‘Law & Order: SVU’ Finale Almost Delivers Fin’s Wedding to Former ‘Blue Bloods’ Star
The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 22 finale plans to end things on a high note before [...]
The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 22 finale plans to end things on a high note before continuing into the Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 1 finale on Thursday night. Det. Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (Ice-T) is set to marry his fiancee, Sgt. Phoebe Baker, played by former Blue Bloods star Jennifer Esposito. The two detectives worked together on the narcotics squad decades ago, before Fin joined SVU.
Although Fin has known Phoebe for years, SVU fans have only known of her since February 2019. The character was introduced in the Season 20 episode "Brothel" as she helped Fin and the SVU team track down the man running a pop-up brothel operation. Phoebe finally appeared in another episode in January, "Sightless in a Savage Land." The episode kicked off with a montage of the SVU team trying to make the most of their first New Year's Eve during the coronavirus pandemic, including Fin getting closer to Phoebe. By the end of the episode, the two were engaged. Phoebe also appeared in the April episode "Our Words Will Not Be Heard."
Couldn't be happier that Fin & Phoebe are happy. ❤️ #SVU pic.twitter.com/IcnoCJDu5p
— 𝐋𝐀𝐖 & 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑 (@lawandordertv) June 4, 2021
Thursday night's episode, "Wolves In Sheep's Clothing," serves as the early Season 22 finale, as the season was cut short due to pandemic delays over the summer. While Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) focus on helping a single mother who was trafficked in exchange for a place to live, Fin and Phoebe focus on their wedding. And surprisingly it seems like the couple are about to tie the knot near the end of the episode, deciding to just stay happy together.
"We're not breaking up. We just realized we have a good thing going," Phoebe said. "Why let the government spoil it," Fin added. It's a refreshing close to a season that has seen returns, drama and a pandemic. Healthy relationships built on honest feelings, who knew.
SVU usually doesn't end a season on a happy note, especially if there is a cliffhanger. In a May 20 interview with TVLine, executive producer and showrunner Warren Leight explained that Fin and Phoebe's wedding is a nice change of pace. Considering how difficult the past year has been in real life, Leight thought it wouldn't hurt to end the season on a lighter note.
"It's always bugged me that everybody in all cop shows comes from, or is in a dysfunctional relationship or is not in a relationship at all. So we just wanted to have somebody be in a good relationship for once," he explained. When asked if there would be some of Organized Crime crossing over into SVU, Leight jokingly said, "If there's an event at the end of our episode, it's an event that Stabler would have been invited to." Before the episode aired, NBC did release a photo showing Stabler (Christopher Meloni) appearing to be at Fin and Phoebe's wedding.
Law & Order: SVU airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, with Organized Crime following at 10 p.m. ET. Both shows were renewed for the 2021-2022 TV season and will air alongside the new spin-off, Law & Order: For the Defense. Past episodes of SVU are available to stream on Hulu.