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Episode 13 of Law & Order: SVU involves a case that hits a little too close for Kat (Jamie Gray Hyder). Read on to learn what happened in the episode. There are spoilers ahead for season 21 of SVU.

Captain Benson has a nice chat with an old friend

Jamie Gray Hyder and Mariska Hargitay
Jamie Gray Hyder and Mariska Hargitay | Virginia Sherwood/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

The episode starts with Captain Benson (Mariska Hargitay) video chatting with Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza). Fans will remember that Barba was the ADA for the squad for a number of years. He wishes Benson a happy birthday and promises to take her to dinner when he gets back into town. It was a sweet reunion and a good way to start things off.

Kat’s boxing match comes into play

Kat, the newest member of the SVU squad, has a boxing match and everyone promises to attend. Benson forgets and unfortunately can’t make it.

Kat goes to the gym where her trainer is. She sees a girl come out of the room right before her and she notices Romeo, the trainer, adjusting his pants after. He insists he was fixing her dislocated shoulder, but when Kat prompts Cammy, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about at first.

During the match, Kat fights Esperanza (Manni L. Perez) and loses to her. Kat goes to talk with Benson the next day about her suspicions about Romeo and the whole situation. Benson, of course, gives her some good advice: trust your gut.

Kat talks with Cammy who says she is feeling fine. Her grandmother comes home and doesn’t know a thing about a supposed shoulder injury. Benson asks her to speak with her granddaughter about it.

Kat gets too close to the case

Kat learns that her trainer Romeo actually set it up for her to lose the fight to Esperanza.

Eventually, Cammy and her grandmother come to see Benson and admit that Cammy has been sleeping with Romeo for two years. She says they are in love.

The detectives go to talk with Romeo first before anything else. They arrive to find Esperanza and Romeo fighting it out. Esperanza knocks him to the floor and he hits his head on some stairs.

Esperanza tells them at the station that Romeo never touched her inappropriately herself. Benson tells Kat she’s just too close to the case, which doesn’t ever help anyone.

Romeo dies in the hospital from complications just after being arraigned. Carisi (Peter Scanavino) tells Kat that Esperanza needs a lawyer now. Esperanza insists she wasn’t abused, but witnesses overheard parts of the conversation between them before the fight.

Kat talks with Esperanza without a lawyer in hopes of helping her. Kat realizes that Esperanza’s father was abusing his daughter and that Romeo knew about it. Esperanza eventually admits the abuse happened.

The conclusion of episode 13

The detectives track down Graciella, who is Esperanza’s sister. She was also abused by their father, but she won’t testify unless Esperanza pays her.

Esperanza goes undercover at the jail in hopes of getting a confession out of her father. She ends up freaking out during the process. She gets two years for the assault in exchange. Her sister sets up their father, who gets arrested and charged.

At the end of the episode, Esperanza and her sister are reunited and hug it out.

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