On the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode “Fashionable Crimes,” NYPD detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) has a warrant to search the studio of famous photographer Alvin Gilbert (guest star Fisher Stevens). A model claims he raped her. Retired detective John Munch (Richard Belzer) returns to help. Munch and Fin (Ice-T) know Gilbert — they’ve investigated the photographer before.
[Belzer’s most recent book is ‘Someone Is Hiding Something: What Happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?’]
It’s been three years since Munch retired from the force, and two years since he reappeared to help Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) after he was arrested in Season 15 (2014). That was a tough year for Belzer, personally. (His older brother Len, then 73, committed suicide that summer.) Belzer, who splits his time between France and New York, is delighted to be back chasing down criminals on the mean streets. Of his recent Law & Order reunion, the 71-year-old Belzer says it “was truly a dream come true.” Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs Wednesdays at 9pm on NBC.
Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer, Law & Order: SVU, Michael Parmelee/NBC
