Law & Order: SVU is bidding adieu to another squad member after four years.
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Det. Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano) left the Special Victims Unit during Thursday’s episode of the long-running show, Season 27, Episode 3, “A Vicious Circle.”
According to our sister site PopCulture.com, Velasco had already taken a leave from SVU after being recruited by the DEA to go undercover on a drug operation, leveraging his experience with cartels. With Capt. With Olivia Benson’s (Mariska Hargitay) approval, he quietly pursued this side mission. However, in Thursday’s episode, he is called into a meeting with Chief Kathryn Tynan (Noma Dumezweni).
Velasco fears Tynan has learned about his DEA work and that he’s implicated Benson. However, she assures him everything is under control.
The actual meeting between Velasco and Tynan goes a little differently, as he arrives to see DEA agents with whom he’s worked there. Recalling the meeting with Benson later, Velasco reveals that the DEA asked Tynan if they could recruit him for more undercover work in San Diego, and that she’s on board.
“I don’t like the way they went over our heads,” Velasco tells Benson. He explains that his undercover target was a dangerous criminal who needed to be stopped. Despite this, he hesitated to take the assignment because he didn’t want to leave Benson’s squad.
“Velasco, I haven’t stayed with SVU out of loyalty,” the captain shot back. “I would never expect anyone to do that. I’m here because I think that it’s the place that I can do the most good. You need to be where you can do the most good.”
Det. Joe Velasco Visits a Recovering Collegue Before Departing SVU
Velasco then visits a recovering Sgt. Fin Tutuola (Ice-T). He reminds Fin of their past conversation about becoming detectives to offset the bad things they had done.“Well, I realized something, I realized that when I’m in it, when I’m doing the job, I don’t think about the scale anymore,” Velasco admits. “I don’t think about myself at all.”“I just wanna say thank you for everything,” he added.“You don’t have to say a word, I already know,” Fin shot back.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit drops Thursdays on NBC and streams the following day on Peacock.