Law & Order/SVU Crossover Recap: Benson Goes to the Mothership When AI Romance Turns D*adly

When the creator of an AI-boyfriend app turns up dead in this week’s Law & Order, the quick identification of the likely murderer brings about the appearance of one Capt. Olivia “I’ve Seen Some Stuff” Benson.

And that’s why Mariska Hargitay crosses over to the mothership series in Thursday’s episode, which kicks off with the killing of Tyler, the aforementioned tech bro who has built an artificial intelligence app that serves as the perfect partner. Lots of people hate the app, including the guy who claims Tyler stole his code, and another dude whose fianceé left him because she was in love with her fake app boyfriend. But ultimately, a drug addict who happened to be in the park that night leads them to Laura (played by The Deuce‘s Emily Meade), a young woman who surrenders quickly and quietly when Riley and Shaw go to her place of work.

All of the evidence indicates that Laura is the killer. But she won’t say why she did it. And as Brady and Nolan are discussing how to figure out her motive, they run into Benson, who’s waiting in Brady’s office.

Liv announces that she knows Laura because the young woman was raped three years earlier. And she’s incensed when she learns that their DNA evidence on Laura is from a search of the local database… which Laura was only in because she agreed to undergo a rape kit. The judge ultimately rules that the DNA evidence is admissible — to which Laura’s lawyer, Rita Calhoun, strenuously objects — but also that Benson can testify to how Laura’s trauma might have affected her actions.

Nolan cross-examines Benson, pointing out that she had no idea what was running through Laura’s mind at the time of the murder, but Benson shoots back a speech about how Tyler was stalking Laura and how the police never took her seriously, even when she tried to file an order of protection. And when Laura takes the stand, she explains how she and Tyler went on a few dates but he wouldn’t leave her alone when she was no longer interested. She puts forth that Tyler had a god complex, and that he had to make her succumb to his romantic overtures or else kill her so that he wouldn’t be a failure.

And if that seems a) flimsy; b) kinda weird, even for this franchise; and/or c) a giant leap, I’m right there with ya. Anyhoodle, Nolan uses his questioning of Laura to point out that Tyler never outright threatened her. In a meeting in Baxter’s office after, though, Benson suggests that the D.A.’s office give Laura a plea deal. Nolan is against the idea, but then Baxter shows him a front-page newspaper story about NYPD using victims’ DNA — which Liv clearly leaked to the reporter — and suggests that he go along with the deal idea.

So they offer Laura a charge of manslaughter 1, and 10 years in prison, but she refuses to take the plea deal. Liv rips into Nolan, wondering if he has any empathy for what Laura has gone through, but he points out the fact: Laura killed an innocent man.

He hits the same points in his closing argument, and Laura is found guilty of murder in the second degree. Benson swings by his office afterward, where Nolan lets her know that Baxter is planning a press conference to announce that they’ll no longer use the local database. He asks her to attend, and she says she will.