‘Law & Order: SVU’ Fans Left ‘Confused’ by Homeless Girl Case Plot Twist

This week’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit left fans absolutely confused at home with a plot twist involving the true identity of a homeless girl.

In “Exile,” the team investigated the assault of a woman named “Grace Walker.” It turned out that she was actually Sophie, a college student who went missing three years earlier and was living on the streets. After Carisi (Peter Scanavino) dropped Sophie off at a building she claimed was her home, she left.

The team lost track of Grace, but they found Sophie’s parents who had not spoken to her since they dropped her off at college. Thanks to the internet, they found Grace back on the streets, only to see her assaulted by the homeless man she claimed was her boyfriend.

In reality, the man was her pimp and she was assaulted for trying to get more money from him.

Later, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) introduced Grace to her parents again, but Grace did not know who they were at first. Then, her father came in crying and suddenly Grace remembered she was really Sophie and had no idea where she was.

Sophie’s life ‘ended’ at freshman parents’ day. Dr. Lisa Abernathy (Sandrine Holt) believed Sophie was traumatized in her life, and something might have happened on that day to remind her of it. Benson believed she was sexually assaulted, so she took Sophie back to her college in hopes she could remember what happened that day.

During the tour, Sophie got really nervous after remembering she got a B- on a midterm from a Professor Adams. Sophie was even too nervous to go into Adams’ office, but Benson coaxed her to go on. There was no one in the office. Sophie suddenly remembered everything – Adams raped her.

“Who’s going to believe me?” Sophie said.

“I believe you,” Benson said.

Unfortunately, they learned that Adams died of a heart attack months before their visit and Sophie could never confront him.

Benson said she would help Sophie, but she refused. Sophie fell apart, and started believing her life might be better on the streets. Benson tried to convince her, but she could not stop her from leaving.

Later, Carisi told Benson they found Sophie dumpster diving and insisted her name was still Grace Walker. Carisi said they could bring her in again, but Benson shrugged him off. Carisi said if the professor was still alive, he would kill him. This gave Benson an idea.

Benson found Sophie and took her to Adams’ grave. Once there, Sophie read Adams a statement.

“I will never forgive you for what you did to me, professor,” Sophie said. “But hopefully I can move on, with help from my family and friends. I’m going to survive. Yes, I am.”

“Yes, you are,” Benson told her as the episode ended. “Yes you are.”

The events confused fans at home, who have seen plenty of SVU twists, but very few like this one before.

Some fans made sure to praise the SVU writers.

New episodes of Law & Order: SVU air at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.

Photo credit: NBC