Tonight: Rollins risky move puts her job on the line on 'Law & Order: SVU'

On “SVU” it’s really never a good thing when an estranged family member shows up unannounced. Benson’s brother, Fin’s step-son, and Munch’s uncle have all caused significant heartache for their NYPD relatives.

Late last year, Detective Amanda Rollins’ sister, Kim, showed up (yes, unannounced) and proceeded to create more than a bit of drama for her elder sibling

During the course of that episode (“Friending Emily”), it was revealed that the contentiousness between the sisters stems from Kim’s drug use and continued relationship with an abusive boyfriend.

Speaking during production of that installment, Lindsay Pulsipher, who portrays Kim Rollins, remarked, “By the end of the episode, I feel like Kelli (Giddish, who plays Amanda) and I really created a lot of history.” Giddish added, “And, at the end of the episode, it’s not really resolved, it’s not a warm and fuzzy tidy clean up. It’s open-ended. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Tonight, the next chapter of the Rollins’ sister’s story continues to 'play out' with Amanda putting her career in jeopardy as she tries to protect Kim from the aforementioned abusive boyfriend.

When Amanda shoots her sister’s attacker, her actions cause her to end up on the receiving end of an investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau. Bureau heavy, Sergeant Ed Tucker, will surely do his best to drop the hammer on Rollins. Tucker never shows up when things are going well in the precinct, only when he’s looking to bring someone down. Usually his actions are thwarted by a complicated combination of factors, many of which involve members of the 16th precinct conducting their own investigation to aide in the defense of their comrade, but could this truly be the one time that Tucker succeeds in ousting an SVU cop? Could Rollins really go down because of her unstable sibling?

Whatever the outcome of the storyline, which no doubt will be a compelling tale about love, loyalty and the depths, or lack thereof, of family bonds, it’s nice to see Giddish getting a chance to finally display the emotions that the viewing audience knows have been simmering all season long just under the surface of her cool veneer. Those emotions have been just waiting to break out on screen, given the right moment.

This is that moment.

Giddish (@TheKelliGiddish) will be live tweeting the East Coast airing of tonight’s episode, “Deadly Ambition” at 9e/8c. Fans have already started using a #FreeRollins hashtag.

“Law & Order: SVU” airs Wednesdays at 9e/8c on NBC.

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