In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU dished about the hard-hitting episode in which her character finds herself in the gravest of predicaments.

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In fact in the much-anticipated episode, titled 'Townhouse Incident,' Hargitay might also have to battle some old demons as she has been a similar situation before. In the episode she will be taken hostage and find herself in a life-threatening situation.

"I didn't look at it as a case of something we'd done before, but as a chance to explore how someone who's been through what Olivia has been through handles finding herself in similar circumstances again," she said. "And to find a way of arming herself with the first experience and to work through it in a different way this time."

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The episode will echo Benson's past in which she was held hostage by Williams Lewis, and when asked if she will be able to use her lessons from that situation to this new one.

"Benson knows how to assess a situation, knows how to read a perp and knows how much she can push him/her. William Lewis, and the countless perps who have come through SVU, have taught her a lot in that regard," she said. "At the same time, Joe Utley has a very different approach than William Lewis. Lewis was calculated, in control, and Joe is very much out of control. That can't help but affect Benson's response. She's more in the position of hostage negotiator this time, and she has other players in the situation to deal with."

"Townhouse Incident" will aired on January 13 on NBC.

Watch the preview:

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