Olivia Benson Searches for a Suspect Attacking Tourists in ‘Law and Order: SVU’ Season 26 Promo
Manhattan SVU takes on Times Square. While the famous area of the Manhattan Borough is rarely the featured backdrop of Law & Order: SVU, Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her team are tasked with hunting down an assailant with an M.O. for sexually assaulting tourists in this week’s episode, “The Grid Plan.” Airing this Thursday on NBC and next day on Peacock, the episode immediately casts concerns on the safety of Times Square. It’s one of, if not the most well-known areas of New York City, filled with Broadway productions and the location of the famous NYC New Years Eve ball drop.
The logline for the upcoming episode is as follows:
“A Midwestern tourist is viciously attacked in Times Square; as the squad scours the area for clues, the victim takes the investigation into her own hands; a secret motive threatens to derail Carisi’s case.”
All Eyes Are on SVU When a Tourist Is Attacked in Time Square
In the promo, not only do we see that someone is attacking tourists in Times Square, but the attack also garners a lot of media attention. While it’s almost expected that the public record of a crime eventually makes its way to news media outlets, this level of press is unusual for SVU. The media circus doesn’t come unless there is a manhunt for a suspect, a child is missing or kidnapped, or there’s a great risk to public safety. It would seem that the latter is what is causing the media circus in “The Grid Plan.” Journalists ask Benson, who seems overwhelmed by the lights and cameras; How can people expect to feel safe in Times Square with what’s going on? The scene cuts away in the promo before she answers.
According to the logline, a secondary plot in “The Grid Plan” will have to do with the aftermath of the midseason finale. ADA Dominic “Sonny” Carisi (Peter Scanavino) was held hostage in a bodega and is continuing to deal with the trauma left behind. He’s previously confided in Benson about what’s going, as she was the one to tell him he’d nearly cost them a case because he was trying to work and not deal with what happened. Now it seems that something is threatening any kind of justice in the situation. Who’s secret motive though? The defense? Carisi? Maybe his wife, Sgt. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) finds something out. This kind of conflict is reminiscent of Benson finding out the paternity of her adopted son, Noah, in the middle of the case against his biological father. Disclosing the information nearly upended both her and Noah’s lives. Could this “secret motive” do the same for Carisi?
