Law & Order: SVU's Bloody Wake-Up Call --- What's Next?

[Spoiler alert! The following story contains major spoilers from Wednesday's season finale of Law & Order: SVU. Read on if you dare.]

Morning, captain!

Actually, it was quite the opposite of a sunny morning for Law & Order: SVU's longtime captain, Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), when he woke up with blood on his hands and a dead prostitute in his bed in the chilling final moments of the season finale.

Cragen's shocking discovery followed an episode that saw the special victims unit get entangled in the war between the heads of two escort services (House's Peter Jacobson and Grey's Anatomy's Brooke Smith). After a 16-year-old escort was found mysteriously murdered at a high-profile bachelor party gone awry, the team kept digging until they figured out it was part of a bigger rivalry. Benson and company uncovered enough evidence to put away, Delia, one of the two bosses, but her lawyer warned of the inevitable fallout to come.

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"She has the goods on everyone you work for, everyone you will ever consider working for," he told Benson, Amaro and Cragen. "You just don't know how deep this goes."

However, it looked like another escort got caught in the crosshairs. Carissa waited outside the precinct for Amaro and looked ready to come forward with the details about the case, which now included the murder of the governor. "I think I'm next," she said. Too bad Carissa chickened out the minute Amaro asked her to come inside and give a statement. Unfortunately, her fears turned out to be right, and the next thing viewers saw was Cragen wake up with blood on his fingertips and a very dead Carissa in his bed.

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So what did you think of the cliff-hanger? Is Cragen being framed or is he not as innocent as he looks? Do you think he'll be able to make it through this impending scandal with his job intact? What else are you excited for next season? Sound off below!

Plus: Watch this video of Danny Pino reflecting on his first year on SVU: