Spoilers ahead for Episode 13 of Law & Order: SVU Season 24, called “Intersection.”
Law & Order: SVU is moving forward after the arc that saw Olivia Benson and her son targeted, the Manhattan squad heading over to the Bronx to solve their Special Victims cases for them, Duarte being murdered, and a loaded moment between Benson and Organized Crime’s Stabler at the very end. “Intersection” proved that the captain wasn’t leaving everything from that case behind, as she still had the recording of Velasco crossing a few lines to get information from a prisoner. After this episode, I find myself wondering: is SVU about to lose another detective in the same season that already said goodbye to Kelli Giddish as Amanda Rollins?
And it all started with Velasco potentially setting himself up to be booted from the unit! As fans may remember from the end of the Oscar Papa arc, Velasco was recorded confessing to a murder to a prisoner to try and get him to talk. Now, the Law & Order franchise has hardly been going for 30+ years without cops lying to perps to try and get information out of them, but Velasco deliberately getting another detective out of the room before making the confession – with no idea that anybody other than the prisoner could hear him – seems a whole lot sketchier than anything that would happen in an interrogation room with plenty of observers.
Benson didn’t confront Velasco about it in “Intersection,” but rather went to Muncy. She and Velasco have bonded over the episodes since she joined Special Victims, and he spent several scenes of this episode trying to get her to open up about her grief for Duarte after his murder. Muncy was visibly shocked by what she heard on the recording, with Velasco saying to the perp:
You know, I grew up a lot like you. I’ve seen a lot of people get murdered. And the second my nuts dropped, my boss, he put a gun in my hand and made me blow this guy away. I’ve never told anybody that, until now.
Muncy went on to insist to Benson that Velasco was just lying and saying whatever he could think of to try to get the information that he needed, but she looked like she was trying to convince herself as much as her boss. For her part, Benson was not convinced, and she told Muncy to take a few days off, not answer if he calls her, and not to breathe a word of it to anybody or else she’d be working patrol on the midnight shift.
Quite aside from Benson not making a threat like that lightly to one of the detectives under her command, she’s clearly taking the situation very seriously and proceeding as if Velasco did indeed confess to murder. Of course, SVU revealed before that Velasco had a difficult childhood (to say the least) and ran with a bad crowd; between that and his phrasing that was caught on tape, it sounds like something he was forced into when he was young.
No matter the circumstances, there may just be no way for Velasco to stay on if it turns out that there’s any more to that confession than just him making up a story to trick a prisoner into giving the dirt they needed on BX9. Plus, there are more factors that may point toward Special Victims losing another detective.
After Bruno spent several episodes impressing Fin and then was able to impress Benson in “Intersection,” he was invited to take Rollins’ old desk in the Manhattan Special Victims squad. If he does indeed join full time and both Muncy and Velasco stay, that would mean Benson’s unit being pretty full. After Muncy was cast, I took it to mean that Molly Burnett was replacing Kelli Giddish. If Bruno is joining, does that mean he’ll be replacing somebody on the way out as well?
It’s hard to say at this point, and it’s worth noting that even though Velasco hasn’t been around all that long, he’s still the most senior of the detectives in Special Victims at this point. I’ve also come to like Muncy and liked Bruno right off the bat, so I’m not sure I’d want to see any of the three go. Who knows? Maybe Special Victims is just going to expand rather than bringing one detective in before writing another out. The promo for the next episode doesn’t shed any light, although it does suggest that Ice-T fans are in for a treat:
After losing Rollins, the last thing that Benson needs is another one of her detectives leaving. At least it seems safe to say that Fin isn’t going anywhere, based on what Ice-T had to say about not wanting to go anywhere! See what’s in store with new episodes of Law & Order: SVU on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, between Law & Order at 8 p.m. and Law & Order: Organized Crime at 10 p.m. You can also revisit earlier episodes streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, and find more viewing options on our 2023 TV premiere schedule.
