'Law & Order: SVU' Season 22 Episode 2 Preview: Finn grapples with a lawsuit as Olivia's team handles a murder
The season 22 premiere of 'Law & Order: SVU' had marked a changed perspective in terms of the way the long-running series approached the way it did investigations. For what was possibly the first time, the head of the Special Victims Unit, Sergeant Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), was forced to reflect on the way she conducts investigations and accept that she has a racial bias. The episode started with the wrongful arrest of a Black man and just everything seemed to go wrong from there. Not only did the Black man sue them for the wrongful arrest, but the actual perpetrator of the crime they were investigating was able to use their mistake to his advantage and avoid persecution.
As such, we expect to see a very different Olivia Benson, who might take more precautions and care when it comes to dealing with her team's cases and ensuring that justice is not denied again. It is with this expectation that we go into the second episode this week, titled 'Ballad of Dwight and Irena'. The episode follows SVU's Detective Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) and Officer Katriona "Kat" Tamin (Jamie Gray Hyder) as they respond to a dangerous domestic call. The promo for the episode gives us more clues on this. They know they are dealing with an abusive father – the son has bruises, the mother has a black eye, but they need concrete evidence to arrest him. Unfortunately, in the middle of the case, something happens. It looks like the father was killed. The wife tells Olivia it was an accident. However, SVU does not know whether it was the son or the mother who killed the man as they keep mum or telling lies to protect each other, infuriating Assistant District Attorney Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino). Will Olivia go by the book, the traditional one that got them in trouble in the previous episode? Or will she try something new to solve this case?
Meanwhile, Sergeant Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (Ice-T) gives his deposition in the lawsuit against him. If viewers would recall, Fin was involved in a shooting at the end of Season 21. When a Black man he had arrested, Leon, was released, Fin was worried that Leon would violate the restraining order against him that kept Leon away from his wife, Joelle, and their son, Andre. To ensure their safety, Fin gave Andre a burner phone just in case his father, Leon showed up. Sure enough, Leon eventually did and when Fin walked into the apartment, he saw Leon holding Joelle at knifepoint. When Leon turned the weapon on Andre, Fin fired his gun and killed Leon. It is for this that there is a lawsuit against Fin and it remains to be seen how the episode will tackle grey areas like this.
'Law & Order: SVU' airs on NBC on Thursday nights at 9/8c.