‘Law & Order: SVU’ Takes Surprising Twist After ADA Peter Stone Is Taken Hostage

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit had another incredible twist in store for fans this week. Assistant District Attorney Peter Stone was taken hostage by the husband of a woman who accused Stone of rape.

Earlier in “Mea Culpa,” Lt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) had to arrest Stone (Philip Winchester) after Sarah Kent (Alexandra Breckenridge) accused him of raping her several years ago. Stone was released from custody a short time later, but that was just the start of his troubles.

Stone next went to a bar, where Sarah’s husband Gary (Kevin Kane) took Stone hostage. Sarah and her daughter Emma tried to convince Gary to release Stone and not kill him. He eventually relents, but Stone does not want to press charges on Gary.

Meanwhile, Benson ran her own investigation after noticing something is off when it comes to Sarah’s relationship with Emma. Sarah tried to keep Emma out of Stone’s sight after the bar hostage situation.

Then, Benson received a call from the Department of Health, which led her to press Sarah on the truth of Emma’s parentage. It turns out that Emma was born more than eight months and a half months after Stone allegedly assaulted her, meaning that Stone might not be the baby’s father.

The rape happened at a time when the Kents were trying to conceive. During Benson’s investigation, she discovers that Stone’s friend, Reggie Griggs (Austin Peck), is really the one who raped Sarah, not Stone. Reggie told Benson that Sarah “wanted it,” but Benson did not believe him since Sarah was too drunk to remember who she slept with.

The authorities ran a DNA test on Emma to prove who her parents are. They discover that Gary really is Emma’s father, but Sarah was afraid for years that Stone was, so she never took a DNA test.

In the end, Stone’s charges are dropped. Still, there is a feeling of guilt in his stomach. After all, it was his friend who was the rapist. Benson tried to ease that feeling, but it did not work.

“When all the noise was coming at me, there was a moment that I doubted myself,” Stone told Benson at the end.

SVU‘s 20th season has already been packed with plot twists in each episode. In the two-hour season premiere, the episode went from tackling child rape to a school shooting, with a stunning twist that had a father revealed to be his son’s rapist.

In the Nov. 1 episode “Caretaker,” the SVU team found a family murdered — not by a common criminal, but by a mother who could not let her family live an imperfect life. In last week’s episode, “Hell’s Kitchen,” the team investigated a celebrity chef for rape and investigated the chef’s friend, a prosecutor, for sexual misconduct.

New episodes of SVU air on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.

Photo credit: NBC