In Law & Order: SVU season 26 episode 8, "Cornered," Carisi (Peter Scanavino) finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time when he walks into an active robbery. Although he attempts to de-escalate the situation, things quickly go left, and he finds himself a hostage.
Thankfully, Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) spots the situation and quickly calls for more police officers to arrive at the scene. She also loops in Rollins (Kelli Giddish), who arrives ready to do whatever it takes to save her husband. With Olivia and Rollins both determined to see the situation come to a peaceful conclusion, they put their heads together to figure out the best course of action. So do they save Carisi?
Here’s what happened in Law & Order: SVU season 26 episode 8.
A forgotten birthday leads to trouble
Carisi goes into his favorite local deli and makes small talk with the cashier, Ali (Turhan Troy Caylak). After he leaves, he gets a call from Olivia who notes he's late for their meeting. She says she’ll see him in five minutes.
When Carisi arrives at the courthouse, he’s reminded that it’s his paralegal’s birthday, so he goes back to the deli to get flowers. After grabbing a bouquet he goes inside to pay, but notices Ali is behaving strangely. Carisi turns his head to see Deonte (Keith Machekanyanga) holding a gun on him. Deonte orders him to sit down.
Carisi watches as another assailant, Boyd (Silas Weir Mitchell), holds a gun on Elizabeth (Tori Khalil) and Tess (Paige Herschell), demanding Elizabeth hurry up with taking money out of the ATM. Boyd becomes agitated that she can only get $300, so Carisi offers up his phone, watch and wallet to calm him down. However, Boyd becomes agitated again when it’s Tess’ turn to take out money, but Tess is too nervous to comply.
Back at the courthouse, the paralegal is appreciative of the birthday gifts she’s receiving, but Olivia is concerned that Carisi hasn’t shown up yet. She pulls the paralegal aside and asks what deli Carisi usually goes to.
Deonte announces he found a safe in the store, but Ali shares he’s unable to open it because only the owner has the code. Boyd forces Ali to call the owner, which Ali does, but it will take 10-15 minutes before he arrives. Frustrated, Boyd makes Carisi lock the front door and flip over the closed sign. While he does, he locks eyes with Olivia. The SVU captain calls in what she correctly deduces is a robbery in process.
The situation escalates
Olivia briefs police as they arrive on the scene. Olivia calls Rollins, who initially ignores the call as she in a meeting, but Olivia keeps trying to reach her. Eventually answering, Olivia tells her Carisi is being held hostage and she’s sending a car to pick her up.
Inside the deli, Boyd is frustrated seeing the cops outside. The landline rings, but Boyd refuses to answer and demands to have the women’s phones before escorting them to the freezer. While Boyd is gone, Deonte goes through Carisi’s wallet and finds out he’s an assistant district attorney. When the landline rings again, Ali is insistent on answering it, even against Deonte's wishes. As soon as Ali picks it up, Boyd walks back in the room and shoots him. Because Ali picked up, Olivia and the cops outside all hear the commotion in the store and she panics. However, listening she learns Carisi wasn’t the gunshot victim.
An angry Boyd demands Carisi go to the freezer with the young ladies, but Carisi doesn’t want to leave Ali, who isn’t dead but badly bleeding. Boyd tells him to drag Ali to back with him.
In the freezer with the women and Ali, Carisi learns Tess still has her Apple watch. When the cops happen to dial Tess’ number, the call goes to her phone and her watch. Carisi answers her watch and tells Olivia that Ali has been shot and they need officers to force their way in so he can get medical attention. Carisi also tells Olivia the gunmen’s names. NYPD is unable to barge the deli before Boyd and Deonte return to the freezer and drag the hostages back to the front.
Outside, Rollins is vocal about her concerns with police breaching the deli. She firmly believes that will get the hostages killed. The hostage negotiator on the scene doesn’t feel she knows best, and an argument ensues that ends with Rollins being told to take a walk. After Olivia talks to the negotiator, she cautions him from doing anything that gets Carisi killed. The negotiator’s next move is to text Tess’ phone given Carisi answered it previously.
Unfortunately, Boyd spots the text, and he and Deonte become confused as to why they’d reach out to her instead of Carisi. Boyd aggressively searches Tess and finds the Apple watch. He starts to drag her to the freezer, but Carisi approaches to stop him. Boyd knocks Carisi in the head with the gun, then drags Tess to the freezer to sexually assault her.
A tragic ending
With Boyd in the freezer, Carisi asks Deonte how he could be okay with all of this. Deonte claims Boyd is a different person when he drinks. Elizabeth interrupts and announces that Ali has stopped breathing. Carisi immediately checks Ali’s pulse, he’s dead. The prosecutor blames Deonte for the murder, noting he’s just as responsible as Boyd.
Carisi asks what Deonte’s plan was here. Deonte says he and Boyd didn’t have much of one. He picked up Boyd after he was released from prison and he wanted to do some drinking. However, they didn’t have money so they saw the women at the deli, figured they had cards, then things went left when Carisi walked in. Carisi stresses Deonte is culpable for everything that’s happened. He tells Deonte if he helps them all get out of this, he’ll go to bat for him when he’s arrested.
Boyd walks out, and Elizabeth sneaks into the freezer to check on Tess, who is putting her clothes back on. The gunman has Carisi call Olivia to give her demands. Boyd wants transportation to a country that doesn’t have an extradition treaty and to exchange Carisi as a hostage for Olivia, believing the police captain will ensure he gets what he wants. Olivia claims the department may be slow with meeting his first demand, but she’s willing to become his hostage right away as long as he releases Tess, who Carisi notes needs medical attention. Boyd abruptly hangs up.
A hostile Boyd makes Carisi and Elizabeth act as human shields as he opens the door of the deli and shoves Tess out. He quickly closes the door, and Olivia and Rollins run to aid her.
Olivia then makes her way to the front door to turn herself over to Boyd. He opens the door and has Olivia put down her weapons. When it’s time for Carisi to leave, he refuses and then attacks Boyd. Deonte shuts the door, and Carisi and Boyd wrestle for control of Boyd’s gun. Boyd is about to shoot Carisi until Deonte kicks and then shoots him.
Deonte cries, asking Carisi if he did good. Carisi placates him until he persuades him to hand over the gun. Once he has the gun, Carisi demands that Deonte get on the ground and put his hands behind his back. Deonte is stunned, saying he thought Carisi would help him, but Carisi mentions Tess.
As the episode comes to a close, Carisi is clearly shaken up by the day’s events, but Olivia and Rollins drive him to take a bouquet of flowers to his paralegal. Watching from the car as he gives the birthday gift, Olivia and Rollins acknowledge that Carisi is not okay.
New episodes of Law and Order: SVU air on Thursdays on NBC and become available the next day on Peacock .
