incident as Parisi having a "puppy love" crush on her daughter, despite being more than twice her age.
"Torch"[]
After Kedzie and her younger sister Faye are killed in a housefire that appears to be arson, Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit talk to Marcy and the girls' older half-sister Emily, who both identify Parisi as someone who had been bothering Kedzie. When Emily says that Parisi molested Kedzie, Benson and Stabler look into his criminal record and see a history of pyromania and child sexual abuse, which both detectives believe were motives for the fire.
Benson confronts Parisi about molesting Kedzie, only for Parisi to sneer, "If there's grass on the field, play ball." When Benson tries to arrest Parisi, he takes off running, only for Stabler to knock him to the ground. The detectives then take Parisi into custody.
While interrogating Parisi, Stabler establishes a rapport with him by saying that he, too, had acne as a young man and was ostracized for it, and was so unpopular in high school that he had to take his sister to the prom. He then says that he understands how cruel teenage girls and young women can be and tells Parisi that he can see that he is attracted to little girls because he simply wants someone to be nice to him. When Stabler asks Parisi directly is he touched Kedzie, however, he denies it.
Taking a different tactic, Stabler lights a match in Parisi's face, causing him to immediately become aroused. Stabler lights several matches in Parisi's face while asking him if he touched Kedzie, ultimately provoking Parisi to admit that he "might have copped a feel" on her. Stabler then drops a lit match in a trash can filled with newspaper, causing a small fire. Aroused to the point of orgasm, Parisi says that he set the fire.
Assistant District Attorney (and Stabler's former partner) Jo Marlowe says that the confession will be ruled inadmissible as evidence, however, once the court learns that Stabler used sexual arousal as an interrogation ploy. Sure enough, the confession is thrown out of court and Parisi is released for lack of evidence; this turns out to be for the best, however, as Marlowe discovers that the fire was not the result of arson, but of a short circuit in a space heater. It is left ambiguous whether Parisi serves any prison time for molesting Kedzie.
External links[]
- Michael Parisi on the Law & Order Wiki
