Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Ending Explained: What Happens to Griffin as the Squad Pursues a ‘Monster’?
Law & Order: SVU Season 27 wrapped up with a gruelling story, while also seemingly putting an end to the overarching Benson vs Tynan storyline. The episode started innocently with two cops arriving at the scene of a minor accident. However, when one of the drivers starts acting weirdly, these cops get suspicious. When they find a gun inside the car, they search the vehicle and find a kidnapped boy inside the car. We immediately realize that the driver, Caine, is the titular monster in this episode.
| Law & Order: SVU Season 27 | Details |
| Showrunner | Michele Fazekas |
| Cast | Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Peter Scanavino, Octavio Pisano, Kevin Kane, Aimé Donna Kelly, Kelli Giddish, and Corey Cott |
| No. of Episodes | 21 |
| Finale release date | May 14, 2026 |
| IMDb Score (As of May 15, 2026) | 8.1/10 |
| Network | NBC |
Mariska Hargitay‘s Olivia Benson manages to get a confession from Caine, but it all gets thrown out in court due to a mistake made during the search of Caine’s car. He walks free, which means that Benson and her team will have to work twice as hard to find new evidence to put this ‘monster’ away.
What the squad learns during their investigation makes Caine as evil as SVU villains get. Will the squad be able to stop him from harming more children? What happens to Griffin, who is torn between his mentor and his new boss? Here’s the season finale ending explained.
The Titular Monster Caine’s Fate in the Episode’s Ending
Any child-related stories on SVU are a hard watch. The season finale episode, Monster, is an even tougher episode to get through, as a child abduction leads the SVU to a missing child case. After Caine is let go due to a technicality, the squad digs deep into the child abductor and connects him to an old identity he used in Jacksonville. A retired detective from Jacksonville informs them of not only a missing child case, but also how they found the bodies of other children on the beach.
The detective is sure that Caine is behind all the murders, painting a disturbing picture for the SVU squad. Since they cannot use any evidence from the current abduction case, they pursue evidence in the cases from Jacksonville. This leads them to an abandoned car, where they find further clues connecting Caine and the Jacksonville murders. A particular clue leads them to a beach, where investigation uncovers many bodies of young children. However, ADA Carisi still doesn’t think they have enough to nail Caine.
The gruesome nature of the crime is conveyed through Benson’s introspection and her brief chat with Fin about retirement. Honestly, this conversation started a few seasons back, and we’re getting tired of it. At least, Fin says out loud that he is never retiring, especially after the case they are investigating, justifying that they need to stop such monsters all the time.
In the meantime, Caine manages to evade the surveillance of the squad (as criminals always tend to do in this show) and kidnaps another child. At this point, we are very frustrated with the system that allows such crimes to continue. It is pure luck that Benson was able to find evidence against Caine at the last minute. They find his location from his girlfriend and arrive in time to rescue the boy from him.
However, Caine doesn’t go down without a fight. Before Benson can arrest him, he shoots Griffin and another cop in his attempt to escape.
Does Corey Cott’s Griffin Die in Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Finale?
An injured Griffin still manages to go after Caine and subdue him. At this point, we get some hope that the series finale isn’t going to kill off Griffin. Benson takes him to the hospital, and we learn that the bullet caused him to lose a foot of his intestine, but he will survive the injury. Killing him off in the finale would have been counterproductive, given how the entire season was built around Griffin trying to gain Benson and the squad’s trust.
So, why did we get the feeling that the show might try to kill him off? For one, the show has too many members around currently. With the budgetary restrictions, it is hard for Law & Order: SVU to keep all the members of the squad at its disposal. Ice-T’s season premiere storyline and subsequent absence were probably a result of this restriction. So, fans expected one member to exit after the current season.
The second reason why we expected Griffin’s death was because of Mike Dodds. Ten seasons back, Mike’s story was very similar to Griffin’s. He was the Deputy Chief’s son, and when he was placed in the squad, Benson and the others believed him to be a mole for his father. Like Griffin, he too had to earn his trust. But as soon as we started to like this character, the show killed him off in a poignant season finale at the end of Season 17.
Fans hope that Griffin doesn’t get pushed out, now that the storyline with him, Tynan, and Benson has reached some sort of a resolution. However, fans will have to wait to see what happens to Corey Cott’s character with all the budget issues.
What Happens to the Benson vs Tynan Storyline?
The 19th episode of Law & Order: SVU Season 27 saw Chief Tynan suspending Benson after her arrest for contempt of court. Tynan and Benson’s tension has been building throughout this season, and Griffin’s entry was part of this feud storyline. Tynan intended to dig up dirt on Benson through Griffin, but the latter ended up unearthing a cover-up involving his late father, Jimmy Griffin, and his partner Tynan.
The suspension in the earlier episode was a direct repercussion of Griffin confronting Tynan about this cover-up. However, in the penultimate episode, this storyline was entirely swept under the rug, and Benson was reinstated pending a hearing. The Tynan storyline was brought up again in the finale when Tynan visited Griffin and confessed to the cover-up. However, the much-awaited Benson-Tynan confrontation comes in the final moments of the season.
When Tynan comes to visit Griffin in the hospital, fans think that she would be thankful to Benson for saving his life. Instead, Tynan vows to end Benson’s career for needlessly putting her in danger. However, Benson has no intention to back down. Benson had evidence against the Chief as Griffin had earlier recorded his conversation with Tynan. This might temporarily stop Tynan from coming after Benson, as she not only realizes the power imbalance in this situation, but also Griffin’s loyalty.
Overall, the season didn’t disappoint fans, but it is far from SVU‘s peak. The Griffin storyline and Rollins’ return were definitely some of the positives of the season. However, some of the reused tropes and recycled storylines somehow tell us that it will take some drastic changes to save the show beyond a couple more seasons.
What do you think of the ending of Law & Order: SVU Season 27? Let us know in the comments below!
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