‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 16, episode 9: Full details on Mariska Hargitay, cast in ‘Pattern Seventeen’

Fans of “Law & Order: SVU” are really going to need to display quite a bit of patience at the moment. Why is that? Well, we’re not going to be seeing another new episode until a week from Wednesday, which is when “Pattern Seventeen” will air.

This week, NBC finally released the full synopsis for this episode, which suggests a big episode for both Kelli Giddish and Mariska Hargitay. One of them is going to be dealing with some major issues tied to their past, while the other is focused on problems that are very much focused and tied to the present.

Take a look at all of the details below:

“When a series of young, petite girls are assaulted in the early morning hours, Detective Rollins (Kelli Giddish) matches the pattern to several rapes she worked in Atlanta. When she finds that the victims’ rape kits were never tested, Atlanta SVU Chief Patton (guest star Harry Hamlin) claims none of the cases were worth pursuing. Intense media scrutiny and the lack of a suspect brings the heat down on Sgt. Benson (Mariska Hargitay), who has to face Chief Dodds (guest star Peter Gallagher) and their commanders in a CompStat briefing. Meanwhile, a family court judge threatens to remove baby Noah from Benson’s care.”

We’re happy personally with the return of Peter Gallagher to the show. While it is easy to root against the character since he hasn’t been the kindest to Olivia, we love seeing him and Benson go toe-to-toe. Also, it’s nice to see Harry Hamlin stopping back! It reminds us of “Mad Men.”

(Photo: NBC.)