Villainess Review: Sheila Porter (Law & Order: SVU)

To this day, I still remember the five-episode arc from Season 19 of Law & Order: SVU that gave us the legendary Brooke Shields; I even remember Shields promoting her SVU appearance. She kept the details of her character under wraps, but as we saw in the final moments of the episode, "Contrapasso," Shields was introduced as Sheila Porter, the maternal grandmother of Olivia Benson's adopted son, Noah Porter. This was a surprise to Olivia, as she had known Noah's late mother, Ellie Porter, and had believed that Ellie's mother had been deceased for some time.

Sheila's debut wasn't quite that warm, as the episode, "Complicated," would see Sheila file for custody of her grandson and act as a bit of an antagonist against Olivia. However, by the end of that episode, Sheila became an ally and a friend to Olivia, as both of them worked together in raising Noah. They were quite the united front as shown in her next appearances in "Unintended Consequences" and "Intent," however, as I watched this and enjoyed their bond, I couldn't help but sense a heel turn from Sheila, I just didn't know how it would happen. Then "Intent" ended with Sheila and Noah at a mall together, only for Sheila to suddenly panic after not being able to find Noah. My exact thoughts came in the form of three words: "There it is."

Now, "Intent" was the last episode before the holiday break, which meant I had several weeks to wait and see if my theory was correct. The first episode after the break, "Gone Baby Gone," picked up where "Intent" ended, and saw a frantic Sheila assisting Olivia on the search for Noah; however, thanks to Dominick Carisi, the truth came out, as Sheila had planned this whole thing. Carisi's evidence: a car seat bought by Sheila before the abduction. As it turned out, Sheila, feeling that she should have full custody of Noah, masterminded her grandson's abduction, with her gardener/lover Juan Ortoli as her co-conspirator. Juan's role was due to Sheila slandering Olivia and accusing her of neglect and abuse, and it was Juan who took Noah at the mall and gave him to Sheila. As Juan was told, Sheila would take Noah to his cabin, and the three of them would be together as a family, but a confrontation with Juan saw his cabin empty--revealing that Sheila was manipulating him.

Olivia figured out that Sheila had another cabin belonging to her sister, and went there to search for Noah, only to be attacked from behind by the fully heel Sheila, who took Olivia's gun and point it at her. Sheila was in true villainess mode; attacking Olivia's efforts as a mother and saying that her job would prevent her from being a good mother. She even resorted to saying that Olivia could just simply "sign a piece of paper" and adopt another child, but once Noah emerged, Sheila put down the gun, allowing Olivia to get Noah out and prevent Sheila from getting to him. Sheila broke down afterwards, and she was later arrested.

To the surprise of no one, Brooke Shields truly shined as Sheila Porter during Season 19's arc. In the early episodes, we saw Sheila as a caring grandmother to Noah, as well as a kind ally to Olivia; however, Sheila's heel turn in "Gone Baby Gone" transformed her into a sinister and manipulative villainess bent on having Noah to herself, at all costs. Shields portrayed Sheila's warmth and kindness very well in the early episodes, and acted out Sheila's true colors and callous nature to perfection in "Gone Baby Gone." The climactic confrontation between Sheila and Olivia in that episode was one of the most shining moments in SVU's 20+ year history, as we see pure emotion coming from both women, though in the case of Sheila, it was less than noble due to her callous comments about Olivia's parenting.

Recently, Law & Order's YouTube page released a video ranking SVU's best villains, listing the top eight in the show's history. Sheila Porter ranked #8 and was the only female villain featured in the video, which can be seen here.

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Click here for Sheila Porter's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!