In Law & Order: SVU season 25 episode 10, "Combat Fatigue," Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) hopes to finally see justice served as George Brouchard (Patrick Carroll) goes on trial for kidnapping Maddie (Allison Elaine) earlier in the season. Unfortunately, after a series of mishaps, it starts to appear as if George may walk away a free man. So does he?
Here’s what happened.
One apple ruins the bunch
A jury is in a room deliberating on whether or not George is guilty of kidnapping Maddie. So far, 11 of the jurors think George is guilty of the crime, while one juror, Slater Dent (Phoebe Lloyd), continues to believe he’s innocent. Her peers become outraged with her as they are ready to go home and put this case behind him. The foreman, in particular, angrily voices his frustration with her, which ultimately leads her to agree to change her vote to guilty to satisfy the rest of the group.
When the verdict is read in open court, Judge Blake (Ami Brabson) asks if Carisi (Peter Scanavino) or the defense wants the jurors polled. George whispers to his counsel that he does, and through the polling, Slater boldly proclaims that she thinks George is innocent and she was coerced into changing her vote. This immediately prompts Judge Blake to investigate the matter before she makes the verdict official.
When Judge Blake interviews the other jurors, none of them admit to coercing Slater, but the foreman says Slater was coerced, just not by the other members of the jury. Instead, he accuses George of coercion, claiming that George was looking at Slater as if to seduce her during the trial. When Judge Blake asks Slater about this, the young woman states she knows that she will be with George once he is exonerated because they share a connection.
This leaves the judge with no choice but to declare a mistrial, meaning Carisi has to prosecute George all over again, and Maddie has to endure the rigors of another trial, a point her mother Eileen (Leslie Fray) hates. Eileen’s not sure her daughter can go through this again as Maddie is already struggling.
A second chance at justice
Carisi wastes no time refiling charges against George. Before the second trial gets underway, Eileen goes to see Olivia in the squad room and shares a new revelation Maddie just told her.
Apparently, Maddie now claims George did have sexual contact with her, a point Maddie denied originally. When Olivia confirms the rape kit was negative, Eileen states Maddie informed her that George kissed her and touched her body. Although Maddie thinks it would be considered consensual, Olivia replies there was no way it was consensual as Maddie is underage and was under the influence.
When Olivia and Captain Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) question Maddie directly about her mother’s revelations, Maddie starts from the beginning when George snatched her from the store. Maddie says he first took her to a motel where fellow victim Tanya (Leilany Celeste) was waiting. Tanya didn’t appear happy to see George touching all over Maddie.
On another day, Maddie alleges George kissed her with tongue involved, which she admits was her first kiss. He then cut her hair and saved some of it in a leather pouch he wears around his neck. She lastly confesses that George bathed her while she was nude.
After hearing this information, Carisi decides to add sexual assault charges to the kidnapping ones George is already facing. Carisi offers him a plea deal so no one has to go through another trial, but George not only refuses the deal but winds up firing his defense attorney at the bail hearing. The judge allows George to represent himself and someone anonymous winds up paying George’s million-dollar bail. He’s placed under house arrest in a nearby motel. Eileen is left furious.
Is George found guilty?
Back in the squad room, Mr. Flynn (Zack Robidas) shows up and shares with Olivia that his wife Eileen has been texting flirtatious and suggestive messages to George. The news completely baffles the SVU captain. When she confronts Eileen about it, Elieen claims she was hoping to trick George into doing something stupid that would get him sent away to prison with certainty. Of course, Olivia thinks this is a horrible plan.
During the second trial, Olivia takes the stand and answers Carisi’s questions. When given the opportunity to cross-examine her, George simply asks her to confirm her name and finishes. He saves his energy for Agent Sykes (Jordana Spiro) and Maddie.
George grills Agent Sykes about her treatment of him during his arrest on the train. He brings up the fact that she physically attacked him when he was handcuffed and pushes to admit that in that moment, she wasn’t thinking about Maddie but rather her still-missing sister. George paints her as an agent with a bias.
When he gets the chance to question Maddie, he asks if there was a part of being with him that she liked. She says she liked looking at stars with him because for weeks, it was their only constant. He then questions Maddie about him bathing her, much to Carisi’s chagrin who objects, but she eventually states it "felt good a little." George says he just wants the court to hear that he’s not the monster the prosecution is painting him to be.
Feeling the case is in jeopardy again, Eileen takes it upon herself to go to George’s motel with a gun. Per Olivia’s instructions, Captain Curry and Velasco (Octavio Pisano) had been monitoring George’s motel, so when they saw Eileen go see him, they call Olivia.
Olivia arrives and tries to diffuse the situation. Eileen demands that George give her the lock of Maddie’s hair around his neck. He’s resistant to handing it over, so Olivia snatches it off his neck and gives it to Eileen. After doing some more talking, Olivia gets Eileen to lower the gun who breaks down in tears.
The next day, the jury comes to a decision and this time finds George guilty of kidnapping and sexual assault, which he accepts. As far as Eileen, Carisi says it’s likely she’ll only face probation and some community service for the stunt she pulled on George as she wasn’t in the right frame of mind and the gun she had was not loaded.
The episode concludes with Olivia taking Maddie to get some help. Olivia takes Maddie to the therapist she sees herself.
New episodes of Law & Order: SVU debut on Thursdays at 9 pm ET/PT on NBC. Episodes become available the next day on Peacock.
