The following contains spoilers for Law & Order: SVU Season 24, Episode 15, "King of the Moon," which debuted Thursday, Feb. 23 on NBC. This article also contains descriptions of sexual assault.
A Mariska Hargitay-directed episode of Law & Order: SVU gives viewers a brief break from having Captain Olivia Benson go through personal hells. This one begins with a flashback to 1973, when Winnie and a stuttering Pence Humphreys fall in love as children during a spelling bee. Later, Winnie tells him she read his short story "The King of the Moon," about a boy who prefers to live alone on the moon because of mean peers. SVU flash-forwards through their years of marriage, with that short story following them along the way. By 2003, Pence is showing signs of a failing memory; by 2015 he is diagnosed with dementia. It feels like a speed-run of This Is Us. In 2023, Pence awakens in the middle of the night and worries that Winnie is cheating on him. In the morning, though, he is found standing over Winnie's lifeless body. Though he seems out of it, he tells the police officer at the scene that he killed her.
But then SVU cuts to tying up some loose ends as Liv plays Joe Velasco's recorded alleged murder confession to Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola. It turns out that the homicide he mentioned is a real cold case. Fin is hesitant to believe the worst about his friend, and advises Liv to claim plausible deniability. When Detectvie Churlish enters, Fin has Velasco enter interrogation. They play the recording for Velasco and he claims he made it all up. But Churlish has the BX9 dime bag he gave the prisoner as evidence -- it tested positive for heroin residue. Velasco says that must have been from the drugs he emptied before he refilled it with powdered sugar. Then Fin plays the next part of the recording, in which Velasco claims the murder wasn't a gang hit but a personal shooting and then snorts a line.
ADA Sonny Carisi arrives to ask Liv if she's familiar with the neurologist Pence Humphreys. He plays a recording of Humphreys recounting his own observations of his declining mental state -- and a recorded confession to raping and smothering his wife. But Carisi doesn't buy it. There's no DNA and something feels off, even with a dementia defense. Hopeless romantic Carisi implores Liv to look into the case a little deeper. When Liv speaks to Humphreys, he claims that his wife's death was part of their plan to die together. He would kill her and then himself so they would never be parted, but he chickened out on following through. Pence zeroes in on a plush chipmunk that Liv has before she agrees to work more with Carisi to convince Pence of his own innocence.
Velasco provides urine and hair samples to Fin for a drug test and then it's back into the interrogation room. Churlish and Fin keep questioning him on how he knows so much about a dead father and son in Fort Worth. "Because I was there," he finally answers. Here's hoping it's a good enough answer -- viewers can't afford to lose any more beloved SVU characters.
At Humphreys' apartment, Liv noticies a sleep apnea machine but Carisi finds "King of the Moon" locked away safely in a drawer. Carisi remarks on their love story as Liv quips that she can barely find someone emotionally available. The CPAP machine proves Pence's innocence, though, as it electronically shows that he was asleep through the night -- including at the time of his wife's murder. Liv shows it to Pence and he worries that the last face Winnie saw wasn't his. In his distress, he shatters glass and purposefully slits his wrists. Luckily, the cuts are superficial.
Liv and Carisi go to speak with Pence afterward but his home nurse Virginia Wise cautions them against trusting what he says at the moment. He briefly flirts with Olivia and he asks her not to tell Winnie, who must be worried about him. As Liv leaves, he tells her she has a "face like Jayne Mansfield," a very sweet reference to Mariska Hargitay's own famously gorgeous mother. Outside of Pence's room, Carisi wonders if Winnie might've opened the door for her own killer. Liv goes to pull the security camera footage.
Velasco maintains his innocence, frustratedly lashing out at Churlish for her privileged upbringing. Churlish tells Velasco he's the reason that people protest against cops -- pinning the frustration on bad cops rather than a bad system in a similar approach to Law & Order: Organized Crime. Velasco explains that at 15, he was offered training to be a security guard. He got sent to a camp that turned out to be a school for hitmen, and his final test was to go to Fort Worth. He lost his nerve, but his friend committed the murders and covered for Velasco by lying to the gang.
Carisi and Liv go through footage and find a food delivery guy entering Pence and Winnie's building that the cops admit to not interviewing at all, despite no delivery being scheduled and it taking a half-hour. "We had a confession," he says with a shrug. Liv and Carisi share the same exasperation. This duo is a great Law & Order relationship that doesn't pair up nearly enough.
The cops bring in Kevin Wise. There is enough evidence to show he was at the apartment the night of the murder, but no DNA in the rape kit. As Pence looks at the lineup, he's shaken and confused, and identifies the wrong man. "It wasn't him?" he asks. Liv tells him it wasn't -- but Pence admits he knows that. He lied because he would rather die in prison because he won't even remember where he is, but that young kid will remember everything. Some memories are worse than prison. He says that for most of his life he was too logical like the King of the Moon, but these past few years, he loved Winnie more than ever.
Carisi moves to charge Virginia with obstruction if she tries to protect her nephew. Virginia identifies all the Humphreys' belongings. In interrogation, Kevin tearfully admits he didn't mean to kill Winnie. He just wanted to steal from the rich apartment but Winnie interrupted him. He told her to be quiet so he pushed her down and put a pillow over her face and she just died. He says he didn't rape her -- but then admits he did, right before she died. Pence is free to go.
Fin informs Liv that Velasco told him the truth and asks for a second chance for his friend. He was also impressed with Churlish so Liv smiles and asks if they're getting another stray. Benson tells Velasco his drug test was indeed negative but he lives his life as a performance. It's time to change all that. He owes a debt to the two people who were killed -- one day, he needs to bring his friend in for justice. Velasco asks for understanding from Liv, but Benson draws a hard line in the sand. Things look rocky for the two of them.
Later that night, Liv goes to visit Pence. As he lies in bed, she reads him "King of the Moon." Pence's imagination fills with images and emotions as he imagines himself reunited with Winnie. Liv says good night. "Good night, Winifred," he answers. He's not really alone.
Law & Order: SVU airs Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. on NBC and streams on Peacock.