Fin Tutuola - Character Evolution

Character Evolution

Over the twelve seasons the character has been featured on the show, Tutuola has come to respect and trust his SVU colleagues, even though they often disagree over the best way to solve cases. An example is his partnership with Munch, which has grown from icy distrust to mutual respect and good-natured banter, often about politics, as Munch is politically left-wing and Tutuola is a Republican. After Munch is shot in the buttocks by a suspect during a court trial in the 7th season episode "Raw", Tutuola surprises Munch in the hospital with his favorite fig milkshake.

In the season 6 episode "Haunted", Tutuola is gravely wounded while attempting to stop a holdup at a bodega; after being released from the hospital, he spends little time recovering, instead throwing himself back into work finding a kidnapped victim and busting a methamphetamine lab. This episode introduces Tutuola's son Ken Randall (Ernest Waddell), a computer science major, from whom he has become estranged due to the time he spent working undercover.

In the season 7 episode "Strain", while attempting to solve the murders of AIDS victims, Tutuola seeks assistance from Ken, who helps the SVU squad locate the hacker who fraudulently obtained a list of AIDS patients. In the course of the investigation, Tutuola learns that Ken himself is gay. Their relationship is tested again in the episode "Venom", when uniform cops find Ken digging up a city street and arrest him. Ken contacts Benson instead of his father and tells her he is digging up the street to look for a body of a dead woman. The investigation, which first focused on Ken, takes a new turn when DNA evidence shows that Ken's cousin Darius Parker (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) is not only the murderer but also Ken's older half-brother, who had been abandoned by his mother — Tutuola's ex-wife Teresa Randall (Lisa Gay Hamilton). The episode ends with Darius threatening to expose the entire family's secrets in court.

In the Season 8 finale episode "Screwed", Darius goes on trial for the murders and, true to his word, exposes the family's dirty laundry to the public. Teresa at first refuses to testify, forcing the judge to remand her into custody for contempt of court, but she eventually reveals that Darius is the product of incest. Darius is acquitted of all charges, and both Tutuola and Ken disown him. Ken is seen again in the Season 11 episode "Conned", where he finds a suspect waiting for him in front of his new apartment which he shares with his boyfriend; the suspect was beaten up and Ken brought him up because he is in a group Ken has once a week for counseling.

As of 2009, throughout the whole time he has been with SVU (10 years), he has never been prone to and/or instigated violence in the interrogation room due to an insult addressed to him. In the season 11 episode "Anchor", Capt. Cragen reassures ADA Alexandra Cabot that "Fin won't take the bait" during an interrogation in which the suspect refers to Fin as a "coon." Instead, Tutuola just says calmly, "Is that the best you got?" In the season 10 episode "Confession", Tutuola enters the interrogation room with a suspect; Cragen quickly closes the blinds to block the view into the room from an approaching superior, a subtle gag that hints that Tutuola is about to become violent. The interrogation isn't shown, however, and nothing is said of the matter afterward.

He has been known to lose control outside the interrogation room, as shown in the season 5 episode "Ritual". He chases a man responsible for the trafficking of Nigerian children and delivers a beating far in excess of what would be needed to stop him.