This article contains spoilers for the Feb. 20 episode of “Law & Order: SVU.”
In Thursday night’s episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” Detective Joe Velasco, played by Octavio Pisano, learns the only way to catch a local rapist is to connect with his neighbors in Washington Heights, who don’t exactly trust the police.
His extra effort earns high praise from Captain Benson (Mariska Hargitay): At the end of the episode, she tells him he has “command presence.”
First, he had to befriend his noisy downstairs neighbor, an ambitious young security guard Danny (Ethan Jones Romero), who wound up in jail after beating up a man he thought was the suspect. Danny targeted the wrong man, but, as Benson suggests, he does know the neighborhood a lot better than Joe, and his information and connections help break the case.
Pisano spoke to TheWrap about how he has “kind of found his place” both as an actor joining an established long-running series, and as the character who finally feels at home where he is. At the end of the episode, he helps get Danny into the auxiliary police program
Velasco becomes a role model in this episode, which I don’t think he set out to do, necessarily.
No, I think the previous seasons, he was learning the ropes. He came from the gang unit and narcotics, which is a different life, compared to Special Victims Unit. In a sense, he learned to empathize with the victims and to become a little more sensible. I feel like the first few seasons were about him learning how to work within the system. He was undercover for a long time, and he was used to operating on his own and technically outside of the lines of the law. And with SVU, he has to stay within the boundaries. The first few seasons, there were a lot of lessons. I feel like this is the first time he became a role model.
How is being more connected to his community going to change his approach to policing?
The whole character arc that we worked on was that, I was trying to connect to the alienation that a lot of foreigners have when they come here, especially in the Latino community. The backstory is, there is a lot of [conflict] between countries in Latin America, especially when we are all thrown into the same neighborhoods. Sometimes it’s rough, and there is almost a prejudice against his own people that we started off in the arc. Through [this case], he realized how wrong he was, and it was almost like a prejudice he had against himself. So by embracing his community, he was embracing that side of his own culture.
Do you think he was trying to deny some of his Latino heritage there?
It’s a weird thing that happens when you come to America, because it’s like you are trying to start fresh and embrace the culture here. There’s a lot of, especially in the older generations, holding on to the old ways and the traditional ways. There’s a lot of lessons in the episode, especially when [Danny’s] grandfather comes over and they find a connection.
Are you’re first generation yourself?
Yes, my parents were here when I was born, but they went back, and I grew up in Mexico, and I came here when I was in my teens. I definitely experienced that.
Obviously, when Velasco was undercover, he was not trying to make any friends. So he has kind of had to flip the way he thinks.
A little bit of the backstory that we had was that he had been undercover with the cartel back in Mexico. A lot of that, just by the nature of the job, is isolating. One of the big traits that we’ve been working on was his lack of social abilities and his lack of connection. So this was a moment where not only does he connect to his community, he connects to an older generation and he also connects to the younger generation. So he almost finds his purpose in a way.
And he finds his command presence.
That was an interesting choice of words. I’m not sure he understands wholly what it is, but he understands that he’s on Benson’s good side, where I feel like in the past he was always on the outskirts.
I talked to you in 2022, shortly after you joined the show when Velasco still had to earn everybody’s approval, because he was the new guy. Now he’s got Benson’s thumbs up, and Fin (Ice-T) approves as well.
It’s very parallel with life. The line is blurred sometimes. As an actor, you come in to a show that has been going on for 26 years, and everyone is constantly testing you to see if you fit, if you get along, if you are going to be able to hang. For me as an actor, as well as for the character, it was a testing ground for a couple seasons. And I feel like now I kind of found my place.
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” airs Thursdays on NBC at 9 p.m. and streams the next day on Peacock.
The post ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Star Octavio Pisano Explains How Velasco Finally Earns Benson’s Approval appeared first on TheWrap.