Law & Order: SVU season 20 episode 9 preview: Peter Stone accused, arrested

Moving into Law & Order: SVU season 20 episode 9 next week, Peter Stone’s entire career is on the verge of collapse. The promo below explains why perfectly … and also gives you a pretty good sense as to why NBC did not release any promotional material for this installment in advance.

At the forefront of next week’s “Mea Culpa” is a woman coming forward and accusing Stone of sexual assault. This accusation, in turn, puts the Special Victims Unit in an incredibly difficult position where they have to determine who to move forward with this. For Fin, he poses the question as to whether or not Stone should get the benefit of the doubt, given his job and also his extensive history of putting bad people away. Yet, Benson makes it very clear and takes the hard line: She has no recourse other than arresting him. This episode could end up being about whether or not he is guilty of the assault and even if he is not, what that means in terms of the future of his career, anyway.

This is far from the first time that a member of SVU has been put on trial for something, as we saw it just last season with Barba. Yet, this is a different situation in that it is a different charge at a different moment in time. It’s not something that will be easy to recover from if there is a reason for Stone to recover. It’s wrong to assume that he is innocent just because he is a series regular on a long-running show and he’s build up a support base dating back from Chicago Justice. He may still have done this in the past and he will have to pay the price for it now. This is not an episode about assuming anything. This is an episode and a series about pursuing justice.

If Stone does goes away, what could this mean for the future of SVU? Maybe some will advocate for Barba coming back, or maybe the series could bring in a new prosecutor to take on the role. One way or another, this is a series at a crossroads, one that is set to present one of the most challenging stories in some time where a purported protector is being accused of committing a crime he has long done his best to prevent. The end result of this will, one way or another, alter and define the entire series’ future.

This episode should provide an opportunity for extraordinary performances, but we’re anxious to say too much more than that without knowing for certain the results.

What do you want to see when it comes to Law & Order: SVU season 20 episode 9? Be sure to sound off in the attached comments. (Photo: NBC.)