‘Law & Order: SVU’: What Excited Octavio Pisano About Benson & Velasco’s Relationship in His Return
Joe Velasco is back in New York, and Octavio Pisano is back on Law & Order: SVU in the Thursday, April 9, episode.
When Velasco left the squad, it was to go undercover with the DEA, and that’s where he is when this episode picks up. Only, as the preview and a sneak peek (which you can watch above) show, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and the rest of the squad is shocked to find him at the center of a sex trafficking bust. And their only option is, of course, to arrest him to maintain his cover.
Below, Octavio Pisano discusses his return to SVU.
Welcome back. What has Velasco been up to since we last saw him? How is life going for him?
Octavio Pisano: Intense. Intense. He went to work for the DEA, a lot of undercover work, and he went to San Diego, which is a border town to Mexico, and there’s a lot going down there. One of the cases brought him back to New York, so he’s been busy.
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
How is it for him to not have the team behind him? Because when he’s undercover, he’s really on his own.
Yeah, I think based on his backstory and his background, he comes from that world. So, I’m not going to say it’s easy, but he’s definitely familiar, and it’s common. But I think he’s at a crossroads. He’s at a point in his life where now he knows what it’s like to have a team behind him watching his back, and going back to undercover, it’s like, “Oh, wow,” it’s not good.
The preview shows how the team encounters him again, undercover, surprised by him. What can you preview about the case?
Well, it’s a case that he’s been working on for a long time, and it deals with the cartel and with human trafficking. There’s been some jobs that came over to the East Coast, so he followed the lead all the way over here. I don’t think he was expecting to be arrested, but he gets into a situation where it’s either that or his cover is blown. So he figures he can trust these people after working with them for so long.
How does reuniting with his former squad go? Are there any conflicts there that you can preview?
I think the main issue is that he’s now operating on his own, like we said, and when you’re undercover, the lines are blurred in what the protocols are. And I feel like his time at SVU, he spent a lot of time learning the protocols and learning how to work within the boundaries of the justice system, where now he’s undercover, he’s on his own, he’s working deep into these situations where it’s his life on the line. So I think that that’s the main issue that now, having to collaborate with SVU again, he has to figure out a way of how to do it within the boundaries that they operate in and also remaining undercover, not blowing his cover.
What will we see from Velasco and Benson?
That’s, I think, one of the most exciting things for me, that relationship was definitely built, and after not having worked for a while, the trust was still there, which was great. And that’s really his point person during this case. That’s who he’s talking to, that’s who he’s relaying all the information. And there’s a couple good scenes in there that I’m excited.
