Law and Order SVU season 19, episode 14: Peter Stone highlights

How did Peter Stone do in this week’s Law and Order: SVU? Check out the highlights in our Philip Winchester-centric SVU season 19, episode 14 recap.

Now that Philip Winchester is officially a series regular on Dick Wolf‘s Law & Order: SVU, we’re keeping tabs on what Peter Stone gets up to.

SVU season 19, episode 14 was called “Chasing Demons” (not to be confused with the Chicago PD episode “Chasing Monsters”) and found Peter still in New York after the world’s most awkward murder trial. So what would he do next, and why would he stay?

If you missed any of Philip Winchester’s next episode, or you’re a Chicago Justice fan who wants to know what Peter got up to, we’re breaking down the installment for you with the highlights for his character.

Here are the highlights from Peter Stone’s second SVU episode:

1) Stone does damage control

The episode opened with Stone watching Brian Cassidy’s (guest star Dean Winters) courtroom outburst destroy his case against a child molester. And as anyone who watched Chicago Justice knows, Peter Stone does not suffer mistakes. He wasted no time in giving Cassidy a piece of his mind.

"Stone (to Cassidy): He baited you and you handled it like a rookie."

But it didn’t end there. Since Cassidy works as an investigator for the District Attorney’s Office, Stone suspended him on the spot. Yep, that’s the Peter Stone we know, love and who holds his colleagues to the highest possible standards.

(Plus, this is another example of why Philip Winchester is an outstanding actor. His sequence of reactions as the case implodes says everything while he says nothing—the epitome of how actors can contribute to a scene even when they’re not the focus of it.)

Watch One Chicago on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!

2) All witnesses are not the same

With a mistrial declared, Stone and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) had to try convincing all of the victims’ families to participate in a second trial. When met with resistance from one of the boys’ mothers, Stone started to push harder—but that’s how you handle people in Homicide, not SVU. Benson interrupted, and afterward talked to Stone about the importance of taking a soft touch in the moment.

That’s something Peter will have to learn, and it’s one way that the writers are going to give us a different story than we saw on Chicago Justice, and character growth that we’re looking forward to.

3) Stone vs. Benson, round two

When the child molester was murdered, Cassidy became the prime suspect. And when Stone found that out through the Homicide detective on the case (guest star Kylie Bunbury), he was not happy. At all. Guess who he was unhappy in the direction of? Yep.

"Benson: What are you going to do? Prosecute everyone here?Stone: If they keep killing people."

Stone’s always razor-sharp instincts rightly suspected Benson of protecting Cassidy, but before she had to admit to it, Cassidy showed up in her office to turn himself in. That didn’t stop Stone from calling Homicide and also making clear that he did not approve of SVU’s “rogue investigation.” Or, eventually, ordering Cassidy’s arrest for murder.

It felt almost like a callback to his debut in the Chicago PD episode “Justice” in which he also took aim at Kim Burgess’s romantic relationship with her partner and how that would impact Burgess’s testimony. Peter Stone does not care about your personal issues, people.

4) Getting the real truth

SVU fans probably figured out that Cassidy wasn’t the real killer; the actual answer was much more complicated and a lot more depressing. But what was great about “Chasing Demons” was that when the actual murderer was found, it was Stone who got to be in the interview room, who had the confrontation scene that pulled the whole episode together.

And in those few minutes, we saw how Peter had started to learn point No. 2 above already. He was empathetic with the young man—the older brother of one of the victims, who revealed that he had been previously molested himself. Stone used his own experience from the demise of his baseball career, to identify with the suspect’s feelings of failure and letting his family down. He connected with the kid in a way that nobody else in that episode could have, and that sold the case of the week.

"Stone: My whole identity was wrapped up in being a ballplayer. When I felt that ligament rip, it was like someone robbed me of who I was. Everything I could be…I didn’t have anyone to blame. Nowhere to put my anger. And it tore me up inside."

It’s important that Law & Order: SVU remembered to show Peter Stone’s compassionate side, because it’s the compassion that drives the intensity he has for the law and for justice. He fights so hard because he believes in doing the right thing so much.

And in that moment, thanks to a perfectly restrained performance from Philip Winchester (putting the focus not on Stone but on the young man who was both victim and killer), we started to realize that yes, Peter Stone will fit into the SVU family.

Now if we only can get told what was in Ben Stone’s will that made his son leave Chicago…but that will have to be for another episode.

Next: Philip Winchester discusses joining SVU

New episodes of Law & Order: SVU air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC. For more show coverage, follow the Dick Wolf category at One Chicago Center.