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Law and Order SVU season 19, episode 17: Peter Stone highlights

By Brittany Frederick

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT -- "Send in the Clowns" Episode 1917 -- Pictured: Philip Winchester as Peter Stone -- (Photo by: David Giesbrecht/NBC)
LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT -- "Send in the Clowns" Episode 1917 -- Pictured: Philip Winchester as Peter Stone -- (Photo by: David Giesbrecht/NBC) /
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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 17 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 17 was called “Send In The Clowns” because the criminal of the week hid behind a clown mask. As if that wasn’t uncomfortable enough, Peter’s family issues were again a hot topic when he found himself with company.

If you missed any of Philip Winchester’s latest 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 fifth SVU episode:

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1) The family hour

The first time we saw Stone in this episode, he had an appointment that he couldn’t miss. That led to the reveal that his sister Pamela is schizophrenic and in a mental facility—and that Peter stayed in New York for her, not his father.

Ben Stone’s daughter had been mentioned in the original Law & Order, but we’d never even gotten a name until this week. And the episode’s last scene, in which Stone went to visit her and she didn’t even know who he was, was completely heartbreaking.

It was another piece of the puzzle that is Peter Stone, and so poignant and so thought-provoking. At least there was some hope in that moment, unlike the rest of this completely crazy episode.

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2) Gambling on an arraignment

The case of the week was a story you’ve heard some variation of on TV before: teenager sneaks out, then makes bad decisions at a party and goes missing.

It didn’t take long for the SVU team to find the guy in the clown mask—along with Haley’s blood in his apartment, her purse and cell phone in a dumpster nearby. A body still hadn’t been recovered, but the DNA match convinced Stone to file charges:

"Stone: Your working theory just became probable cause. Make the arrest."

His brain further cramped when Vincent insisted that it was expired meat, not Haley’s body, he was seen removing from his trunk. Unfortunately, his alibi couldn’t be proven or disproven because there was a screw-up at the garbage dump and things had been carted off before the cops could get there. So would Stone change his mind on those charges?

Well, you know Peter Stone—so no.

3) Prosecuting the wrong man

Proving a murder without a dead body is an uphill battle, but that was exactly the task in front of Peter Stone this week. Almost no one was convinced that he should even be trying the case, but he was determined to make it work.

"Stone: I’m asking you to trust me."

Unfortunately for him, he put his trust in the wrong person. The morning that he was supposed to testify, Haley’s chaperone James Turner didn’t show up either. That led the cops to check his house and find that Turner had a much larger interest in Haley than he’d let on—as well as finding them in bed together!

This wasn’t the first time Stone had prosecuted a case that wound up being wrong; remember his “without prejudice or pride” speech from Chicago Justice? We didn’t get to see a similar moment in this episode due to time constraints, but at least he got Turner on rape two and other charges as his brain continued to melt down after he learned that Turner was Hailey’s real dad—not unlike ours.

(Can we also give a shout-out to guest star Will Sasso? His performance as a man desperate to find his daughter and then finding out she wasn’t his daughter was a high point in this episode, and it’s unbelievable to remember that he used to be a comedian on MadTV.)

Peter Stone found himself in a bad situation this week, but he made the best of it. One of the best things about his character is that he owns his falliability, and “Send In The Clowns” was the first time we saw SVU season 19 play with that idea. Better luck next time, Stone.

Next: Here's where Peter Stone left off

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.

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