‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 16 finale spoilers: More on the Johnny D challenge

There is going to be quite a few significant developments on the season finale of “Law & Order: SVU” Wednesday night. Not only are we going to see Amaro and Benson seemingly wrestle with potential promotions, but we will have at least one character getting injured, the trial of Johnny D, and therefore Benson and Baby Noah in severe peril in the event that this guy is not convicted.

While you obviously want to be hopeful for the good guys to win this case, the reality here is that in life, nothing is cut-and-dry given the nature of Johnny D’s crimes. As executive producer Warren Leight teases about the finale to TV Guide, there is still a pretty significant chance that this character does not get locked up:

“We’re playing with the reality of how difficult it is to convict these guys … They so brutalize the girls they trafficked and it’s very hard to speak up against guys like this in open court. If this guy gets off, what does that mean for her and Noah? If a parent comes forward who didn’t [previously] know about the existence of that child, he immediately throws a wrench into the works.”

By the end of the finale, you can expect to be emotional given everything that we have heard about the finale already. Are we concerned? Sure. This is a long-running, and at a certain point changes do have to come. There’s never a guarantee that any cast member will remain from one season to another, and the only person we feel for sure is safe is Mariska Hargitay. It’s hard to imagine the show without her.

(Photo: NBC.)