“How stupid am I?” Olivia wonders in Law & Order: SVU‘s winter premiere, and while it’s never a good idea to blame the victim, maybe letting your adopted son’s biological grandmother into your trusted inner circle wasn’t the smartest move?
The episode, which aired Wednesday, picked up immediately after the events of the fall finale: Noah went missing while winter-coat shopping with Sheila Porter, and Liv got the call she always feared. A distraught Benson and the team immediately sprung into action, searching the mall and its surroundings with the full force of the NYPD, despite Chief Dodds’ insistence that Olivia step down from the case.
The SVU squad went about its usual investigation while Olivia just tried to keep it together, ultimately breaking down with Sheila at her apartment. But when Carisi traced the car seat the kidnapper used — and realized that Sheila bought it a few days earlier — Olivia realized exactly what happened. But it was too late: Sheila was gone.
“I just want my son,” Liv cried to Barba, collapsing into his arms as she processed what had happened.
Through the usual twisty action, some of which included Rollins torturing the kidnapper (who was Sheila’s gardener) by threatening his teenage daughter, she and Carisi thought they’d find Noah at the gardener’s cabin. But Liv realized that Sheila had probably gone to another hideaway, and when she showed up, Sheila hit her over the head with what looked like a fireplace poker.
