'Law & Order: SVU' Season 22 Episode 5 Spoilers: Will the victim of a camming website assault get justice?
'Law & Order: SVU' has finally returned to NBC with new episodes after its winter break. The fourth episode of the show's Season 22 saw the Special Victim Unit's cops being called in from their respective New Year's Eve parties when a 13-year-old girl has been reported as kidnapped.
However, on further investigation, Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her team learn that the girl may have been raped by her foster father, whom she believes herself to be in love with. The case takes a grim turn when the girl's father, a disabled veteran shoots the foster father and has to take the stand himself.
Now, this episode featured the return of Raul Esparza as Raphael Barba -- and if viewers ever wondered whether they would get to see Barba and Dominick Carisi Jr (Peter Scanavino) argue on two opposite sides of a case, they got to see it now. Carisi learned from and respects Barba, so even if there were some tense moments, there is no doubt that viewers would have been left satisfied by the outcome.
Going into Episode 5 of Season 22, there are a few things we need to keep in mind, so let's take a look at them.
What happened previously?
Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (Ice-T) is undergoing a trial himself after he shot dead a man at the end of the previous season. The man's wife is suing him, but Fin shot him in the first place because the man was prohibited from going near his wife and son. While Fin's future is still a big question mark, we see that at least some things are going his way. Fin asked Phoebe Baker (Jennifer Esposito) to marry him, and she said yes. Perhaps we will get to see a pandemic wedding before the season is out.
The most interesting thing to look forward to could perhaps be a potential romance between Carisi and Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish). Rollins invited Carisi over for New Year's Eve because being along would be bad luck. Before Rollins is called to the case, she falls asleep in Carisi's arms. If that's not foreshadowing, we don't know what is. But since this is a Dick Wolf show, the payout could take a long time to come.
What to expect in Episode 5?
The official synopsis for 'Law & Order: SVU' Season 22 Episode 5 states: "The SVU investigates when a role-play session on a camming website turns violent after one user decides to meet his idol in person."
This episode will challenge the perceptions and biases of many viewers as it takes on the case of a woman who is assaulted by a masked man while she is playing out a rape fantasy on camera. Victim blaming, of course, come out from the defense's side and the episode may be troubling to watch for viewers. However, Olivia and her team, as well as Carisi will try their best to get the woman the justice she deserves while also respecting her boundaries as a victim.
'Law & Order: SVU' Season 22 Episode 5 will air on NBC on Thursday, January 14, at 9/8c.