It’s blast from the (recent) past time!
On Law & Order: SVU Season 24 Episode 21, Muncy suspected that a new victim died at the hands of Elias Olsen, the man she hit with her radio earlier in the season.
And Benson and Carisi’s case had a connection to the perp Stabler put away on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 24 Episode 20, giving Benson the perfect excuse to call Stabler!
I was wondering why Stabler investigated such a non-urgent, easily solved case. Now we have our answer: Junior Suarez uses his furloughs to rape and murder! I should have realized it when Benson and Carisi went to Staten Island since Bell and Stabler did, too, during the original case!
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the numerous rape cases Benson and the team are looking into. Suarez only committed some of the rapes, so Benson and Stabler’s priority must be finding the connection between him, the other rapist(s), and the victims.
So far, the only connection between the victims is that most of them either broke up with a man or were harassed by one. Yet no two victims dealt with the same ex before their attack, so is that a pattern or a coincidence?
Benson and Carisi were surprised that Harvey had nothing to do with his almost-ex’s rape, but I wasn’t. His declaration that he regretted being out of town when Rose was attacked felt genuine.
That case also felt like an outlier — most of the women were younger and had recently ended a relationship. These two had been married a long time, and their divorce wasn’t final at the time of the attack.
With this many similar cases, it’s not guaranteed they’re all related, even though it seems like it. A copycat could be floating around, although this rapist had some idiosyncracies that might be hard to duplicate.
Still, taking a selfie mid-rape is probably more common than we’d like to believe, and it’s possible that a copycat took pains to learn his victims’ names.
There may also be a rapist-for-hire out there, probably affiliated with BX9 or a mob family, but it’s a big coincidence if people from all walks of life hired the same person.
Oscar Papas had declared Benson off-limits, but will BX9 listen to him now that he’s in jail? Or will the perp go after her eventually?
Let’s hope not! We’ve had enough Benson-in-danger stories, even if Bensler fans might appreciate Stabler rescuing Benson this time.
Meanwhile, Muncy got a second chance to nail Elias Olsen, though he almost got the better of her.
I”m not sure why we needed to resurrect this character, but Muncy did a good job proving he killed that man.
Was this supposed to be a redemption story for Muncy?
Get an autopsy, stay in touch, and this time make sure your radio stays where it belongs.
Benson
Benson and Elias mentioned Muncy hitting Elias with her radio last time around. Benson told Muncy to stay in control this time. Elias nearly choked Muncy out shortly before being dragged away forever.
All of that felt like a do-over for Muncy. This time, when her instincts and Benson’s opinion were at odds, Muncy managed to crack the case without breaking a thousand rules or begging for another chance.
Instead, she and Churlish worked the case together, and neither one engaged in any behavior more befitting of a preschooler than a detective. Thank goodness!
Churlish even thought Muncy was playing Cagney to her Lacey, and there’s no higher praise than that. (As an aside, the whole Cagney/Lacey bit reminded me of Sandeford’s banter with Bentley on East New York and broke my heart all over again about that show being canceled.)
Churlish and Muncy put aside their differences after CHurlish was drugged and nearly raped on Law & Order: SVU Season 24 Episode 17, and the series has been better for it. They are far more enjoyable as a team than when they are at each other’s throats.
But was anyone surprised that this story had nothing to do with the more extensive investigation the other cops were trying to crack?
In real life, police departments work more than one case at a time, but on TV, it rarely happens. I kept waiting for Benson or Fin to discover Elias’ DNA at one of the crime scenes.
Carisi played hookey from his ADA duties to help Benson investigate. Although he used to work for SVU, it always seems silly when he takes a break from his new job to return to detective work.
Maybe he should have gotten a job as an investigator in the DA’s office instead of as an ADA. That would have made more sense.
I can’t complain too much, though. Working this case allowed Carisi to tell Benson that Rollins is pregnant (YAY!) and that he’s nervous about being a new father.
I loved Benson’s encouraging words. Now all we need is more Carisi and Rollins on-screen, and that’s coming!
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Law & Order: SVU airs on Thursdays at 9 PM EST / PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.