"Payback" is the pilot episode of the police procedural television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the first spinoff of the original Law & Order series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on September 20, 1999. In the episode, the detectives of the Special Victims Unit investigate a taxi-cab driver's brutal murder and castration. Detective Olivia Benson becomes personally involved in the case after discovering that the taxi driver was a rapist and murderer himself.

Mili Avital is an Israeli-American actress. She built an international career, starting in her native Israel, starring on stage, film and television. She won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1991, moved to New York in 1993 to study theater in English, was discovered by an agent while working in a restaurant, and started acting in Hollywood almost immediately. She has maintained her career in both countries since.