Law & Order: SVU rarely delivers serialized arcs, but Carisi had an ongoing story from the end of 2024 into the 2025 TV schedule after his traumatic hostage situation. The drama seemingly wrapped that arc with the "Accomplice Liability" episode, which aired on April 3 and is streaming now with a Peacock subscription. The arc that really showcased Peter Scanavino also brought Kelli Giddish back as Rollins, and the episode that finally saw the bad guy convicted included some powerful Rollisi moments. In fact, I expected those to be my favorite parts of "Accomplice Liability," but the MVP for me was guest star Paige Herschell.
This whole arc has been fantastic for Peter Scanavino, and the promo for "Accomplice Liability" had me excited ahead of time for Kelli Giddish's performance when Rollins was on the stand. Plus, those two have been great together going back to when Carisi and Rollins first partnered up. I knew they'd be fantastic in this episode.
What I didn't know was that SVU was bringing back Paige Herschell with Tess at the center of the story. When I covered the winter finale back in November 2024, I even took a break from singing Peter Scanavino's praises to credit the guest star's performance, because Tess' scream after finally reaching safety after being assaulted was downright chilling.
I honestly found in validating in "Accomplice Liability" when Velasco commented that he'd watch over Tess himself because he'd been there at the deli, and he'd "never forget that scream." You and me both, Velasco! SVU even made sure that scream would be fresh in viewers' memories by including it in the recap at the beginning of the hour.
The episode went on to reveal that Tess went through even worse in the walk-in cooler than had been shown in the winter finale in 2024, which added more context to her state in "Accomplice Liability." She'd begun relying on drugs, and stole from a friend to try and get more. Tess was in and out of the hospital in the span of just this one episode, and her testimony on the stand was so good that it was hard to watch. Season 26 has been strong when it comes to showcasing victims in some different ways, which was "so much fun" for another guest star.
Admittedly, I've been saying that this arc is hard to watch ever since that first episode in the deli, which led to a full episode of Carisi bringing that traumatic experience into work with him until he got the wake-up call he needed from Benson. Paige Herschell's performance of course isn't the only standout part of this arc, but I do hope that her work on SVU leads to even bigger things for her. She's had guest roles on shows like The Orville, Lioness, Billions, and FBI elsewhere in the nine-show Dick Wolf TV universe.
Big things are on the way for the Law & Order corner of that TV universe, as SVU and the original series will join forces for a two-part crossover on Thursday, April 17 starting at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. And if that wasn't enough, NBC will also air the Season 5 premiere of Law & Order: Organized Crime in its old 10 p.m. ET time slot, before the rest of the season releases exclusively on Peacock.
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