Heading into this season, SVU had a Rollins problem. And no,

we’re not just talking about the fact that the show is not the same

without her, and we want Kelli Giddish back on the cast full-time.

It’s the simple matter of the show establishing that she’s bored teaching, would clearly much rather be back with the squad, and hasn’t really told her husband, Carisi (Peter Scanavino). This one episode addresses all of that.

First of all, we have to acknowledge how adorable the family is at home together, with Rollins hiding a pancake in Carisi’s briefcase and the girls telling their father before the couple sees the kids off to school. Then, we find out that Rollins is unemployed! That’s right: She turned down tenure.

“I was bored being a professor,” she says (which everyone already knew). With Carisi heading off to work, she’ll be alone, “just in the deafening silence, surrounded by my own life choices,” and she’s feeling pretty good about it. He offers to get her a job as an investigator at the DA’s office, and she sends him off with a kiss.

Rollins then goes to see Benson, (Mariska Hargitay) with plans to have lunch, and she remarks on the newest hires (Curry, Bruno) and the squad no longer being short-staffed. She’s in the captain’s office when the case comes in: A bride ran out on her wedding and will only speak to them. Benson comments that she could use some help. “You asking me to come?” Rollins asks. “Is that you offering?” the captain counters.

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So Rollins joins the investigation, and it’s just like old times, with the former detective falling right back into it. “It’s like she never missed a beat,” Benson tells Fin (Ice-T)—and notes they need to check the paperwork she filed on the way out. “You think it’s possible she could actually still be a cop?” he wonders.
It turns out the bride was raped the night before her wedding, and she’s not the first. To catch the serial rapist, Rollins and Carisi go undercover as a couple about to get married at the flower market their suspect works, and luring him in goes according to plan … though Carisi does struggle to only listen as Rollins baits the man to get his DNA.

Still, even though they haven’t officially talked about it, he does note, as they’re working the case and preparing for her to wait for the suspect, “You’ve got this spark in your eye. I haven’t seen it since you left SVU.” She admits she’s excited. Later, after he admits that he was worried about her to Benson, the captain reminds him that he married a wildcard. “That’s kind of what I love about her. I guess if she wanted to come back to SVU, I’d figure out a way to be okay with it,” he says.

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But Benson thinks she’s looking for something new. And it seems like Rollins isn’t even sure what she wants to do—which is a good thing! After all, a lot of Rollins’ story has been about facing her demons. And while Rollins does tell Benson, “It’s just my luck, I’m finally available and you’re not understaffed anymore,” the captain argues, “This is not about you not fitting into the squad room. This is about where you belong in your life.” It’s been one day of unemployment for her and “I don’t want SVU to be your safety net. How about you take some time, figure out what makes you happy?” They both know how difficult that is for Rollins, who acknowledges that she still has “a little more work to do.”

We’re counting this as a good thing and a sign that she could even make her way back to SVU one day. After all, we already know there’s going to be a Season 26, and we could keep seeing her helping out with the occasional case. But at least SVU is leaving Rollins in a much better place rather than keeping her teaching, where she’s not happy, where she’s bored, where she clearly would much rather be working SVU cases.

What do you think of where SVU has left Rollins now? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC

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