People know Diane Neal these days as ADA Casey Novak, who
replaced Alex Cabot as the SVU squad's prosecutor when Stephanie March left
the series early in the fifth season. Yet the fifth season's Serendipity,
Neal's first appearence as Novak, wasn't her very first appearence on the series.
Two years prior to being cast as Casey Novak, Diane Neal appeared in the third
season SVU episode Ridicule as Amelia Chase, a
suspect in a possible murder who was also one of three women accused of raping
a male stripper at a party gone wild.
Neal is very good as the cold-hearted Chase, a day trader with a dark secret.
One can't help but wonder if the SVU producers remembered her performance here
when they began casting for a replacement for Alex Cabot. Ironically enough,
Neal even has a few scenes with Stephanie March's Cabot, making this episode
the first time these two past and present ADAs acted together--although Neal
was playing a different character. They would share screen time once more as
their ADA characters Novak and Cabot in the sixth season's Ghost
when Alex returns from hiding in the Witness Protection Program.