Law & Order: SVU Finale Recap: Some Surprising News Has Major Impact on a Member of Liv's Team — Plus, Grade It!
The Season 26 finale instead focuses on a gruesome serial killer who preyed on mental health professionals. The case of the week kicks off with an attack on a therapist, Gretchen (played by Breaking Bad's Betsy Brandt), who was bludgeoned and raped in her brownstone. Pages from the notebook in which she keeps her session notes were ripped out, causing Olivia & Co. to theorize that a patient or former patient was behind the crime.
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Benson's team think they know who did it, and they attempt to corner the guy (who, yep, is a former patient) while he's trapped in traffic on a highway on-ramp. But the man sees them coming and starts shooting at them as he hops out of his car and runs. Eventually, Velasco and Bruno get him to put down the weapon… but then the guy hops over the roadway's railing, falling to grievous injury on a car below. He dies on the way to the hospital.
Only problem: The guy who died had an alibi, and he wasn't the person who attacked Gretchen. Even worse, another therapist is attacked in the same manner, only the new victim's eyes are gouged out. (Eew.)
After an investigation that stretches to Connecticut, the squad finds its guy, who's working as a manager at a rental-car company in Manhattan. Bruno literally hops buildings to follow the perp as he runs, but he and Velasco eventually corner and arrest the man, who is, indeed, in need of serious psychiatric help.
In other news, Velasco gets promoted to Detective Second Grade, an occasion that the squad marks with a surprise gathering at a nearby bar. And at the end of the episode, Benson and her officers don their dress blues and attend the ceremony in which Velasco is officially promoted.
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Grade it, and the season as a whole, via the polls below. Then, hit the comments with your thoughts!
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It was really psychologically crushing, and so giving myself two years to contemplate, 'How do I do this? Can I do this? Does this make me happy?' and developing a career and a strategy that upheld my number one goal, which was to make sure my mental health was the priority. Then my number two goal was I want to make the records I want, how I want, in the genre I want, that's going to be how it is. It's going to be an adventure." "The choices I made in my career, especially in the '90s, were considered suicidal–career suicide. Taking two years off at the height of my fame was a huge no-no. Switching genres was a huge no-no, but it's what I needed to do to keep myself psychologically healthy and creatively healthy. I had to deal with a lot of people saying, 'Oh, she's washed-up. She doesn't know what to do for her third album.' Completely misunderstood, and to make sure that didn't bother me, and that's your decision. It has to be water off a duck's back. You persevere because you believe you made the right decision," she said. Are there any other actors you thought would be major stars, but their careers never quite took off? Let us know in the comments (or in the anonymous comments box below)! Note: Some responses have been edited for length/clarity. Do you love all things TV and movies? Subscribe to the Screen Time newsletter to get your weekly dose of what to watch next and what everyone is flailing over from someone who watches everything!
