Detective Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano) must face his past in the April 27 episode of Law & Order: SVU — and he can’t say no because it’s on Captain Olivia Benson’s (Mariska Hargitay) orders.
Previously, Velasco was forced to reveal that, when he was younger, he and a friend, Chilly, were sent to a school for hitmen; the only way to leave was in a body bag. However, when it came time for the “final test,” Velasco couldn’t pull the trigger. Chilly could and covered for him with the cartel. Velasco then ran. Once Benson found out, she told him that he owed a debt to those two people who were killed, and for them to be OK, he had to bring his friend to justice.
Now, in “Bend the Law,” that time has come. “He’s a little conflicted, obviously, and he might think that he can get away with just letting it be an afterthought,” Pisano tells TV Insider of Velasco in this episode.
The detective had never thought that part of his life, back before he even decided to go into law enforcement, would come up again. And so on his way to take his old friend into custody, he’s “hoping that there’s a way to prove that everyone changes, even somebody who’s done something like that — because he knows what happened, they were basically children, 15-year-old kids living their lives based on the environment they grew up in,” Pisano continues. But he also knows what he owes to Benson and SVU, “so on the way up there, I honestly don’t know if he knows what he’s going to do.”
Benson sends Tonie Churlish (Jasmine Batchelor) with him. With her along, “he has to stay within the boundaries of the laws. Having spent ten years undercover, he was forced to do certain things to bring people to justice that weren’t necessarily within the law. So just knowing everything that Churlish has done with him in the past, it’s going to keep him in line,” Pisano says.
Velasco would much rather partner up with Grace Muncy (Molly Burnett), but is it strictly professional between those two? Pisano notes that it’s been “a long time” since his character has had “any type of romantic relationship,” and right now, his focus is staying on Benson’s good side. “That’s not the best way to do it, to start dating someone within the squad. So I think the priority for him is to bring everyone to justice, and if something is evolving, it’s unbeknownst to him,” he adds.
And considering his recent revelations, being OK with Benson should definitely be his priority.
Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC
