Season 27 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been in no shortage of twists and turns, and viewers may have found themselves with a strange case of déjà vu while watching SVU‘s latest high-stakes episode, “Frequency.”
Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her elite unit of detectives were desperate to save the day after a family’s home video feed picked up a rogue frequency and discovered a young boy named Avery trapped in a dog cage. After Benson tried speaking to Avery through the video feed, the steadfast squad realized that any verbal contact would run the risk of alerting his kidnapper and complicating their search for the missing boy. They’d need to be careful if they wanted to keep Avery safe and in a position for rescue, and luckily for the SVU detectives, this isn’t Benson’s first time operating under razor-sharp risks while rescuing a missing child.
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Benson’s rescue of Maria Recinos in Season 7 of SVU remains one of the most iconic moments of the NBC series, and with SVU‘s latest, they’ve delivered a similar investigation that was even trickier to solve after the squad realized Avery was non-verbal. Here’s what happened:
One of Benson’s most intense rescues came back to haunt her on SVU
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Benson doesn’t miss anything, so it didn’t take long for her to notice Detective Jake Griffin (Corey Cott) throwing himself into the case, a suspicion confirmed by Griffin staying up one night to monitor Avery’s video feed. Griffin’s brother, who died when Griffin was 15, had autism, and he’d helped identify Avery as autistic and non-verbal. Benson pulled Griffin to the side to check in on him, reminding him that she needed him sharp to remain as useful as he’d been on this case.
Griffin admitted that his brother’s neurodivergent similarities to the victim made it hard not to view Avery as a sibling in need of saving, and Benson revealed that she understood his desperation to see Avery reunited with his family: she’d worked a case “like this” many years ago.
The echoes between SVU‘s “Frequency” and “911” are gripping for longtime SVU fans, who may have noticed a modern parallel from when Benson rescued a trafficked little girl named Maria Recinos in Season 7, Episode 3 of SVU (an episode that earned Hargitay an Emmy, by the way).
Benson opened up to Griffin the emotional story of Maria Recinos, when 911 put through a call to the SVU, and Benson worked tirelessly to keep Maria on the phone and siphon any possible details about her whereabouts and pinpoint her location. Benson eventually reconnected with Maria decades later, learning that she’d grown up to become a detective just like her.
“Did you find her?” Griffin asked eagerly.
“I did, and that little girl went on to become a cop,” Benson said with a tinge of sadness. Griffin was happy to hear that Maria followed in Benson’s footsteps, but he didn’t know the full story yet: Maria’s tragic death in Season 26 of SVU complicated that happy ending, and it was a shocking development that rocked Benson to her core.
“The story is happy or sad based on when you stop telling it,” Benson confessed. “She died in the line of duty, that girl.”
Benson reminded Griffin that stories can change and evolve in countless directions, but he needed to keep going and not lose any momentum if they wanted to close Avery’s case. Griffin agreed to do so.
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The SVU solved another miraculous missing persons case
It was all hands on deck as the SVU followed any possible lead on Avery’s whereabouts, eventually bringing Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) to the doorstep of the perpetrator himself, Costa Lykos (Eric Edelstein). Rollins was careful not to alert Costa to her awareness of his criminal activity, and with no sight of Avery within the apartment, Rollins tried to play dumb so as not to alert him to the squad closing in on him. Costa unfortunately caught on, leading to a thrilling criminal pursuit that ended with him running onto the subway tracks.
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Unwilling to see Avery abandoned by his captor, Griffin asked Benson if he could make another attempt to contact the young boy over the video feed, giving Avery helpful instructions to answer yes or no questions by touching his nose or forehead. Avery understood perfectly, giving the SVU enough information to eventually track down his whereabouts. At the hospital, Benson and Griffin grew emotional while watching a tear-eyed reunion between Avery and his mother. Maria may be resting in peace, but Benson was glad to add another happy ending to her book.
Watch Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.