Law & Order: SVU season 19 episode 8 review: What happened to Noah?

We knew going into the Law & Order: SVU season 19 fall finale that we were going to get an intense case. Little did we know that we’d also get the second-best episode of the season. It was going to be hard for the show to top what transpired with “Something Happened,” but they did a wonderful job both in telling the story of Andy the Monster, Katie, and Heather — and that’s without even mentioning the devastating cliffhanger at the end.

Let’s start from the ending and work our way forward. Who kidnapped Noah? That is understandably the question everyone should be asking and the fall finale didn’t offer up many clues. One thing that does feel clear is that unless this was all some elaborate mustache-twirling plan, Sheila does not seem to be involved. Noah’s grandmother had just taken him out to buy him a winter coat when someone snatched him in the middle of a department store. She had shown some suspicious behavior in bringing up Ellie to Noah in a conversation, but apologized for it by saying that it was just in the heat of the moment and he was asking questions about her. It absolutely didn’t seem intentional or something that she was trying to do in order to be a terrible person.

As for some other possibilities, maybe somehow Ellie is still alive, someone close to Ellie knew about Noah and kidnapped him, or this is someone with a connection to either Sheila or a vendetta against Benson. It could just be a random kidnapper who saw a situation that he was more than willing to exploit for the sake of getting some ransom money.

One way or another, we’ll be waiting for a while for this reveal.

The case of Katie and Andy

This was a very dark and extremely sad case that can be best described as a catfishing gone out of control. Heather, a bored girl living in West Virginia, found a way to catfish both a social-media star named Katie and a known MMA fighter in Andy by pairing the two up and pretending to form a relationship with each one of them as the other person. She made Andy believe that Katie had a rape fantasy and wanted him to come over and simulate the horrific act; then, she made Katie believe that he was this sweet guy despite having a nickname of The Monster in the ring. Andy did have enough of a heart to realize the horror of what he did after the fact, agreeing to accept a rape charge just so that Barba could go after Heather, the party responsible for creating this whole scenario. She was eventually convicted after it was determined that she was out to punish these two out of jealousy for their friendships and their lives. Meanwhile, she found herself often sad and alone without any of the same things in her life to brag about.

The trip to West Virginia

The jaunt to track down Heather was entertaining for many reasons, most notable for Carisi and Rollins getting in a bar fight and Carisi almost kissing Rollins after the fact. When he found out that she was with another guy at the bar overnight you could tell that he was hurt; yet, he didn’t try to turn it into a big blow-up at the office.

We’re not sure how much the Carisi – Rollins relationship will be touched on in the months to come, but it’s clear that Sonny has some feelings there. Yet, there may be a mutual understanding that acting on them complicates the job.

CarterMatt Verdict

As we said, this was a great SVU episode and a worthy follow-up to the one prior. Of course it presented a strong case at the center, but beyond that it touched on the emotional lives of many different characters — something that we don’t always see within a standard hour of the show.

What do you think about the SVU season 19 fall finale, and who do you think has Noah? Share some of your thoughts on the subject below!

(Photo: NBC.)