A Diabolical Law & Order: SVU Villain Returns In Harrowing Rollins And Carisi Episode — Read Recap

The 'Rollisi' evening that "Law & Order: SVU" stars Kelli Giddish and Peter Scanavino recently teased to TVLine unfolds at the very start of this week's episode. And, as the actors warned, it starts sweet but goes sideways — fast.

This week's "SVU" also marks the return of Henry Mesner, the young psychopath (played by Ethan Cutkosky) who's been messing with Rollins and/or Carisi since Season 14. And if you think there's a coincidence that he happens to show up in the 'Rollisi' torture episode, I'm willing to bet you haven't been watching this show very long.

Read on for the highlights of "Career Psychopath."

Rollins rushes down the stairs into the dining room of an upscale restaurant. Carisi, who's waiting for her at a table, rises as she hurries in. She apologizes for being late — she lost track of time at work — but he just smiles at her. "Sounds to me like you're finally back in a job that makes you happy," he says, and she agrees that she is... and that the position feels "permanent." Carisi is sport coat-free and the girls are at his mother's house in Staten Island, so it's time to celebrate! "Happy second anniversary," he says, clinking his wine glass to hers.

They get home and he kisses her as he announces his plan to take a shower. Almost as soon as he steps out of the room, though, Rollins notices some broken glass on the floor and follows it to the window: Someone broke in. She calls for Carisi and grabs her gun, but he doesn't answer. When she gets to the bathroom attached to their bedroom, she sees why: A man has a knife to Sonny's throat.

Calling her "Sergeant," the man informs her that if she shoots, "Counselor Carisi dies." So she puts her weapon on the ground but kicks it under the bed instead of to him, as he instructed. Things move quickly after that. The intruder orders her to tie her husband up with some rope he's provided. As Rollins is unraveling it, Carisi is able to surprise-elbow the guy and knock him to the ground. Carisi climbs on top of him, but the man slashes him on the arm as Amanda is groping under the bed for her firearm. She finally grabs it, and manages to at least graze him, but he gets away.

Carisi is OK — the cut wasn't deep — but both he and Rollins are (understandably) freaking out by the time Benson and the other cops get there. Rollins is sure the man's motive was revenge, given the way that he addressed them; Liv says she'll get them a hotel room for the evening and send a protective detail to Carisi's folks' place. Chief Tynan then shows up to assure them that the department will do everything it can to catch the guy.

When the chief and Liv chat in the hallway, Benson expects her boss to put up some resistance to the idea of Special Victims Unit taking the lead on the investigation. But Tynan is on board. Then she offers to be the literal bad cop and take the blame if Rollins balks at turning in her gun and the other related protocol for situations like this. Liv looks about as suspicious about Tynan being supportive as I am, but she just thanks her and moves on.

The next day at the precinct, Rollins has narrowed the perp down to three possible men who figured prominently in contentious past cases. As Griffin and Curry visit those guys — and essentially clear them — the intruder's blood comes back as a match for an attempted murder the week before. The victim was a court reporter whom Rollins remembers; by the time Liv gets to the hospital to talk to her, the woman is dead.

After a medium bit of hounding, Rollins goes to her mandatory psych-clearance... which is conducted by Dr. Huang?! "You come out of retirement just for me?" she asks as their session begins; he explains that he fills in every once in a while, "especially at Olivia's request." Amanda gets defensive pretty quickly — did we expect anything else from our Queen of Near-Impenetrable Emotional Walls? A brief overview of her work history leads Huang to ask, "So, why don't you like to stay put?" and boom, they're talking about her childhood.

"You must've felt like you had no control over your life, like you were powerless," he says. She admits that she doesn't like staying still. He says he'll clear her, but also offers some advice: After she finds the man who attacked her and Carisi, "What I would like for you to do is to slow down."

Another recent murder victim's killing matches the intruder's M.O.; that victim's aunt is a recently retired New York City judge. With that intel, Rollins realizes who's been coming after her and Carisi: Henry Mesner, the psychopath she first met as a child. (The judge and the dead court reporter also were involved in his case.) Rollins and Benson give an overview of Mesner's criminal history for the co-workers who weren't around at the time. Was put in juvenile detention in 2013 for abusing his little sister, Ruby. He was released in 2021, raped a college student and then murdered his own family. He also stabbed Carisi in the ear with a pencil during a competency hearing. (Side note: Of all the gruesome things we've seen on this show, why does the memory of that one make me wince, even all these years later?) Anyway, Henry is now five years into a 60-year prison sentence.

Early on in the investigation, SVU was able to link a blue car to the attacker; eventually, they realized it was being driven by a woman. When Curry gets an ID on the car's owner, Liv and Amanda are shocked to see that it's Ruby, Henry's sister.

Ruby's foster parents report a steady spiral in her behavior; when she turned 18 and was arrested for drugs, they kicked her out. The foster parents give Benson and Rollins the number that she called from most recently; while it's being checked out, Liv shuts down Rollins' plan to go to Sing Sing and interview Henry. THIS IS A GOOD IDEA. Instead, Benson will see what she can get out of the little manipulative weasel.

The answer? Not much! The warden tells Benson that Ruby visited the year before and had to be tossed out after she attacked her brother. Other than that, all Liv gets is a bunch of smirks from a bored-looking Henry, though he does ask her to send his slimy regards to Rollins and Carisi, whom he knows are married.

When the number Ruby called from turns up as belonging to a guy named Phillip, SVU storms the place and finds clippings, court filings and notes related to Henry's case. They also find Ruby, who looks like she's disassociating, HARD.

What they don't find is Phillip, so Rollins and Benson take a crack at interviewing the young woman to discern what she knows. We learn that Phillip sought her out because he was obsessed with her brother, whom he'd heard about on a podcast or something. "He was like, in service of Henry," she says, adding that she was unable to leave or he'd hurt her.

Rollins Does. Not. Care. She starts to yell at Ruby, reminding her that she helped Phillip murder people. Her voice goes up in volume and octave as she really leans into berating the girl; when Amanda stands and leans in, Liv dusts off her Elliot Stabler About to Blow Mitigation Toolkit and interrupts at the exact right time. "I saved your life," Rollins shouts. "I wish you didn't!" Ruby counters. "SO DO I!" Rollins snarls. (OK, maybe not the exact right moment. Liv's reflexes might be a tad bit rusty.)

In the hallway outside, Amanda is Out. Of. Pocket. "Not everyone deserves your empathy, Olivia!" she hollers when Benson suggests that maybe they shouldn't browbeat the childhood sex abuse victim-turned-messed-up young adult. Liv doesn't have to say anything for Amanda to instantly regret what she's said; her eyes fill with tears as Benson tells her she's off the case cough thatshenevershouldhavebeenoninthefirstplace cough.

So Rollins really takes the exchange to heart. She goes home, where Carisi makes her a big bowl of pasta and they talk about the importance of not letting the job get the best of — oh you KNOW that's not what happens: She beelines it straight to Sing Sing to see Henry.

She lays out photos of everyone Phillip has targeted but tells him that Ruby is behind the killings. "She couldn't have done it by herself," he says, adding a lot of gross and disturbing details we don't need to go into here. He claims to be the mastermind behind the killings, but Rollins takes pleasure in telling him that Phillip is the mastermind "and you are a cautionary tale at best."

She's walking away when he offers to tell her what he does know... in exchange for a promise that she'll visit from time to time. She gives him a soft maybe, and he spills that he got a lot of fan letters from someone who signed their missives "P.W." — Phillip's initials. Using the letters, SVU rushes to protect Phillip's next victim: Dr. Huang, who also was involved in Henry's case.

They get there in time to stop the young man from hurting Huang. Rollins chases him down and corners him in a nearby backyard, taunting him by telling him that Henry doesn't even know who he is. When Phillip starts to charge at her with the knife, Liv — who arrives just in time — shoots him down.

At the end of the hour, Carisi informs Ruby that the District Attorney is offering her a deal: five years' probation, the first of which will consist of rehab. Also, Rollins says, she has to promise to call Amanda the next time she's in a bad situation. Even though Rollins was literally screaming at her the last time they were in the same room, Ruby agrees.

Then Rollins apologizes to Benson, who understands why she did what she did "the same way that you understand that you will never do it again... And hopefully, that's the last time we'll ever have to think about Henry Mesner ever again." The final shot of the episode is of Henry in his cell, eagerly watching the door in the hopes that Amanda will swing by. Good luck with that, buddy!

What did you think of Henry Mesner's return? Hit the comments and let us know!