In Law & Order: SVU season 25 episode 9, "Children of Wolves," Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) and her detectives try to find four teenage boys who behaved with a wolf-pack mentality and attacked two teenage girls, severely injuring one and kidnapping the other.
Elsewhere, Olivia is rattled when Noah (Ryan Buggle) shares he's researched her and found the name of his birth father. Between the case and Noah's curiosity, the SVU captain is emotionally charged. So how does she fare?
Here's what happened.
Noah found his biological father
Noah is getting ready for bed when as Olivia pulls some books he's too old for now, like Little Red Riding Hood. Before she leaves, he catches her off-guard asking what happened to Maddie (Allison Elaine). A puzzled Olivia asks Noah how he even knows about Maddie, and he explains he googled Olivia, leaving her nervous. She tells him Maddie is safe at home with her parents. He then asks if the kidnapper is going to prison, and Olivia confirms he is.
Noah questions, "Why are there so many bad guys in the world?" Olivia wants to know what else he found in his Google search. He mentions William Lewis (Pablo Schreiber) and Johnny D (Charles Halford). Lewis tortured Olivia and held her hostage years ago, and Johnny D was a rapist who is Noah's biological father. Understandably, these names send Olivia into a stuttering panic.
Noah admits he also went into Olivia's closet and found paperwork that stated Johnny D is his biological father. Olivia isn't happy her son went through her things, but she's more rattled with the topic of conversation, not ready to go into the history of either criminal. Sensing the possibility that the story of his biological father is complicated and scary, Noah asks her to read a more digestible tale, Little Red Riding Hood.
Four boys, two girls and one park
Rosie (Audrey Bennett) and best friend Sydney (Amalina Ace) walk through the park at night on their way to Rosie's house for a sleepover. They're suddenly approached by a group of four teenage boys who make some offhanded remarks. At first, the besties try to ignore the comments, but then Rosie makes it clear they want to be left alone. Unfortunately, that prompts the leader of this delinquent bunch to grab Rosie from behind and drag her into the darkness of the park. Sydney stands back in horror before running into the darkness to save her friend.
The next morning, Olivia is catching up with Carisi (Peter Scanavino) over coffee. She shares how shaken she was by Noah’s questions, then asks for confirmation Maddie's case is solid and the suspect is going to prison. Carisi says the accused hasn't signed the plea deal as a main witness in the case was killed in Rikers. The attorney has a hunch with the witness dead, the defense will argue Maddie's testimony can't be trusted as she was drugged during much of her ordeal. Olivia says she's willing to testify in court and hopes her words will be enough.
Olivia gets a call about the attack in the park. Bruno (Kevin Kane) informs her a victim was found naked with a belt around her neck. Olivia and Carisi drive to the hospital to check on her.
At the park, Captain Curry (Aime Donna Kelly), Velasco (Octavio Pisano) and Bruno work the crime scene. Curry spots lip gloss on a slide, as if someone's face was pressed down on it. When Bruno states the victim they found wasn't wearing any lip gloss, this leads Curry to suspect they may need to look for another girl.
Back at the hospital, a doctor tells Olivia and Carisi the victim was found and she was attacked by multiple assailants. When Olivia asks about her chances of survival, the doctor says they should locate her next of kin.
Shortly after, Olivia gets a call that someone filed a missing person's report in Uptown about a teenage girl. Mrs. James (Jammie Patton) filed the report, and when she shows up at the hospital, she identifies the teenager as Rosie, and says her parents are in Japan celebrating their honeymoon and she was looking out for the teen. Additionally, Mrs. James says Rosie was hanging with Sydney the night before.
The race to find Sydney
Olivia and Carisi tell Sydney's stepmother, Mrs. Lynch (Kerry Butler), Sydney is missing. Mrs. Lynch panics until she gets a call from Sydney, with the teen saying she's fine. Olivia grabs the phone, and Sydney repeats she's fine and at a friend's house. Sydney abruptly hangs up. While Mrs. Lynch thinks her stepdaughter is fine, Olivia knows better. During the call, one of Sydney's attackers had a belt around her neck and was coaching her on what to say.
In the squad room, the detectives learn that while DNA from four different males was found in Rosie's rape kit, none of their DNA was found in the system. However, the DNA did narrow down the ages of the suspects to mid to late teens. Bruno also shares the tech team was able to get a ping on Sydney's phone at a marina.
At the marina, cops go through all the boats until they come across the one the boys and Sydney were on. Although no one is there, they find Sydney's phone and a sweatshirt. Mrs. Lynch later confirms the sweatshirt didn't belong to her daughter.
Rosie's parents arrive back in town and are at the hospital when Olivia and Carisi stop by again. The parents say the sweatshirt belonged to Rosie, and are distraught how any of this happened. They also aren't happy to hear Sydney and the suspects have not been found yet.
Bruno tells Olivia that a neighbor of a townhome under construction reported seeing a girl on a roof and weird activity going on in the home. The SVU captain and Bruno race to the scene.
A hostage standoff
Outside the townhome, Olivia is caught up to speed. The house is being fumigated and the pest control company has a set of keys to the property. The owner of the company has an 18-year-old son named Seth (Reilly Walters).
When Seth's mom arrives, Olivia gets her to call him. When he gets on the line, Olivia speaks with him. Initially, he is unwilling to end what has become a hostage situation. But once he spots the police snipers in position ready to take him and the other three boys in the house out, he sings a different tune. Seth walks out the front door and the police immediately arrest him and his friends, saving Sydney. Carisi then calls and informs Olivia that Rosie died.
Instead of taking Seth directly to the interrogation room, Olivia instructs Velasco to put him in her squad car. Then all three of them take a visit to the park where the attacks were committed. She gets Seth out of the car and walks him through forensic reenactment. Essentially, she pretends as if she were him and he were Rosie, even grabbing him from behind and dragging him through the park. She's attempting to scare him; it works, but she stops herself from going further.
Back in the squad room, the four suspects are blaming each other while also claiming the sex was consensual. Carisi takes Olivia to the side and says if the case goes to trial, Seth's attorneys have a pretty good case of coercion against Olivia for what she did with him. Thankfully for Olivia, Curry interrupts them and shares they got a call from Nassau County SVU, and the boys' DNA matches the DNA found in several other rape kits. The survivors of those incidents are all willing to testify.
When the episode concludes, Olivia makes the tough decision to tell Noah about how his story began and who Johnny D really is.
New episodes of Law & Order: SVU debut on Thursdays at 9 pm ET/PT on NBC. Episodes become available the next day on Peacock.
