‘Law & Order: SVU’ Season 25 Finale Brings in Stabler for Important Conversation, Plus Who’s Shot? (RECAP)

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Law & Order: SVU Season 25 Finale “Duty to Hope.”]

Pressure is high to catch a rapist in the SVU Season 25 finale.

There have been four victims in the past six months, and their unknown subject is escalating. He uses a coat hanger to bind his victims and sexually assaults them with a gun; the latest is still in the ICU. Not making it any easier is ADA Heidi Russell (Kate Loprest), the new chief of the Trial Division, isn’t exactly making any friends—with Benson (Mariska Hargitay) or Carisi (Peter Scanavino), the only one of the two who does work for her. In fact, she’s fine with charging a man, Hedges, who seems good for the attack that occurs near the beginning of this episode (his fingerprint at the scene)—and that man even pleads guilty—but then there’s another assault.

Russell still believes that Hedges is good for the crime he’s confessed to, even though the others think he was just pressured by his incompetent public defender. And the latest attack does give them a lead: A neighbor interrupted it, and the woman was able to kick the rapist’s engraved leather holster under the stove when he ran. The engraving points to a special ops branch of the Marines. Could this man and Hedges be working together? There’s nothing to suggest that.

Benson sends everyone home to live their lives… and that’s when Fin (Ice-T) is surprised by a kid holding him at gunpoint as he’s throwing out the trash. This kid is Hedges’ son, and he insists his father is innocent. In the ensuing scuffle, Fin is shot in the arm, and he tells the kid to get out of there and he won’t tell anyone. He then tries to treat the wound himself and turns in the gun claiming a neighbor gave it to him, but then he collapses and ends up in the hospital. He does, when she pushes, tell Benson what happened, and she sends him to talk to Hedges in Rikers with Carisi. It’s then that they realize how his fingerprint got on the inside of a glass door in the victim’s apartment: He worked in a home and hardware store that sold it.

Touch DNA on the leather holster IDs the rapist: Glenn Duncan, an ex-Marine who was dishonorably discharged in 2019. With IDs from two victims, Benson, the squad, and ESU go to his apartment, and he immediately begins shooting at them from his window. He hits an officer, and Benson puts herself in the line of fire to drive over and get him back to the paramedics. Benson tries to talk to Glenn over the phone, but he says either he goes down shooting or goes to prison for the rest of his life. He holds his girlfriend hostage, but when ESU moves in, they’re able to save her. And Glenn is good for all the assaults. Hedges will get out. Fin goes to tell his son and brings him to pick his dad up from Rikers—and make it clear he never wants to catch him touching a gun again.

While Benson says she would love to go with Fin to tell Hedges’ son, she says she has somewhere to be: Maddie’s 16th birthday. Maddie’s mom thanks Benson for taking her daughter to therapy; she’s on the road to recovery. She suggests she needs a compass like Benson has around her neck (the one from Stabler) to navigate what’s going on in her life—and Benson tells her she can borrow the necklace! “This has gotten me through some tough times, and you can return it whenever you want. It’s not like we’re going to lose touch,” the captain points out.

The episode ends with Benson calling Stabler (Christopher Meloni) to check in and tell him. “The necklace, the compass that you gave me last year. …  I haven’t taken it off since you gave it to me, and I wanted to let you know it has been incredibly meaningful to me and it has guided me in terms of my healing,” she says. “I’m glad,” he tells her. He also knows exactly who she means when she reveals she lent it to someone. “Sounds like she needed it a lot more than you do,” he remarks. “I knew you’d understand,” she tells him, and the season ends with them still talking.

What did you think of the SVU finale and Benson giving away the compass necklace for now? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Law & Order: SVU, Season 26, Fall 2024, NBC

If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.