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What did you think of Philip Winchester’s SVU debut?

By Brittany Frederick

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT -- "The Undiscovered Country" Episode 1913 -- Pictured: (l-r) Mariska Hargitay as Lieutenant Olivia Benson, Philip Winchester as Peter Stone, Sam Waterston as DA Jack McCoy -- (Photo by: Michael Parmelee/NBC)
LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT -- "The Undiscovered Country" Episode 1913 -- Pictured: (l-r) Mariska Hargitay as Lieutenant Olivia Benson, Philip Winchester as Peter Stone, Sam Waterston as DA Jack McCoy -- (Photo by: Michael Parmelee/NBC) /
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What did you think of Philip Winchester’s Law and Order: SVU debut? We discuss Peter Stone’s arrival in New York and his future in SVU season 19.

Peter Stone officially touched down in New York in Wednesday’s Law & Order: SVU, and that means we have a few things to talk about.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains detailed spoilers for Wednesday’s episode of Law & Order: SVU.

In last night’s episode “The Undiscovered Country” we saw Peter (Philip Winchester) return to New York for his father’s funeral, only to be drafted as a special prosecutor when SVU‘s existing prosecutor Rafael Barba (Raul Esparza) was brought up on charges.

And though Peter failed to convict his fellow attorney, Barba resigned his position as Assistant District Attorney at the end of the episode anyway, clearing the path for Peter Stone to become the new ADA (and for Philip Winchester to become a new series regular) on SVU.

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It was the move many people suspected when Winchester’s role was booked last year, but one that naturally NBC had to keep under wraps until last night’s credits rolled.

So was it worth it? And what comes next for Peter Stone?

For anyone who watched Chicago Justice, having Philip Winchester in this episode of Law & Order: SVU was a stroke of genius. For the Barba on trial storyline to work, the show needed another lawyer who could sit at the prosecutor’s table while he was on the other side of the aisle.

But it couldn’t be just any lawyer. It had to be someone that the audience legitimately saw as a threat, who could genuinely possibly send Barba to prison, yet somebody whom the audience couldn’t immediately demonize. Someone who could fight for the opposing point of view, and have people understand why he was doing it.

Peter Stone was that person. Peter Stone has always been that person.

Half of Chicago Justice was Stone taking a position that ticked off his boss Mark Jefferies (Carl Weathers) and Stone having to fight for it. Jefferies threatened to fire Stone in “Friendly Fire” and you know darn well that wasn’t the first time that happened. But Stone stuck to his guns.

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As Jack McCoy pointed out in the SVU episode, Peter would take the case because he holds true to the same line of thought as his father. The way he was brought into the story made perfect sense for his character, even if how he got to New York was a bit tired (and sad for those of us who have fond memories of Ben Stone).

And he made a perfect antagonist, such as it was, to the show’s existing cast. Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson gave him an understandably cold reception—something that SVU can now have a lot of fun with going forward. How do you work with the person who tried to send his predecessor, your friend, to prison?

(It’s something that could’ve been played with on Chicago PD, when Kevin Atwater and Peter’s now ex-second chair Anna Valdez crossed paths again, but One Chicago didn’t go there.)

Law & Order: SVU fans know that Benson is a strong personality, and Mariska Hargitay is such a strong actress that she’s the only Law & Order franchise regular to win both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for their role. If you’re going to have someone working with Benson, they’d better come correct.

That was what was so great about the Barba character, and what was equally compelling about the introduction of Peter Stone as the new ADA. Barba would push Benson, and they both made each other better, something that he actually told her in his final scene on Wednesday.

Stone will do the same thing. He’s somebody who pushes everybody hard (it was a running joke among Chicago Justice fans how he just makes everyone angry), but the person he pushes hardest is himself.

These two are going to push each other in every episode. One of them already doesn’t like the other one. There’s natural conflict and yet, you know that when they do get on the same page it’s going to be scary for anyone who gets in their way.

And the last, but certainly not least, thing that makes Peter Stone coming to SVU great? Think of the crossover material. Benson has already crossed into One Chicago numerous times, so there’s an easy way for her to bring Stone with her and return him to his old sandbox to play with friends like Anna or Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda).

Or, at the very least, snarky comments can be made when someone says they’ve heard she’s now working with Peter Stone and she tells that story. He came in, was tasked with trying to take away a huge part of her world, and now he’s going to help her rebuild it. How’s that for a story?

Peter Stone got an absolutely perfect introduction into Law & Order: SVU, one that was absolutely true to his character and that let Philip Winchester shine in the role. He came, he saw and he didn’t wait to leave an impact—just as he did when he was introduced on Chicago PD last year.

Now let’s wait and hope that the rest of his episodes are just as good as the first.

Next: Philip Winchester talks about his move to SVU

What did you think about Philip Winchester’s first episode of Law & Order: SVU? Was Peter Stone coming to New York all that you thought it would be? Let us know in the comments.

Law & Order: SVU airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

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