Captain Renee Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) has been, quite literally, kicking criminal butt on Season 27 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as she emerges as one of the squad’s most tenacious investigators.

Curry first crossed paths with Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) as the formidable former Captain of the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau, but after reconnecting with Benson and revealing her dream of seeing actual change within the NYPD, Curry realized she could enact those goals better as a member of Benson’s squad.

Season 27 marks Kelly’s first season as a series regular, and already, she’s been closing cases with panache as a member of Benson’s unit, meanwhile bringing all of the no-nonsense tenacity that only a Captain can deliver. Benson has teamed Curry up with returning squad member Sergeant Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), and it’s made for one dynamite duo within the squad room.

Committed to seeing justice served, Curry is never afraid to get creative with her criminal takedowns, and she refused to let a suspect get away during SVU‘s fall finale, “Showdown.” Here’s what happened:

Captain Curry pulled out a jaw-dropping move during a criminal chase

During SVU‘s fall finale (“Showdown”), the squad investigated what the media painted as a potential “Gone Girl scenario” after a cheating man’s girlfriend was assaulted and kidnapped under mystifying circumstances. After tracking down the person responsible for abducting the woman, he fled from the SVU detectives, leading Rollins and Curry to mobilize in pursuit.

While going after a fleeing suspect, Rollins and Curry split up to confuse the perp. As the assailant ran from Rollins, he was blindsided after Curry intercepted and clotheslined him with a stiff arm, his speed leading him to be taken down instantly. As the suspect struggled to regain his breath after having the wind knocked out of him, Curry’s partner was impressed.

“That’s gonna leave a mark,” Curry winced while shaking off the impact of the maneuver, which she also pulled off in heeled boots.

“What the hell was that?” Rollins asked.

“That’s 18 months of kickboxing finally paying off,” Curry explained as they apprehended the suspect and brought him into the precinct.

Curry gave the suspect a pretty ugly shiner before bringing him into the precinct and uncovering more about their latest case.

Aimé Donna Kelly breaks down Renee Curry on Season 27 of SVU

After several seasons of recurring, Kelly couldn’t be happier to be settling in as a regular cast member on Season 27 of the NBC nail-biter, telling Hello! Magazine that audiences will learn more about Curry this season. With her IAB background, Kelly admits that Curry can be pedantic to a fault, but she’s gaining more grit as she embeds herself within Benson’s unit.

“I think Curry’s weakness is that she is very fact-based, which is both a pro and a con; she really needs to assess all of the facts and what she knows before diving in,” Kelly told the magazine. “I think that’s the reason why Curry chooses to stay at SVU, because she knows she needs to work on putting that foot forward sooner, rather than sitting back and assessing.”

“I think this season you’re going to see Curry tackle that very thing,” Kelly added. “[Curry realizes] that she doesn’t need to spend so much time analyzing, but do more doing. The people around Curry, and the people she looks up to, act more in that manner, and you’re going to see Curry join that, which is really cool.”