Law & Order: SVU season 22 episode 4 spoilers: Carisi vs. Barba

In case you somehow missed the news about Law & Order: SVU season 22 episode 4, know this: Barba is back! Raul Esparza is making his first appearance on the show in quite some time, and the stakes of his return are enormous. This is not just some happy, friendly reunion — he’s facing off against Carisi in court.

We’ve known that this showdown is coming for quite some time; what’s been a little more unclear are some of the parameters around it. This is a rare episode of any show set around New Year’s Eve, and there’s a particular reason why this may cause chaos. For more, take a look at the full SVU season 22 episode 4 synopsis below:

01/07/2021 (09:00PM – 10:00PM) (Thursday) : RAÚL ESPARZA GUEST STARS – The squad spends New Year’s Eve tracking down an Amber Alert, and Carisi faces off against Counselor Rafael Barba in an emotional courtroom battle. Also guest starring Brett Parks, Bhavesh Patel and Vanessa Carrasco. TV-14

As many people out there know, New York City is iconic for their New Year’s Eve celebrations, though we’re sure that they won’t be anything close to the norm this year due to the pandemic. This is still a chaotic holiday, though, and some of that could manifest its way through the case. We’ll have to see how it plays out, but this is all worth thinking about as we prepare for this episode. It will play a little bit into SVU history, but with Barba in particular it feels like a mistake to just assume this is the same iteration of him we’ve seen in the past. A lot has happened in the time in which he’s been away.

What are you the most interested in checking out on Law & Order: SVU season 22 episode 4?

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This article was written by Jessica Carter.