What’s spookier than ghosts and goblins? Try the heinous crimes that the squad of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit deals with every week. But for the Thursday (Oct. 29) episode of the long-running NBC crime procedural, the show dips its toes into the supernatural, and Billboard has a first look at one of the scenes.
While gathered in the squad room, Sgt. Odafin Tutuola (rapper-actor Ice-T) kicks off the haunting chatter, and Det. Amanda Rollins (played by Kelli Giddish) reveals how she once went to a palm reader who predicted — accurately — that she would one day have three children. When Capt. Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) calls it a “lucky guess,” Rollins concedes it’s a possibility, “but there are some things out there without an explanation.”
Newish SVU detective Griffin (Corey Cott) sides with criminal profiler Rollins, recalling a ghostly encounter from his youth. “It was a Saturday morning. I was the only one awake in my house. I look at the end of the hall, there’s a beautiful woman there. Don’t smile!” he shoots back when his fellow officers scoff. “A beautiful woman, and she waved at me — and then she was gone.”
Ever the skeptic, Tutuola suggests Griffin’s dad was perhaps “stepping out” before making clear his stance on the unexplained phenomena. “I mean all I’m saying is there’s no ghosts, there’s no poltergeists,” he declares emphatically. But then, the sergeant — who should probably display an “I Want to Believe” poster behind his desk — channeled his late partner Sgt. John Munch (Richard Belzer, who also portrayed the same character in a 1997 episode of The X-Files) by noting, “It’s just us! Us and the aliens!”
So why all the supernatural chitchat in the precinct? According to NBC’s logline for episode four of season 28, titled “Arcana”: “When a clairvoyant’s account of a nighttime assault raises more questions than answers, Curry must put her skepticism aside to uncover the truth. The squad’s investigation reveals a long-buried secret that has haunted one family for generations.”
Watch Billboard‘s first-look clip below:
Tune in to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Thursday at 9 p.m. to see if there actually is any supernatural activity at play in the latest case. (The episode will stream on Peacock the following day.)
