This Law & Order: SVU Detective's Shocking Murder Rocked the Whole Squad
It was a crushing blow to the SVU team.
Dealing with loss is never easy for the men and women of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but one death in particular hit the squad — and viewers — especially hard.
Let's go back to Season 17 (which you can stream on Peacock) when the world was introduced to Mike Dodds, memorably portrayed by Andy Karl.
When Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) was promoted to Lieutenant, Deputy Chief William Dodds (Peter Gallagher) installed Mike — his son — as second-in-command to Benson during the season's sixth episode, "Maternal Instincts."
While the word "nepotism" was thrown around by some, the younger Dodds quickly proved to the entire squad that he was meant to be there and on-screen, he quickly developed into a character viewers could get behind.
However, tragedy befell the promising young sergeant during his last day at the Manhattan Precinct. Just days before moving on to the joint terrorism task force, Mike was shot by a convicted rapist who was keeping hostages in the Season 17 finale, "Heartfelt Passages."
Early on, however, it looked like he would fully recover from his injuries. And from his hospital bed, Mike confessed to his father that he was harboring some guilt over what just transpired.
"I blew it, Dad," he said.
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But the elder Dodds didn't see it that way.
"You saved the woman and her two children," his father reassured him before putting everything in perspective to his son. "You know, after this, you can put the hero thing aside for a while."
But unfortunately, "after this" never came.
Mike took a turn for the worse shortly after meeting with his father. After suffering a stroke causing severe brain damage — rendering him brain-dead — his father ultimately makes the decision no parent should ever make: Taking their son off life support. It was a devastating, gut-punch of a death.
Everyone from Deputy Chief Dodds to Benson herself was at a state of complete loss. Mike's death caused Benson — who was with Mike when he was shot — to completely reevaluate her hostage-negotiating tactics.
Many viewers still consider Mike's death as one of the most unexpected and heartbreaking deaths in SVU history.
Mariska Hargitay unveils upcoming documentary about her mother, Jayne Mansfield
The longtime SVU icon recently shared some exciting news. She'll make her feature directorial debut with an upcoming documentary about her mom, Jayne Mansfield! My Mom Jayne follows Hargitay "as she seeks to know, understand, and embrace her mother for the first time," according to the logline (per The Hollywood Reporter).
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intimate interviews and a collection of never-before-seen photos and home movies, [Hargitay] grapples with her mother's public and private legacy and discovers the layers and depth of who Jayne was, not only to her audience but to those who were closest to her," the description continues.
"This movie is a labor of love and longing," Hargitay said in a statement. "It's a search for the mother I never knew, an integration of a part of myself I'd never owned, and a reclaiming of my mother's story and my own truth. I've always believed there is strength in vulnerability, and the process of making this film has confirmed that belief like never before."
