WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Law & Order: SVU, Season 22, Episode 14, "Post-Graduate Psychopath," which premiered Thursday on NBC.
The latest episode of Law & Order: SVU reintroduces a terrifying child from the squad's past. First appearing in Season 14, Episode 19, "Born Psychopath," Henry Mesner was a violent 10-year-old who physically abused his younger sister, Ruby, and has a record of assaulting his fellow classmates. Detective Amanda Rollins was involved in that case, and at the end of the episode, following his murdering a dog named Snowball, taking a five-year-old hostage with a gun and shooting Detective Nick Amaro, Henry was sent to juvenile detention. Now, as this episode of SVU begins, that incident is recapped.
Eight years later, Henry is testifying to be released at his parole hearing from the juvenile psychiatric center. He claims he understands he previously had no empathy or impulse control as a child, but that he's better now. His treatment director then takes the stand and says he has shown empathic progress, breaking his diagnosis. These promising testimonies are interspersed with flashbacks to Henry's childhood violence. His father and stepmother (his biological mother died while he was locked away) want him to come home with them, while Henry spins a masterful tale of simply not having enough love as a child and yearning for family.
Elsewhere, a woman, Libby, is being rolled out of an apartment, and an officer on the scene confirms she was sexually assaulted in a horrific manner. Detective Katriona Azar "Kat" Tamin and Sergeant Odafin "Fin" Tutuola talk to her roommate, who says she didn't get home until it was too late. The detectives investigate the room, but Kat appears unnerved. There are violent and bloody things left behind, prompting Fin to think the perp had never been arrested before, as they would've been too dangerous to let out.
The audience then sees Detective Amanda Rollins with her daughter, Jessie, at the park. She gets a call from Detective Olivia "Liv" Benson and turns to tell Jessie that it's time to leave, but can't find her for a minute. When she does, Jessie says a nice strange man gave her a white stuffed dog named Snowball, throwing Amanda off. Amanda goes to meet Liv at the hospital to talk to the latest rape victim, Libby. Libby says she didn't recognize her attacker, but when she let him in, he worked fast, pulling a knife and giving her a choice to cut or burn off her clothes. She didn't answer, so he tied her, cut her clothes, raped her, took her debit cards and stole a stuffed animal. Amanda asks if it was a white dog, and Libby confirms it was the same plush Jessie received.
Kat and Fin go to interview a homeless man who was recorded using Libby's stolen debit card. He says the man who gave him the card freaked him out but made him use it to withdraw cash and buy him suspicious supplies. Meanwhile, Libby's mother, an adolescent psychiatrist, meets Amanda and Liv at the hospital and says her daughter's attacker sounds like a psychopath. Amanda asks her if the name Henry Mesner means anything to her, and she says it does -- Amanda is the person who told Henry his mother died and she would sometimes talk about her daughter to get him to open up, making this a revenge rape. The detectives then break down the door of Henry's family home, and inside, they find the bodies of Henry's parents and an unknown five-year-old boy.
Fin says the Medical Examiner puts the time of death at 48 hours and identifies the child as Henry's half brother. Amanda and Olivia manage to find Henry's 13-year-old sister, Ruby, alive and staying with friends. Amanda and Kat go to break the news to Ruby about her family and ask her questions about Henry. Ruby's friend's mom confirms Holly, his stepmother, was terrified of Henry, but that his dad insisted he just needed love. Ruby then reveals that Henry was jealous of Arlo, his half-brother.
Amanda and Fin visit Henry's former treatment center and the head psychiatrist confirms he was a model patient who made a compelling case for release. However, Amanda says Henry manipulated the entire staff by mimicking the appearance of sanity. Fin says they believe he's on a killing spree and that Ruby thinks he was in contact with someone in the ward. The psychiatrist directs them to his only friend, Connor, who says Henry left him a note when he left. Connor tells them Henry used to hook up with Cora, his older sister, so Olivia goes to find the girl, who says Henry is her boyfriend. The last time she saw him was that morning, but she doesn't know where he is now. Olivia informs Cora that Henry is armed and dangerous, but Cora, doe eyes and all, claims he's a gentle soul now.
Back at the precinct, Cora confirms Henry was at Morningside Park the day before. They take Cora's phone and find pictures he took of Jessie, as well as some of Libby and Ruby, which were taken right before the detectives stopped by. They call Ruby's friend and no one picks up, and when they arrive at her house, the car is gone from the driveway. After some time, local police finally show up after reporting they were delayed by a false bomb threat. Amanda then enters the home to find the woman dead. Kat hears Charlotte, Ruby's friend, crying, and finds her tied up in the bathroom. She confirms Henry was there and took Ruby in the Volvo, saying he "wanted to go on a ride." Amanda makes the connection and looks into nearby amusement parks, and after a brief search, they find the missing Volvo nearby.
The detectives spread out to search the grounds and Amanda sees the door to the funhouse ajar. She enters alone, working her way through the hall of mirrors. Amanda hears Henry talking to Ruby, who pleads with him to let her go, and she sees he has a gun pointed at the girl's head. Henry is oddly happy to talk to his old acquaintance, Detective Rollins, and taunts her about having met her daughter. Amanda offers to stay and talk to him if he lets Ruby go, but Henry says that Amanda needs to know he wouldn't hurt her kid, Jessie, as "she wasn't on [his] list." He then reveals he blames Ruby for everything that happened to him because she would cry when he hurt her when she was younger. Amanda then explains that it wasn't Ruby's fault, as she herself is the one who locked him up after he shot her partner, Nick. After learning that information, Henry angrily points his gun at Amanda.
At the same time, Olivia and a SWAT team show up outside the funhouse. Liv radios Amanda but gets no response at first. However, Amanda then says Ruby's on her way out with Henry's gun, unloaded. Ruby says Henry didn't want to talk to her anymore, only Detective Rollins. Amanda tells Liv she needs a few minutes while she talks with Henry, and she asks him why he came here. He explains that it's because he had his childhood taken from him. When he was six, he recounts visiting the beach with a friend, Oscar, who couldn't swim. He watched Oscar get caught in a riptide and gasp for air, and while Oscar's mom jumped in to save her son, they both ended up dying. Henry says he wasn't upset because he did what the ocean wanted him to do and just floated with the current. He explains that was the first time he realized he was special, and that he was only disappointed he didn't get to watch Oscar and his mom die.
Olivia lets Amanda know that the cops are about to bust into the funhouse and that they likely will shoot Henry, but if they go out together, Amanda can protect him. Henry asks her why she would do that, and Amanda explains that she doesn't want him to die. Amanda cuffs Henry and takes him outside as he loudly proclaims that he couldn't help himself because he's not of sound mind, setting up another insanity plea. Amanda says he's only been thinking about this murder spree for eight years, and that wherever he goes next, they need to throw away the key.
Back at the precinct, Henry speaks with a police psychiatrist, Doctor Lindstrom, and waxes poetic about death and spilling blood. The doctor says whoever let Henry out should have their license revoked, and Carisi asks if he's competent to stand trial. Amanda says that Henry knew what he was doing was wrong but did it anyway, while Lindstrom, Liv's former personal psychiatrist, explains that because Henry was institutionalized for eight years and then given back to the people who sent him there, the defense may go easy on him. However, despite that fact, he still believes Henry is competent to stand trial. Lindstrom then reunites with Olivia and asks her how she is handling Stabler's sudden reappearance. Olivia says it's been a lot and wants to have an appointment with him soon.
In court, the judge rules Henry can stand trial. Henry's lawyer makes a motion to file not guilty by reason of insanity, but the judge tells her to save it for the trial. Henry gets frustrated with the way the judge is speaking to his lawyer, so he attacks Carisi, stabbing his ear. At the hospital, Carisi is fine but says Henry almost punctured his eardrum. Amanda knows he stabbed Carisi to prove to the judge he's unfit to stand trial, so she goes to visit him. She tells him she lied when she told him she didn't want him to die, and if he ever gets out and goes after Carisi or her family again, she will kill him. Henry can only look at her and smile as the episode comes to an end.
Law & Order: SVU stars Mariska Hargitay, Ice T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino, Jamie Gray Hyder and Demore Barnes. New episodes air Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.