‘Law & Order: SVU’ Hinted at Delay in Rollins and Carisi’s Relationship With Family Emergency

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit featured an awkward and difficult moment for anyone hoping that Carisi and Rollins finally start a romantic relationship in last week’s episode. “Welcome to the Pedo Motel” centered on a dramatic and shocking case that involved racism and vigilantism, but the personal moment between Carisi and Rollins was an important scene for the two characters as well. The moment also hinted that Rollins could be missing from at least one episode while she deals with a family emergency.

While the SVU team was focused on the case, Rollins (Kelli Giddish) revealed that she was worried about her father. Early in the episode, she got a phone call from her father and thought he might have been drinking because he was slurring his words. Later though, she learned her father’s condition was much more serious.

In one scene, Rollins went to Carisi (Peter Scanavino) to deliver an update on the case. While she came in, he was on the phone with a mystery person. “That sounds great,” he said. “That sounds great. I’ll meet you there in an hour. Yeah, me too.” Rollins and viewers at home were left wondering what was going on, so she made a sarcastic remark about him having a hot date that night. Carisi began to tell her, “There’s someone.” But just as he was (presumably) about to explain that he is seeing someone else, Rollins got a phone call from Atlanta.

The person calling Rollins shared the awful news that her father suffered a stroke and he is alone in the hospital. Carisi seemed to have completely forgotten about his plans. He told Rollins she had to get on a plane immediately to be with her dad. He even offered to look after her children, Jesse and Billie, to call Rollins’ mom, and to tell Benson (Mariska Hargitay) what was going on. Carisi even led Rollins out of the room. It was easy to see that even though Carisi might be seeing someone else, he still has real feelings for Rollins. His out-of-work relationship and Rollins’ crisis with her father both point to another delay in ever getting these two characters together.

Rollins is not leaving SVU, but she does not appear in any of the photos for the April 15 episode, “Our Words Will Not Be Heard.” We also know that the story involving her father will be seen onscreen because James Morrison is coming back to play Rollins’ father Jim. He first appeared on-screen last season in “Eternal Relief from Pain,” when he and Rollins’ sister Kim (Lindsay Pulsipher) made trouble for Rollins. He will be in the Season 22 episode “In the Year We All Fell Down,” reports Give Me My Remote. New episodes of SVU air Thursdays on NBC at 9 p.m. ET. You can stream past episodes on Hulu.

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