‘Law & Order: SVU’: Corey Cott Says Griffin’s Reaching ‘a Fork in the Road’ With Benson & Tynan

When Corey Cott‘s Detective Jake Griffin first joined the squad in Law & Order: SVU Season 27, no one really thought he belonged there. He was, after all, placed by Chief Kathryn Tynan (Noma Dumezweni), who has her own agenda and seems to have it out for Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). But in recent episodes, especially the one that aired on March 5, we’re seeing a change in him.

In “Frequency,” the squad races against the clock to find a young boy who is being held in a dog cage somewhere, as seen when a family’s baby monitor somehow picks up the transmission. Griffin becomes determined to find him and figures out a way to communicate with him, based on something he used to do with his brother. TV Insider spoke with Corey Cott about opening up to Benson, what this case means for his thoughts about being in the middle between the captain and Tynan, and more. Warning: Spoilers for Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 14 ahead!

Griffin figures out that the young boy, Avery, is autistic because he recognizes something he’s doing as similar to what his brother, who died when he was 15 and had autism, did when he was distressed. He shares with Benson that his brother was non-speaking and people would ignore him and treat him like he was stupid, but he was so smart and could read people. It was just about figuring out how to talk to him, which Griffin did and uses here to communicate with Avery over the baby monitor. His brother died in a car accident after a driver fell asleep at the wheel. Benson then opens up to Griffin about how she met Maria (Season 7 Episode 3 “911) as well as how she died in the line of duty.

At the end of the episode, once Avery has been saved, Griffin asks Benson how she deals with all the darkness. “We keep telling our stories, no matter how dark they are. You keep telling your story because I know good always comes people hearing them,” she says. (Therapy also helps.) He then apologizes for questioning her, adding that Tynan’s right and she is the best. But as a detective, he should be questioning everything — and everyone — and what he needs to remember is a good leader welcomes questions while a bad one demands loyalty. He may have to choose who he’s going to follow.

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Below, Corey Cott breaks down what that last conversation between Benson and Griffin means for him going forward.

That last conversation was so good between Griffin and Benson. As she tells him, he’s going to have to choose who to follow between her and Tynan. How much was he already questioning that maybe before this case because of what he’s been seeing from Benson and then what he sees in this episode? She trusts his judgment here — that has to play into it, right? So where is he when it comes to Benson and Tynan by the end of this episode?

Corey Cott: At the end of this episode, I think he has mutual respect for both of them. I think that respect has been increasing for Benson over the course of the season. And I think not necessarily that his respect is diminishing for Tynan, but he’s definitely growing more skeptical of what Tynan’s motives are. And that’s within the context of him trusting her his entire life, giving him every opportunity to be where he is, supporting him, raising him, being his dad’s partner, all of these things. He has no reason not to trust her potentially until now. And so it’s kind of coming to a head.

I think at the end of this episode, he now has equal respect and feels more than ever the tension of, I don’t know what I want to do or who I’m supposed to … He wants to please everyone as well as seek justice for these victims. And there’s some more information that’s going to come out pretty quickly that I think will guide him to making the decision he has to make. Because ultimately, Griff cares about is the truth. His integrity is so high that he wants the truth and does not want to sacrifice the truth. He can’t deal with a lie. He can’t deal with being lied to. And I think that’s why he makes ultimately a good detective is because he cares about seeking the truth and cares about preserving justice. And so whatever is going to help the truth win is what he’s going to do.

Yeah, because we’ve seen how much he’s learning from Benson, too. There’s also that growing respect. Because of that, how does he feel about the position that Tynan has put him in?

I think at the end of this episode — He’s been assigned here. So he’s still serving that purpose because that’s what he’s been tasked to do. And as much as he’s a cowboy and Batman, he still wants to finish the task and accomplish what he’s been assigned to do. He wants to be a good employee. He wants to be a good detective. And so I think he may be living in a bit of a paradox in his mind where he’s starting to realize by being subordinate to Tynan, I’m not being subordinate to Benson. And that is starting to really take shape in his mind. And so yeah, I think truly he’s just sitting in this conflict right now and doesn’t have really a specific direction of where to go yet, but that’s coming.

The moment that he opens up to Benson about his brother, great scene. What would it have taken for him to do so to her or anyone else, if not for the events of a case like this?

I don’t know because he also says, I don’t like to talk about this stuff. It’s church and state. And I think that is true. I think Griff buries a lot of his trauma. He does not like to make it about him. He wants to just do it because it’s the right thing to do. Even though his tactics are a bit aggressive and intense, he’s trying to do it because I think that’s his lack of experience as opposed to him being a bad guy or anything. I just think he just doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. So I don’t know. I don’t think it would come up if it wasn’t for a case making it personal. And maybe that’s a flaw of his, is that he allows it to make it personal, but I ultimately think that’s what allows him to figure out the case as well.

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And that’s why I think the writers did such a good job of writing Griff, but also this season because it’s complicated. Sometimes there’s not a right and wrong. It’s just like, you got to choose a path and that’s such a human experience. And I imagine a dilemma that detectives and cops deal with every day is like, I didn’t know what was right. I just had to make a choice. And so I think Griff’s really starting to come to terms with that. And fortunately, his past trauma and experience with his brother allows him to figure this case out, which is a huge win for him.

I love that Benson brings up Maria because early on, I’d been thinking that this episode reminded me of that one that she had years ago. What did it mean to Griffin for Benson to share that story, both the good and the bad, with him?

Oh, it meant everything. It meant so much because I mean, Benson has made an effort to teach him, but it’s kind of been a bit, on average, reluctant. It’s just, “I have to teach him because he’s been here and I have to do the right thing and I’m good at what I do, so I’m going to guide this kid.” As opposed to that for the first time felt like, “I believe in you, Griff, and I’m going to share this with you in order to encourage you.” And she’s saying that on the heels of me just sharing something that’s personal to me as well. So it’s kind of like we’re sort of trading personal information. It’s kind of like a negotiation a little bit and ultimately leading us to be much more connected and much more in line and on the same path towards seeking justice. And so yeah, I think it was a huge moment for him and their relationship, maybe the most important moment so far.

Also, regretfully, I still have not seen that episode. I have to go back and watch it at some point because I know it’s such an iconic episode of SVU, but also just television in general. So yeah, no, really cool moment though. Really cool.

I like the end of the episode with Avery the one to seek out Griffin and then Griffin the one to walk towards him.

Really special. Yeah, that little boy’s so … It just doesn’t take a lot for me to be all in with kids because I’m with my kids, not every day right now, but most days. And so, that’s a part of it is that I’m working in New York during the week and I’m away from my kids. And so when I would look at his face, I was just picturing my own kids and just so excited to go hug a kid as if it’s my own. And so, yeah, just such a satisfying ending for sure, and we get to see Griff really care about something other than just taking out a bad guy. He really cares about saving this kid. So yeah, really, really cool. I’m excited for people to watch it.

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Something that stands out is that Griffin could have gone rogue more than once during this episode. The most he does is help with watching the camera feed, which yes, sleep deprivation, it’s not good for the job. But how much was it the influence of Benson and the squad on him that that’s the most that he really did to go rogue here?

Huge. I mean, you think about the second episode of the season of me going to the nightclub backend by myself and how reamed out I got. And I mean, that was almost the end of Griff, was the end of that episode. I almost got let go because it’s like, if you’re going to do that, you get one shot, and it takes you messing up one time going in rogue and you compromise an entire case or you compromise — Also, I was undercover. And so I think he learned a lot from that first experience of, if I’m going to go rogue, it better be for the most specific life or death reasons or else I’m going to compromise this entire unit. So that’s a really good point. I hadn’t thought about that. Yeah, I think that’s just a testament to how much Griff has learned over the past seven, eight months of being in SVU, and he’s figuring out that there are better methods maybe than just aggressively assuming everything is just — I can force everything. I’ll let things come to me a little bit more.

What can you say about what’s coming up for Griffin? Are we going to see him opening up to anyone about what’s going on with Tynan? Because I mean, it’s turning out that he and Bruno (Kevin Kane) are great partners.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Only thing I think I can say confidently is that there’s a choice that’s going to have to happen between SVU and between Tynan, and what the fallout will be of that choice, I don’t know. I think he’s going to have to risk his entire career and maybe the integrity of SVU as well in order to make that choice. We’ll see. We’ll see what’s coming. But yeah, there’s definitely a fork in the road that’s coming pretty quickly, and it could definitely shake things up a bit.

Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC

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