Warning: spoilers are ahead for the fall finale of Law & Order: SVU Season 27, called “Showdown” and available streaming next day with a Peacock subscription.
NBC has aired the last new episode of Law & Order: SVU Season 27 in the 2025 TV schedule, and after what went down within the NYPD ranks in “Showdown,” the stakes would be high ahead of the 2026 TV schedule even if Law & Order hadn’t confirmed another crossover on the way. Olivia Benson had a standoff with Chief Tynan that has felt inevitable ever since Rollins‘ return, but I wasn’t counting on Tynan making some good points, and it’s a little nerve-wracking to acknowledge that she was not entirely wrong.
I think it’s fair to say that Tynan is Benson’s Season 27 NYPD nemesis, and the stage is set for some pretty juicy conflict between the women in the new year.
How Benson’s Problems Started Piling Up
Promotion for “Showdown” mostly hyped a case that would have Gone Girl elements, which required all hands on deck, including the captain’s… as far as Benson was concerned, anyway. Bruno and Griffin made some messy decisions early in the investigation that put an infuriated Carisi in a difficult position in court, with Peter Scanavino showing off his “intensity” that a guest star recently praised. With the case on the line, Benson volunteered to go up on the stand, and even that wasn’t enough.
The closest that Carisi came to a win in the fall finale was that the rapist was remanded after a mistrial rather than having all charges dropped. By the end, Bruno was wracked with guilt, Griffin was offering to transfer, and Curry and Rollins weren’t exactly at their peppiest, while Fin was once again MIA. So, Chief Tynan didn’t walk in on the unit at their best in the final moments of the finale, and she had a wake-up call for the captain that Benson wasn’t expecting.
The Point Of No Return With Tynan
Already on thin ice after refusing to join Chief Tynan for a press conference so that she could stay with a victim, Benson blaming the presser for contributing to the mistrial didn’t exactly win her any points with Tynan, who coolly responded that she understands “the chain of command.” When the Special Victims captain insisted that her job is to help victims, Tynan said:
Captain, it is unbelievable to me that after all these years in law enforcement, you seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what your job is… Your job, as a captain, is not to boom doors with ESU or to search for evidence with the K-9 unit. It is to teach and oversee your detectives so that you do not find yourself in the position of having to defend their shortcomings
This time, Tynan didn’t quite agree when Benson argued that her team is the best in the department, saying that she’s “starting to question [Benson’s] supervision” and that she should “reconsider my offer to come to Police Plaza… so this unit can be led by a captain who understands how to supervise. According to the chief, the “chain of command” means that it’s not Benson’s decision to make.
Not one to take this quietly, Benson shot back:
Chief, I’ve been here for a very long time, and I have seen administrators like you come and go. I know how to do my job, and I would like very much for us to work together and do something good for this city. But you don’t need to tell me how to do my job. What you need to do is stay out of my way.
Tynan responded with “That is not how this works,” and Benson for the first time looked a little nervous that chain of command is actually going to be a problem for her and how she runs her unit. Much as I hate to admit it, Tynan made a good point when it comes to the power structures they exist in, and I can’t blame Benson if she starts to worry about facing some problems from higher up in the NYPD. Still, the exchange did make for a juicy cliffhanger in the fall finale.
Hear Me Out: Chief Tynan Was Right About Something
Unfortunately, Tynan does have a point about Benson’s status as a captain meaning that she probably shouldn’t be going out in the field with boots on the ground as much as she does. I might not have agreed with the chief if this had come up last season, but the death of Cragen this fall had me thinking back on how he was always the man behind the desk who Benson (and usually Stabler) came to with their questions, problems, and messes.
Cragen was rarely in the field or interrogation room questioning witnesses, whereas Benson didn’t really change much other than getting an office when she was promoted up in the ranks of the NYPD. She’s as hands-on to help victims as ever, with the detectives (and officers, as the case is with Fin, Rollins, and Curry) in her unit following her lead. Benson is wonderful at many things, but supervising from afar isn’t one of them.
To be perfectly clear, I don’t want Olivia Benson to go the way of Captain Cragen and spend the majority of each episode behind a desk, and I doubt Mariska Hargitay would have become the face of the franchise if her character was somebody who kept distance between herself and the victims. But in-universe, her methods could get her in trouble with higher ups, and I do enjoy that Benson’s nemesis isn’t a mustache-twirling victim who makes it easy to just declare her wrong, Benson right, and expect business to proceed as usual.
Tynan is pragmatic, without the emotional attachment to helping victims that has made Benson such an institution within the NYPD and in the real world. Plus, I’m so used to not worrying about Benson that it’s exciting to have some uncertainty about what the chain of command means for her now that she’s working under somebody who will pull rank. Tynan is a worthy challenger when it comes to the politics of the job, which makes it interesting.
Sure, it’s interest mixed with some dread, but a serialized element has been introduced to a procedural show, and Tynan not being entirely wrong makes this conflict fun. For as much as the Manhattan Special Victims Unit often feels like it can play by its own rules, that’s not the case anymore this season. We saw Carisi losing his cool in the fall finale, with Bruno on edge and Griffin in a tricky position. How will Benson react to this threat from Tynan? And how will she prove the chief wrong?
Well, fans will unfortunately have to wait a bit to get that answer. There are several weeks of winter hiatus ahead until the midseason premiere of Law & Order: SVU Season 27 on Thursday, January 8 at 9 p.m. ET. The premiere will be half of a two-part crossover with Law & Order, starting an hour early at 8 p.m. ET, all on NBC.