5 times the Law & Order: SVU villain turned out to be someone you’d never suspect

What's a curveball? It's when something unexpected happens, or in other words, every Law & Order: SVU episode. Have you ever been hooked on one of its episodes and been emotionally invested in the story, your spidey senses telling you that the muscular, tattooed ex-boyfriend did it, only to find out it was the friendly, spectacled neighbour? Yeah, that's Law & Order: SVU for you.

Law & Order: SVU is a rollercoaster of misdirection; here, villains hide in plain sight wearing a halo, and cops suspect the wrong people till the last minute. The reveals are dramatic and will make you scream "HELL NO" at your TV and rewind to see how you missed the clues.

Today, the list counts down five times SVU villains who mindfreaked everyone with their reveal. They were lurking in the shadows and had everyone shocked and glued to their seats when they revealed their true color. Just imagine the number of bets lost in these episodes.

5 times Law & Order: SVU villain turned out to be someone you'd never expect

Let's take a walk down the traumatic memory lane when Law & Order: SVU gave everyone a serious life lesson: trust no one. Here is a list of 5 sneaky characters who no one in a million years thought would be villains.

5) Beast's Obsession (Season 15, Episode 20)

This one was a twisted episode where a psycho serial rapist, William Lewis, escapes custody and kidnaps Olivia Benson. While the team is busy protecting her, he goes on a killing rampage, all the while sending Olivia taunting video messages.

He eventually kidnaps another girl, Amelia, and asks Olivia to meet her alone if she wants to save Amelia. Olivia agrees, and it is finally revealed why he was after her. He wanted her to confess that she lied at Lewis's trial; she had claimed that Lewis had broken free, and that's why she beat him to death, but in reality, she beat him to a pulp while he was still handcuffed.

After a thrilling game of Russian Roulette that would've ended with Olivia shooting herself, Lewis unexpectedly takes the gun and shoots himself after telling Olivia that this will be the last thing she will think about when she dies.

4) Shattered (Season 11, Episode 24)

In this Law & Order: SVU episode, a frantic mother, Sophie, is looking for her son Nicholas. Her wails and screams for justice would even bring the Incredible Hulk to tears. It is then revealed that Nicholas' dad, Paul, had the primary custody of the boy, and the mother had a habit of overstepping her bounds and ignoring court orders.

In a heartbreaking twist, both Nicholas and the kidnapper die during a hot pursuit, and all the evidence points to Sophie as the orchestrator. Seeing her son's body pushes Sophie to the edge, and she holds everyone, including the unit and her ex-husband, hostage.

Eventually, a text received by Stabler reveals that the boy's father was the actual orchestrator and had obtained a credit card in her name to hire the kidnapper.

3) Sheltered Outcasts (Season 17, Episode 18)

This Law & Order: SVU episode immediately turns grim when a girl named Sofie Nomaks is r*ped outside her home, and all the fingers point towards the sex offender shelter nearby. Carisi, who has been living undercover in the shelter, becomes friends with Richie Caskey, a sex offender who is trying to turn his life around.

Robin Daughtry, the shelter's therapist, gets raped and murdered after one of the group sessions, and because Caskey arrived late for the session, he is deemed a suspect and is arrested. At the station, Benson is talking to a previous victim when Thomas Zimmerman arrives. When he leaves with Caskey after talking to Carisi, Mary is shaken and identifies her attacker.

After holding Caskey and Zimmerman in the interrogation room for several hours, the team enters the room to tell them that they have identified Robin's killer via surveillance footage. They give Caskey a chance to come clean and save them the trouble, to which he asserts his innocence.

They ask the perpetrator to get up for his arrest, as Caskey starts to get up, Benson tells him that they are talking to Zimmerman, the actual perpetrator.

2) Cold (Season 9, Episode 19)

In this Law & Order: SVU episode, Detective Chester Lake fatally shoots another detective, Edward Kralik, in a gunfight, after an old murder case is reopened. Lake is also wounded in the gunfight. He is uncooperative and refuses to answer any questions, leaving the whole squad confused.

Lake later escapes from custody and takes hostage the case's only witness, Cecilia Cruz. With the entire unit rattled and on Lake's tail, ADA Novak is informed by Judge Donnelly that the district attorney has declined to refile charges against the original defendant of the case, Thomas Crane, who was released due to a mistrial.

Novak will be facing censure for violating due process while prosecuting the case. Later that night, Lake fatally shoots Crane and is arrested, and it is finally revealed that Crane had raped and murdered the victim along with Detective Edward Karlick.

1) Theatre Tricks (Season 13, Episode 11)

Finally, the top spot for the most mind-numbing episode of Law & Order: SVU with unexpected plot twists is the one where a stage actress is raped on stage and no one does a thing to stop it. Meghan Weller, a stage actress in an interactive theater production by Ted Scott, is assaulted on stage during her performance, with the audience thinking it was part of the play.

Investigations reveal that a man named Jason Roberts bought dozens of tickets for the play with his mom's credit card because he is obsessed with Weller. He also designed her website and placed micro cameras in her apartment, and even after all this, he claims that he is innocent of the assault.

After receiving a clue about the perpetrator wearing law-themed cufflinks, the unit finds Judge Gerald Crane, and he openly admits to the crime, claiming it was his and Weller's fantasy. In the end, it is revealed that Weller's roommate, Holly Schneider, orchestrated the entire incident out of her envy and jealousy towards Weller.

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Law & Order: SVU has been on air for many years and has mastered the art of concealing the suspect till the last minute. Misdirection has become the show, and has fans suspecting frail old grandmas who love knitting and feeding everyone.

These five Law & Order: SVU episodes prove that villains aren't always obvious; sometimes, you are shocked to find them.