LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Maurice Compte Previews Duarte’s Return to Take on BX9

Captain Mike Duarte (Maurice Compte) returns on the Thursday, January 5 episode of LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT—but it’s under pretty awful circumstances.

Months after he and the SVU squad worked together on a rape case with ties to Bx9, a few members of the notorious gang target Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay)—at home, in front of her son. Naturally, Duarte—who is in charge of the Bronx gang unit—is called in to get to the bottom of the crime.

“In the beginning, it changes [their dynamic]—she was assaulted by these individuals,” Compte tells Give Me My Remote. “But I think that very quickly changes. Mariska, as a person—and the character that she plays—don’t really stay down for very long. I think part of the show’s great success is that there’s a level of empowerment, self-empowerment, brought on through Mariska. So the driving force becomes that: How do you get back on your feet again? How do you find your footing? How do you balance yourself out again? How do you overcome something like this? For her, [you] bring the bad guys to justice.”

The hour, the first of a three-part arc, also reunites Duarte with Muncy (Molly Burnett)—who used to work with Duarte before Olivia poached her—and Velasco (Octavio Pisano). (Duarte also tried to bring Velasco into the gang unit world before the detective opted to stay with SVU.)

Despite working with the duo in “Jumped In,” Duarte’s elevated position means there could be some aspects of the investigation he tries to shield from them. “Being a captain isn’t always a straight shot,” Compte says. “Being a captain sometimes demands a bit of playing your cards close to the vest, when you know things that you’re not always sharing with the rest of your team; there’s a reason that you’re a captain and they’re not.”

“What does that make you?” he continues. “In this culture that we live in now, where everything should be out in the open, how do we treat personal information? And when you’re investigating something, how do we maintain that level of professional integrity while still maintaining the ability to be able to be the person in charge? This isn’t a free for all. Everybody doesn’t get a vote. In the larger context of this whole gang world, there’s just so many ins and outs.”

As the show navigates a new world, Compte had a good resource on-set if he needed it: Terry Serpico and Kadia Saraf, who play Chief McGrath and Anya Avital on the series, are credited co-writers on “Jumped In.”

“We talked very little about it—one of the main things is just understanding that they understand the complexity of how these dynamics work, how these gangs are created” he says. “You will come to find that they have a perfect understanding of how these gangs come into being. And also who these gangs are created by—how these gangs are just built to self-corrupt, because their leaders are very ineffective in terms of being able to maintain integrity. But those are things that may be something that you will understand as the [arc] progresses.”

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC

RELATED:

• Kelli Giddish and the LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Team Bids Farewell to Amanda Rollins
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Olivia Confides in Amanda About Elliot
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Recap: Rollins Makes a Couple of Big Life Changes
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: ‘And a Trauma in a Pear Tree’ Photos
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: NBC Teases Kelli Giddish’s Final Episode
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Recap: Rollins Debates a Big Offer
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: ‘A Better Person’ Photos
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Exclusive Clip: Benson Tries to Comfort Greg Grunberg’s Grieving Detective
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Officially Promotes Molly Burnett to Series Regular
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: ‘Dead Ball’ Photos
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Scoop: Greg Grunberg to Guest Star
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: ‘Controlled Burn’ Photos
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Exclusive: Lola Glaudini to Guest Star
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: ‘Breakwater’ Photos
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: ‘The Steps We Cannot Take’ Photos
• Kelli Giddish’s Final LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Episode Set for December
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: ‘Mirror Effect’ Photos
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: ‘The One You Feed’ Photos
• NBC Releases New Key Art for LAW & ORDER, SVU, and ORGANIZED CRIME
• LAW & ORDER Crossover Co-Writer Gwen Sigan Shares Her Favorite ‘Gimme Shelter’ Scenes
• LAW & ORDER Crossover Event Recap: ‘Gimme Shelter’ Sets Up a Big SVU Storyline
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: What You Need to Know About the Season Premiere
• LAW & ORDER Crossover Event: ‘Gimme Shelter’ Photos
• LAW & ORDER’s Rick Eid on Co-Writing ‘Gimme Shelter’: ‘We Threw Format Out the Window’ for the Franchise-First Crossover
• LAW & ORDER Crossover: Watch the Action-Packed First Footage From ‘Gimme Shelter’
• NBC Reveals LAW & ORDER Crossover Key Art
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Boss Reveals Kelli Giddish’s Final Episode
• Bryan Goluboff Teases How LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME and SVU Will Dive Into Elliot and Olivia’s Time Apart—and Previews Their Future
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Kelli Giddish to Exit in Season 24
• NBC Confirms LAW & ORDER Crossover Event With New Promo
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Scoop: Molly Burnett to Recur
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Octavio Pisano Reflects on the Importance of ‘Once Upon a Time in El Barrio’
• 6 Dream LAW & ORDER Franchise Crossover Pairings
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: David Graziano Set as New Showrunner
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Season 23 Finale Recap: Did Benson and Barba Make Up?
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: ‘A Final Call at Forlini’s Bar’ Photos
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Octavio Pisano Teases Barba’s Return and an Unexpectedly Personal Scene Between Velasco and Carisi
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Pratibha Parmar on the ‘Real Gift’ of Making Her Network TV Directorial Debut with ‘Did You Believe in Miracles?’
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Warren Leight Exits as Showrunner
• LAW & ORDER Recruits SVU’s Mariska Hargitay and Terry Serpico for Season Finale
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Exclusive: Raúl Esparza and Jordana Spiro to Guest Star in Season 23 Finale
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Aidan Quinn to Reprise Burton Lowe
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Exclusive: Demore Barnes to Return as Garland
• LAW & ORDER Press Day Photos
• NBC Expands LAW & ORDER Season 21 Premiere
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT’s Peter Scanavino on Carisi and Rollins’ ‘Very Serious’ Relationship
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT’s Peter Scanavino on Filming the Massive Crossover with OC, and the Case That ‘Outrages’ Carisi
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT’s Peter Scanavino Previews Carisi’s Battle Against ORGANIZED CRIME’s Wheatley—and Barba
• LAW & ORDER: Ilene Chaiken and Danielle Moné Truitt Preview Wheatley’s Return in the SVU-ORGANIZED CRIME Crossover
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Promotes Octavio Pisano
• LAW & ORDER Stars Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni Weigh in on a Potential Benson/Stabler Relationship: ‘It Just Has to be Earned’
• LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: Warren Leight Explains the Cut Crossover Diner Scene
• LAW & ORDER: SVU and ORGANIZED CRIME: Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni Break Down Olivia and Elliot’s Messy Reunion

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through links/ads placed on the site.