The milestone 25th season of Law & Order: SVU is nearly at its end,

but the latest episode felt much more like a classic than the show

continuing to try something new… and I mean that in the best way.

While I’ve had plenty of enthusiasm for how Benson has expanded

her squad in the 2024 TV schedule, the return of Kelli Giddish as Amanda

Rollins changed my mind before “Prima Nocta” was even half over, and it’s

all because of how SVU brought her back this time around as opposed to

her first episode this year.

In her appearance in the Season 25 premiere, Kelli Giddish felt more like she was making cameos rather than properly guest-starring, but that wasn’t the case in “Prima Nocta.” In fact, it felt like she hadn’t left the NYPD at all, to the point that multiple characters were referring to her as “Detective” and Benson asked Fin to check if the paperwork had ever even gone through on Rollins leaving the force. She was empathizing with victims, chatting with Benson, and thoroughly reminding me of why it was such a bummer to lose her back in Season 24.

Of course, I was bound to be a fan of the episode after it opened on the Rollisi household, complete with confirmation that Rollins’ daughters still call Carisi “daddy” now and that their son is, in fact, completely adorable. “Prima Nocta” established early on that Rollins is happy with her family life, but was so unenthusiastic about her teaching job that she chose to pass up a tenure position to quit altogether. It felt like SVU was soft-launching Rollins back into a series regular slot with the NYPD, and that was just fine with me. The episode even ended in a way that didn’t rule it out.

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So, why did loving having Kelli Giddish back as Rollins flip my opinion on other elements of Season 25? Well, the unit was operating quite smoothly with Rollins back in the fold, even though it was the first time she’d worked with Bruno and Captain Curry in Special Victims, and it made me realized that SVU really didn’t need to reinvent the squad by kinda sorta adding an FBI agent and bringing in a second NYPD captain. The classic format kept the show going for 25 years; why quit now?