How Did ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Write out Velasco & Silva in Season 26 Finale?

Here Are Their Stories

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Law & Order: SVU Season 26 finale, “Post-Rage.”]

Heading into the Law & Order: SVU finale, we know two things: Benson’s (Mariska Hargitay) squad is about to lose two detectives, Velasco (Octavio Pisano) and Silva (Juliana Aidan Martinez), and she’s about to get her close friend, Rollins (Kelli Giddish), back full time in the fall.

Immediately, the finale reveals that Velasco has been promoted to detective second grade; Benson leads him to the surprise celebration under the guise of the two grabbing a drink after work. Benson called the chief to let him know he’s demonstrated strong case work, and, Curry ( Aimé Donna Kelly) adds, he’s earned the respect of his superiors. In other words, Benson says, he’s shown command presence. With that, the squad toasts to him.

The next day, they’re called to the scene of a general psychiatrist, Gretchen (Betsy Brandt), who was raped and bludgeoned; someone fired a gun in the house around the time of the attack and it looks like the responsible party had a post-rage comedown. He made her comfortable with a blanket and pillow, and Benson explains that it’s actual regret. Some actually feel sad and try to undo the crime, even call the police. Furthermore, pages have been ripped out of her notebook, indicating she may have known her attacker. Her assistant can’t give them much due to HIPAA, but does tell them that the pages came from a week’s worth of session notes from around the holidays. Gretchen’s husband died a few years ago, and she did have dinner with Dr. Gary Schwartz (Michael Torpey), who is interested but hasn’t received any indication she is. He tells them about their game at dinners, to play who has the more complicated patient, as well as the fact that he walks her home to spend more time with her.

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Gary’s the one to point them in the direction of Anthony, who has been in couple’s therapy with his wife with Gretchen, starting around the holidays. He’s been arrested for domestic violence a couple times, but his wife refuses to testify. Gretchen doesn’t remember much after her attacker pressing his thumbs into her eyes (she has surgery for a detached retina), nor did she see him, but she does seem certain Anthony is the one who has her gun, which has gone missing since the attack. And she appears to be correct; he’s armed when the squad follows him. Though he seems to surrender, he then jumps off to his death. However, it turns out that he has an alibi for the night of the attack.

Furthermore, just as the squad is going over other patients of Gretchen’s who could have done this, landing on a mysterious Keith Sparks, whom the psychiatrist barely remembers, word comes in of another therapist being raped — but this one was murdered. The cause of death is blunt force to the head, and she was also covered with a blanket (but moved to the couch). Her eyes were gouged out. Someone is blinding therapists, and Gretchen just got lucky.

Gretchen, who’s now staying with Gary, brings up the online portal through which Keith made his appointment. That gives them an email address, but chances are that Keith Sparks isn’t even his name, Benson and Curry know. The latter also thinks they need to look beyond New York for other victims, and she’s right: They get a hit on someone from Connecticut in December just after one suspect falls through, and that case remains open since the police couldn’t tie anyone to the crime.

That’s the one that leads them to their guy: This therapist kept detailed records, and one of her patients referred a coworker who then moved to Manhattan. “Ted” is “Keith,” as Gretchen confirms. When they track him down, he runs, but they chase him down until he’s forced to surrender.

Benson and Fin (Ice-T) interrogate him, and he eventually admits that he blinded the women because he didn’t want to be seen for who he really is. He was angry about the lies about the world, and no amount of psychiatric help offered him the clarity he wanted. Instead, he saw it as mental manipulation that took him apart, and he was never put back together. He made the women hurt because they just talked rather than free him from pain, and he wanted them to feel pain, too, but he didn’t want to do it.

Virginia Sherwood / NBC

The season ends with the promotion ceremony for Velasco and 15 others, and as Benson watches, she remembers his time with SVU. But the show doesn’t actually write out Velasco or Silva, so we’ll have to wait until the Season 27 premiere for explanations.

What did you think of the Season 26 finale and how it didn’t write out Velasco and Silva? Let us know in the comments section below.

Law & Order: SVU, Season 27, Fall 2025, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC