NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Law & Order: SVU season 25 episode 2, "Truth Embargo."
Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) is still reeling from not being able to locate Maddie (Allison Elaine) in the previous episode, and the SVU captain takes that with her into her next case investigating a rape that occurs during a mass robbery. As the squad gets to the truth of what happened in this new investigation, the court case hinges on the victim and her willingness to go above and beyond to save the young offender.
Here's what happened.
Olivia is not happy to see the FBI
Olivia goes for a jog around the city. Not too long into her run she spots an energy drink van and immediately becomes frantic thinking it's the van she saw Maddie riding in previously. Olivia darts into traffic, narrowly avoiding being hit, and catches up with the van. She opens the passenger door to find a lone delivery guy who is irate Olivia just barged into his vehicle. The officer apologizes.
At work, Olivia finds FBI Agent Clay (Josh Cooke) waiting in her conference room. She's annoyed seeing him, thinking he's there to take over the Maddie case. Instead, he says he just wants her to be a part of The Child Abduction Response Team as it pertains to Maddie. He claims they are invested in not only finding the teen, but also hope to file child pornography charges for the sex dolls found of her. Plus, he confirms the bureau is compiling a behavioral analysis of the suspect.
A flash mob robbery goes wrong
In another part of town, Natalie (Romina D’Ugo) is at a store trying on a bathing suit when she hears a commotion outside of the dressing room. She looks to see what's going on and witnesses a group of people dressed in black masks robbing the store. Natalie spots two of the assailants recording a video for social media. Unfortunately, she locks eyes with one of them and he chases her to the dressing room.
When Olivia and her team show up at the scene, Bruno (Kevin Kane) is only made aware of a store clerk who says she was groped by one of the robbers. Once Olivia and Fin (Ice T) go into the store to look around, Olivia hears Natalie cry out from the dressing room and has Fin call an ambulance.
At the hospital, Natalie goes over what happened to her but acts as if her memory is a bit hazy. When asked if she could describe what the man looked like who attacked her, she responds he wore a mask but seemed young.
Back in the squad room, the team looks at video footage of the robbery and catches an angle of Natalie's rapist going into the dressing room behind her. While the camera doesn't show his face, it does show that he took his mask off and Natalie saw him. SVU also gets a break in the case when technical assistance is able to track down Travis (Tommy Nelson), the person who recorded the robbery for social media.
Talking with Olivia and Bruno, it becomes clear Travis is a dumb teenager who participated in the robbery for attention on social media. When they ask him about his friend in the video who is suspected of the rape, he claims he just met him five minutes prior to the robbery and never saw him without a mask.
Technical assistance comes through again for SVU as they discovered a social media chat with teenagers talking about the smash-and-grab. From this group of suspects, a lineup of mugshots is brought to the store clerk group who was groped. She quickly identifies her attacker. When Olivia takes a lineup to Natalie, she claims not to recognize any of the people. Bruno tells Natalie they know she saw her attacker's face, and she is again adamant she is not sure she did.
Olivia then interviews the man who bought the stolen goods from the teens. He claims not to know who committed the rape, but their conversation is cut short as a group dressed in all black and masks raids the SVU offices. The captain orders her officers not to shoot.
When the raid ends, SVU arrests eight perpetrators for the chaos, including Travis. Bruno can't believe how dumb he is to pull this off, but he again refers to the attention he receives on social media as his motivation. Looking at more serious charges, Travis offers up the identity of the guy they're looking for in exchange for a deal. Travis previously lied before, the person that's suspected of rape is his friend Jay (Mykey Keyan Cooper), whom he's known since fifth grade.
Natalie eventually picks Jay out of a lineup, but Carisi (Peter Scanavino) doesn't think they have enough to go to trial as Jay's DNA wasn’t found on Natalie or the bathing suit she was wearing. But then Olivia remembers that bathing suits usually have a hygienic liner and that one was not initially found or tested. Thankfully, the liner is found and there is matching DNA on it.
Will Natalie testify against Jay?
At trial, Natalie is hesitant about testifying. When put on the stand and asked to identify her attacker, she pauses and says nothing, prompting Carisi to ask for a recess.
In the hallway, Natalie shares with Olivia and Carisi that when she was younger, she dared her adoptive brother from Cameroon to steal a stick of gum. He was caught and was supposed to receive a warning, but was sentenced to juvenile detention and the trajectory of his life changed. She feels guilt for that. Knowing the justice system has a long history of "systemic inequities," she doesn’t want Jay's life forever changed. She's willing to just go to therapy and hope she'll one day be okay rather than call him out in court, which could lead to him being convicted and forever scarred by prison.
Olivia tells Natalie that while her intentions are good, Natalie should testify if Jay raped her, which she does. However, before a verdict can be reached in the trial, Jay and his attorney meet with Carisi and ask for a plea deal as Jay remorsefully admits he raped Natalie.
The episode ends with Olivia and Carisi celebrating a win by heading to the bar to look at a behavioral analysis of Maddie's abductor.
New episodes of Law & Order: SVU debut on Thursdays at 9 pm ET/PT on NBC. Episodes become available the next day on Peacock.
