'Law & Order: SVU' Finds Carisi Struggling With Mysterious Case in New Episode

This week's episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit will be a big one for Detective Dominick Carisi, as he takes it upon himself to solve a woman's assault.

The episode, titled "Exile," starts with a young woman showing up at a hospital after an assault, but has no memory of the attack. Carisi (Peter Scanavino) investigates her case, but she suddenly goes missing, making the mystery even harder to crack.

In a preview scene, Carisi (Peter Scanavino) is seen driving the victim to her apartment. When they arrive, the girl asks Carisi how boyfriends handle it when a girlfriend is assaulted. Carisi thinks she is worried about telling her own, but instead she blames herself. She also seemingly holds back some information about the assault.

"It's really your choice, but in my experience, the support of a loved one is a good thing," Carisi tells her.

Carisi offers to recommend a therapist, but she refuses. The victim leaves his car after Carisi gives her his card.

In a second preview scene, Carisi and Fin (Ice-T) arrest the suspect, Silas (Jake Robinson). They find Silas with a bruised cheek, and he accuses the victim of attacking him. He admits to hitting the victim and insisted he had consensual sex with the victim. In the end, Silas complains about the impact the #MeToo movement has had.

"You can't even go to a bar to pick up a girl these days!"

"What is this world coming to," Fin sarcastically says as he leads Silas out of his office.

This is expected to be a big season for Carisi, who joined SVU in season 16. Fans have been hoping for Carisi to start a romantic relationship with Rollins (Kelli Giddish) for some time, but Rollins is now pregnant with another man's baby. However, Scanavino recently said that is no reason to suspect that nothing will happen between the two.

"You know, it's strange because I feel like Rollins and Carisi are a very organic relationship," Scanavino said earlier this month. "It kind of came from Kelly and I just being pretty good friends."

At first, Rollins hated Carisi, but the two have tolerated each other over the years.

"And I was like, why are you so angry all the time? But now we get along really well. I think we got really good charisma onscreen, so we kind of developed this friendship," Scanavino said. "I think there is something there."

Scanavino did not want to speculate on what the writers are planning, but said he is "not opposed" to the two detectives ending up together. "But I mean, also it might be difficult for it to happen, maybe give it time on the show," he said.

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

Photo credit: NBC