Law & Order: SVU Finale Recap: Some Surprising News Has Major Impact on a Member of Liv's Team — Plus, Grade It!

If you tuned into Thursday's Law & Order: SVU season finale to find out how the show handled the exits of cast members Octavio Pisano and Juliana Aidén Martinez, you'll have to wait until Season 27 for that reveal. (Sorry about all the bloody eye sockets you had to witness in the meantime!)
The Season 26 finale instead focuses on a gruesome serial killer who preyed on mental health professionals. The case of the week kicks off with an attack on a therapist, Gretchen (played by Breaking Bad's Betsy Brandt), who was bludgeoned and raped in her brownstone. Pages from the notebook in which she keeps her session notes were ripped out, causing Olivia & Co. to theorize that a patient or former patient was behind the crime.
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Benson's team think they know who did it, and they attempt to corner the guy (who, yep, is a former patient) while he's trapped in traffic on a highway on-ramp. But the man sees them coming and starts shooting at them as he hops out of his car and runs. Eventually, Velasco and Bruno get him to put down the weapon… but then the guy hops over the roadway's railing, falling to grievous injury on a car below. He dies on the way to the hospital.
Only problem: The guy who died had an alibi, and he wasn't the person who attacked Gretchen. Even worse, another therapist is attacked in the same manner, only the new victim's eyes are gouged out. (Eew.)
After an investigation that stretches to Connecticut, the squad finds its guy, who's working as a manager at a rental-car company in Manhattan. Bruno literally hops buildings to follow the perp as he runs, but he and Velasco eventually corner and arrest the man, who is, indeed, in need of serious psychiatric help.
In other news, Velasco gets promoted to Detective Second Grade, an occasion that the squad marks with a surprise gathering at a nearby bar. And at the end of the episode, Benson and her officers don their dress blues and attend the ceremony in which Velasco is officially promoted.
Now it's your turn. What did you think of the episode? Grade it, and the season as a whole, via the polls below. Then, hit the comments with your thoughts!
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