Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 23 Episode Guide
Plot summaries for the twenty-third season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which aired on NBC from September 2021 to May 2022, featuring Capt. Olivia Benson, Det. Amanda Rollins, Sgt. Fin Tutuola, ADA Sonny Carisi and Det. Joe Velasco.
- 1
And the Empire Strikes Back
SVU builds a sex-trafficking case against a congressman who used a nonprofit’s housing program to prey on homeless mothers and teenage girls.
- 2
Never Turn Your Back on Them
Witnesses against Congressman Howard begin turning up dead, and a raid to find a missing teenage witness leaves Tamin badly wounded.
- 3
I Thought You Were on My Side
A club singer accuses a mob-connected nightclub owner of rape and attempted murder, but federal agents and Stabler’s unit want him as an informant.
- 4
One More Tale of Two Victims
A man posing as a repairman rapes single mothers in front of their young children, and the brass decide which victim’s case gets prosecuted.
- 5
Fast Times @DIGGYSPENTHOUSE
A young dancer accuses two social media stars of raping her at their content house, and the case is fought online as much as in court.
- 6
The Five Hundredth Episode
Former detective Nick Amaro uses new DNA techniques to reopen a 1996 prom-night murder, and the writer behind the case turns out to be Benson’s first love.
- 7
They'd Already Disappeared
When a young sex worker vanishes after calling her sister for help, SVU uncovers a decade of killings that police ignored because the victims lived on the street.
- 8
Nightmares in Drill City
A teenage girl who helped gunmen into a deadly robbery faces murder charges, and SVU sets out to prove she was a trafficking victim acting out of fear.
- 9
People vs. Richard Wheatley
Carisi prosecutes crime boss Richard Wheatley for the car bombing that killed Kathy Stabler, while Barba defends him and puts Stabler and Benson under scrutiny.
- 10
Silent Night, Hateful Night
SVU joins the Hate Crimes unit to hunt the extremists behind a series of Christmas Eve attacks before their remaining bombs go off.
- 11
Burning with Rage Forever
After a predator lures an eight-year-old from home through an online game, the boy’s uncle stabs the man and is hailed as a hero until SVU learns what he has hidden.
- 12
Tommy Baker's Hardest Fight
When a mixed martial arts star who meant to come out after his biggest fight is found assaulted, SVU looks past a staged hookup to the people closest to him.
- 13
If I Knew Then What I Know Now
A young woman who has just met her birth mother asks SVU to find the man who raped her mother at a teenage party 18 years earlier.
- 14
Video Killed the Radio Star
When a radio host is accused of raping a sponsor’s wife, Rollins goes undercover and uncovers his claim to a decade-old killing.
- 15
Promising Young Gentlemen
After a freshman is raped at an exclusive college club, SVU charges every member with conspiracy and Carisi seeks a gender-based hate crime charge.
- 16
Sorry If It Got Weird for You
A woman who panics on a date with Velasco reveals that the founder of the dating app she works for raped her.
- 17
Once Upon a Time in El Barrio
When three girls from Velasco’s old parish in Juárez disappear in New York, SVU tracks a trafficking ring protected by a police captain.
- 18
Eighteen Wheels a Predator
A Central Park rape that seems solved is linked by DNA to a trucker who has assaulted women along the interstates for 20 years.
- 19
Tangled Strands of Justice
A girl’s remains surface in Central Park 20 years after the search for her was abandoned on 9/11, as a rape victim is arrested through her own rape-kit DNA.
- 20
Did You Believe in Miracles?
A teenage girl vanishes with a trusted church friend who has been living under a false name and grooming her family for years.
- 21
Confess Your Sins to Be Free
A rapist strikes women who confessed their affairs to a priest, and Carisi’s childhood friend in the clergy will not say why he was caught at the scene of a trap.
- 22
A Final Call at Forlini's Bar
A battered wife stabs her abusive husband in the back, and Barba defends her against Carisi as Benson weighs her feelings about him and Stabler.