Law & Order: Special Victims Unit doesn’t return until April 3, but fans are still getting a look at the next episode, “Accomplice Liability.” In the promo, ADA Carisi (Peter Scanavino) and Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) are facing the demons of that fateful day in the deli where Carisi was held hostage. Now both serving as witnesses in the trial, they have to live through it all over again. Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) who was on the scene, is seen encouraging Carisi to take his power back when he inevitably begins to falter, having to turn off the mode of ADA and instead face what happened to him as a victim.
The official logline for “Accomplice Liability” is as follows:
“Carisi attempts to put aside his role as prosecutor to serve as a witness in a trial; Benson tries to help a rape survivor struggling with her recovery.”
‘Law & Order: SVU’ Needs To Continue a Balance of Serving Justice and Personal Moments
In the previous episode, “Let Me Bring Pardon,” fans were treated to an episode that not only called back to another installment from earlier in the season but had personal moments for Olivia interwoven into the narrative. The episode dealt with a pregnancy that resulted from a sexual assault, bringing back feelings for Olivia, being the product of just that. Seeing these characters, who do an unimaginably difficult job with the types of crimes they encounter, some of whom have been doing it for decades, actualize the trauma in their own lives it can bring up, is something SVU has been seriously lacking. “Let Me Bring Pardon” provided that.
“Accomplice Liability” looks to be continuing that trend, this time, dealing with Carisi’s trauma from being held hostage in the deli as well as the lasting trauma it’s put on members of his family. In the promo, Rollins says “I thought my husband had been killed. Part of him is still trapped inside that deli. He’s not gonna be free until we win this case.” When SVU features the squad as more of a found family, rather than just co-workers, it’s at its best. Hopefully, even with Carisi now an ADA and not a cop, and Rollins no longer working for SVU, seeing them with Olivia, and the decade of friendship between the three of them will provide those moments.
