Law & Order: SVU season 26 episode 14 recap — a New York trip gone wrong

In Law & Order: SVU season 26 episode 14, “The Grid Plan,” Iowa resident Megan (Donna Lynne Champlin) is on a solo trip in New York City without her husband. She’s arrived to take in the theater scene. Unfortunately, her vacation takes a terrible turn when she’s sexually assaulted.

As Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) and her team work to make her case, they soon realize that won’t be easy ironically due to Megan. So when it’s all said and done, is a suspect brought to justice? Here’s what happened in Law & Order: SVU season 26 episode 14.

What happened to Megan?

Olivia is speaking at the New York City Commission Against Sexual Violence. As she does, Megan gets off the elevator in a hotel and is stopped by a husband and wife who note seeing her previously. She tells them she’s in New York to take in the theater before she goes to a show and then hits up a local bar. Once she’s settled at the bar, she Facetimes her husband Richard (Joe Lanza) and tells him she’ll see him tomorrow night.

Later in the evening, SVU arrives to investigate her rape. Bruno (Kevin Kane) and Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez) say a man found Megan dazed and alone. Olivia speaks to Megan in the ambulance and encourages the Iowan to stay in town for a few more days so they can investigate this case. Megan is still a bit dazed, so Olivia rides with her in the ambulance to the hospital.

At the hospital, Olivia learns the medical staff was able to retrieve fluid, skin and hair from under Megan’s fingernails as evidence. A nurse also shares with the captain that Megan has an underlying illness that she was just diagnosed with.

Olivia speaks to Megan and learns the vacationer takes meticulous notes in her planner of her daily activities, and she wrote down an account of what happened. Megan is very descriptive of her attacker and thinks he was dressed as a businessman. Megan also shares she was diagnosed with MS two weeks ago, but hasn’t told her husband yet.

SVU finds their suspect

At the station, Olivia meets up with her team and they discuss the fact that after Megan was attacked, the suspect left but then returned to retrieve a bottle. Olivia wants to know more about that.

A witness then walks in claiming to have information about the assault. Olivia instructs Fin (Ice-T) to get her statement while she heads to a press conference. The witness alleges she was walking to the subway and saw a white man in his 30s with Megan, and his hands were all over her but she didn’t scream or appear to be in distress. Because of that, the waitress assumed their sexual encounter was consensual.

Silva and Bruno find the bottle on top of a building marquee, and it’s an expensive bottle of wine. The detectives canvas the expensive liquor stores in the area to see who may have sold the bottle, but have no luck. They pivot to asking bars, and a waiter at one bar says that they don’t carry the wine but a wine rep matching the description of their suspect came in trying to sell bottles of the wine wholesale.

Walking around Times Square some more, Bruno and Silva see Megan handing out fliers trying to sway passersby to help her find her attacker. The officers tell her they don’t think that’s a good idea, but she’s unmoved.

Back in the squad room, SVU has a photo of the wine rep and Olivia shows it to Megan. Megan identifies him as the guy who assaulted her and she is ready to go to the bar, with hopes of finding him. Olivia cautions her against the idea and gently suggests Megan is experiencing some displacement, trying to investigate her crime feeling it’s something she can control because she can’t control what’s happening with the MS. Megan eventually relents and goes for a walk.

Later in Times Square, Fin gets a call from Olivia that Megan is at a bar with the suspect. Fin, Bruno, Silva and Velasco (Octavio Pisano) arrive and spot the two appearing to have a pleasant time. As the officers approach, Megan loudly claims Gerard Rigley (Christian Mallen) is her rapist. He denies it and she punches him. Silva is left with no choice but to arrest Megan. But outside, Olivia uncuffs Megan and sternly warns her not to interfere in the investigation again.

Is Gerard guilty?

In the squad room, the team discusses that Gerard has no record but his DNA was found on Megan. Fin and Velasco interview him, and he says Megan was flirting with him and the sex was consensual. Carisi watches the interrogation through a window and isn’t confident about the case, but agrees to arraign Gerard.

Bruno and Silva speak with Gerard’s ex, and she says one night in college at her dorm, she was studying and he came over upset. They started fooling around and she told him she was on her period, but he didn’t listen. The school board opened an investigation into the matter, but it went nowhere.

During arraignment, Gerard’s bail is set at $25,000. In the court hallway, Richard isn’t the most supportive about Megan having to testify in a trial. But she remains committed.

As the trial kicks off, things get tense when the defense attorney grills Megan. The lawyer points out that she came to New York without her husband, and went to a bar and had more drinks than usually would. The defense paints the picture that Megan came to the city to let loose without her spouse.

The attorney then brings up Megan’s MS diagnosis, which she still hadn’t shared with her husband who is sitting in court. Carisi objects, but the judge ultimately allows the questioning to continue. The defense thinks Megan’s out-of-character behavior stemmed from her diagnosis, and she wanted consensual sex with the defendant. Carisi asks the judge to allow him to cross-examine her the following day.

In the hallway, the husband questions his wife and wonders if the defense attorney was right, furious this is the first time he’s heard about her diagnosis. He eventually storms off. The following day though, Olivia is thrilled to learn Megan’s husband forgave her. Olivia pleads with Megan to take the stand to clear her name and tell her story, which she does. Gerard is ultimately found guilty.

New episodes of Law and Order: SVU air on Thursdays on NBC and become available the next day on Peacock.