SVU Guest Star Danielle MacDonald Unpacks That Intense Scene with Benson (EXCLUSIVE)
"We just felt really locked in," Danielle MacDonald told NBC Insider about acting alongside Mariska Hargitay on SVU.
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This story contains spoilers for Law & Order: SVU Season 27, Episode 5 ("Feed the Craving").
Season 27 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was just graced by dynamite guest star Danielle MacDonald, delivering the goosebumps after an intense interrogation scene and mind-blowing courtroom showdown.
Season 27, Episode 5 ("Feed the Craving") had viewers on the edge of their seats after the squad was called in after a pregnant woman named Natalie (MacDonald) was reported abducted by her alleged rapist. The case turned south after Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) discovered that Natalie was never pregnant, and she had a trail of 30 doulas whom she'd fooled into believing otherwise.
To make matters even worse, Benson soon learned that seven of the conned doulas had been sexually abused by Natalie under the guise of "prenatal care." So this was a sex crime, but the sympathetic victim was actually the wolf in sheep's clothing.
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"Feed the Craving" was a wild ride from beginning to end, but viewers were left with their jaws on the floor after Benson invited Natalie to her office for an extra special update-turned-interrogation. In an interview with NBC Insider, MacDonald broke down the thrills of filming the intense scene with Hargitay.
"That was really fun. It was the last scene we shot, and it felt really good," MacDonald said. "Some scenes you're like, 'Oh, I don't even know where my head is at.' This one, we were really locked in with each other. It felt really, really great."
Captain Olivia Benson used her "superpower empathy" as a weapon on SVU
SVU loves its twists and turns, but "Feed the Craving" may be one of the show's most winding criminal cases yet. Natalie had not only exploited the doulas' empathy and abused their care, but had lied about being sexually assaulted to further cement her con. If there's anything Benson hates more than a predator, it's a predator that leverages false assault allegations.
Benson wasn't going to allow Natalie to take her for a complete fool. Sensing Natalie's affinity for soaking up anyone's love and attention, Carisi (Peter Scanavino) encouraged Benson to use her preternatural empathy against Natalie to trick her into a confession. Inspired by this great idea, Benson called Natalie into the precinct for a warm cup of tea and a soothing heart-to-heart. Until it wasn't.
After doting on Natalie and making sure she had every comfort, Benson told her she had good news: the squad was arresting her rapist. Then, Natalie's demeanor shifted as she started to confuse the timeline of her alleged assault, admitting it couldn't have been the man Benson had arrested.
Benson caught on to each stammering slip-up, pointing out the discontinuities in Natalie's claims. After making Natalie feel safe and warm, Benson flipped the script, telling her the squad was well aware of how horrifically Natalie had exploited the doulas' empathy — and the jig was up.
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The subsequent trial was utter pandemonium after Natalie's defense attorney, Andrea Vargas (Lindsay Mendez), revealed that her client suffered from self-imposed Munchausen syndrome. The defense argued Natalie wasn't a predator; she was mentally ill and had truthfully believed she had been pregnant, even though that hadn't been the case.
While Vargas presented Natalie as a teary-eyed defendant who inadvertently hurt others due to a mental defect, Carisi sniffed right through the facade, pointing out that Natalie only presented this truth after learning an innocent man would be arrested for a rape he hadn't committed. Natalie clearly had some sense of empathy and understanding — so what about the seven women she sexually abused, and the 30 she conned?
Despite Carisi's strong argument, the jury was swayed by Natalie's defense, dragging their feet on reaching a verdict. This led Vargas to extend a plea deal that the squad accepted to prevent Natalie from walking free on all charges — and to nail a conviction down the line if she ever offended once she was out of prison in a few years.
Danielle MacDonald and Mariska Hargitay were "locked in" during the intense SVU scene
While some interrogations are gritty and explosive, this scene with Natalie and Benson was a slow-burning simmer that soon boiled into a heated exchange. And, according to MacDonald, she and Hargitay were totally "locked in" on each other as it all went down.
"That was how I wrapped the show, and I was like, 'That felt exactly like what I wanted to come into Law and Order: SVU and do,' in a way," MacDonald told NBC Insider. "Like you're excited for that scene, the gotcha moment with Benson. That felt really, really, really cool. But we just felt really locked in. It was amazing to shoot... We were just really in it together, so it was fun."
Watch Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
Reporting by Stephanie Gomulka
