Law & Order: SVU ended 2022 by saying goodbye to longtime series regular Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins, and will hit the ground running in the new year with what will clearly be a dangerous winter premiere for Captain Benson. A gang will target her, which will mean bringing in Captain Duarte from the Bronx gang unit. Maurice Compte, who debuted as Duarte earlier in Season 24, spoke with CinemaBlend about the episode and conflict on the way with Benson.
According to the episode description from NBC, Benson will become the target of a ruthless gang leader; based on the promo, she may be facing retaliation from BX9 for Special Victims putting some gang members behind bars for rape back in the fall. That case introduced Duarte from the Bronx gang unit, and he and Benson got off on the wrong foot. He wanted to give immunity to the rapists to hopefully get evidence against their vicious gang leader; Benson’s focus was on getting justice for the rape victim.
When asked what Duarte’s dynamic with the SVU captain looks like in the winter premiere compared to when they first butted heads, the Narcos and Power alum started by praising Mariska Hargitay for her portrayal of Benson’s drive to help and heal. He said:
Mariska is such a force on the show, and I think there's something so comforting about watching. The subject matter is usually very dark to deal with on the show, but people watch that show and part of the success of the show is that it's comfort food for many people. When they're sick, when you have a cold, and you feel terrible, you just want to lay back and watch fifteen episodes of SVU until you feel better. And it's because of Mariska's character. It's [Benson’s] mothering ways of wanting to bring justice, but also heal things, heal wounds and heal internal wounds. I think a lot of people watching this show feel seen. They feel heard, and that is the ultimate homage to any actor.
For as much as Law & Order: SVU informs viewers at the beginning of every episode that the show is about offenses that are considered “especially heinous,” there’s a reason why fans have been tuning in over more than 20 years and 500 episodes. As somebody who has definitely binge-watched some SVU via a TV marathon or Peacock subscription when feeling under the weather, I'd say that Benson truly has been the heart of the franchise.
Her desire to help victims heal and get back to their lives is part of what motivated her to go up against Duarte in the fall, pushing for the surefire convictions of rapists over some hypothetical evidence against a gang leader. Maurice Compte went on to address how Duarte sees the situation:
I think that what happens here with Benson and Duarte is that sometimes justice has to supersede your need to heal people and bring them home… I think that once you ring a bell, you can't unring it. Those characters rang a bell, and they can't unring it. And now the consequences have to follow, to some extent.
Who could have known that the consequences of putting the rapists behind bars would be danger for Benson herself? She and Duarte clearly have different ideas of priorities when it comes to justice; it remains to be seen which will be enough to close the case, or if they can find a solution that fits for them both. Compte continued:
I think Duarte represents… blind justice. I think he's had experiences that went well beyond the day to day, and he saw some very dark situations with human beings. I think that is what Duarte represents. Ultimately, Benson would like to see a road of redemption, and I think that becomes our central conflict.
Is there a middle ground between one captain who wants to see redemption and another captain who represents blind justice? A lot may depend on what actually happens to Benson after she's targeted in the winter premiere. The preview for the episode reveals that she’s going to be injured, and a young man will point a machete at her, but there are more questions than answers. Take a look:
Tune in to NBC on Thursday, January 5 at 9 p.m. ET for the winter premiere of Law & Order: SVU, ahead of Law & Order: Organized Crime raising the stakes for one detective by sending him undercover at 10 p.m. See when more big shows return to the small screen with our 2023 TV premiere schedule now. SVU ended 2022 by addressing Benson’s feelings about Stabler as well as saying goodbye to Rollins, but it sounds like she may have much larger concerns than feelings for her former partner in the new year.
