Spoilers ahead for the 2023 winter premieres of Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime on January 5.
The three shows of NBC’s hit Law & Order franchise have officially returned from their winter hiatuses. The episodes of both SVU and Organized Crime set up what should be major arcs for the foreseeable future. What the episodes didn’t do was indicate that the shows are on the same page when it comes to the iconic dynamic between SVU’s Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and OC’s Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). On top of what happened in the fall season, I find myself wondering if there’s much collaboration between the two shows on their relationship, or if each is telling their own story.
So, in the aftermath of Benson teaming up with Duarte in the wake of an attack on SVU and Stabler watching Jamie take on the dangerous undercover duty this time on OC, let’s look at how each show is handling the relationship that has been developing off and on for more than two decades.
Benson And Stabler’s Relationship, According To SVU
Outside of crossovers, Benson rarely talks about Stabler aside from the recent wine-fueled conversation with Rollins, with people generally bringing him up to her. In the fall finale, Benson told Rollins that she once thought of him as her home, but she’s not over him abandoning her for the better part of a decade. As somebody who also hasn’t 100% forgiven Stabler for basically ghosting her and then running away to Italy for all those years, I was glad to see that she’s not just letting it go… or letting all the innuendo from others get to her.
Her lingering feelings of abandonment are a great reason for not bringing him up often, but what happened in SVU’s winter premiere – called “Jumped In” – is what left me seriously wondering if SVU and OC are even in the same book when it comes to their relationship, let alone the same page.
Benson was brutally attacked by gang members outside of her home, and if she’d been even a moment later in grabbing her gun, she might have been killed by a machete with her son looking on. She was shaken and hospitalized, and word spread throughout the NYPD. While it seems safe to say that she called Fin herself, McGrath found out quickly enough to visit her in the hospital, and Law & Order’s Kate Dixon (brought in as an ASL interpreter) had heard as well. The news should have reached him quickly.
Is there any reason why Stabler wouldn’t have at least called to check in on her? Even if OC couldn’t spare Christopher Meloni for a cameo, surely SVU could have featured a phone call scene, or Benson mentioning that she’d seen or heard from her former partner. According to SVU, Stabler wouldn't check in on her unless it was off-screen and mentioned by nobody, and there was no allusion to her attack on Organized Crime. Maybe he’ll react if he hears about Duarte’s “attraction” (according to actor Maurice Compte) to Benson!
Benson And Stabler’s Relationship, According To Organized Crime
Well, aside from very loaded moments like Stabler messily saying “I love you” to his former partner in front of his kids right after Kathy’s death (and taking WAY too long to add that he loves them too) and finally coming clean about the infamous letter, most references to Stabler’s feelings have avoided actually dropping Benson’s name or seeing her in person.
Sure, longtime fans can connect the dots about who he was indirectly referencing when Jamie (now in serious danger due to his undercover op after a “huge” gesture from Stabler) commented about people being very close for a long time without sleeping together, and there’s not really any candidate other than Benson for the woman he told Tia he was in love with while they were in their cups off screen. Honestly, it might be weird if he was name-dropping the star of a different show on a regular basis, so the indirect references are usually fine.
But the winter premiere went in an unexpected direction that suggests that either something went wrong between them off-screen this season that Stabler has really resigned himself to the end of their friendship, or SVU and OC didn't both plan for what he said in this episode. After finally opening up to a psychiatrist, he said:
I recently lost a friend, a very close friend. Partner. [It happened] through neglect on my part. Fear. Selfishness.
Since there’s really not a candidate other than Benson for a friend he lost due to neglect, fear, and selfishness, I applaud OC giving Stabler some self-awareness about how much he wronged her, and I’m intrigued by the psychiatrist suggesting immediately afterward that he needs a new beginning. At the same time, I wish one of the shows had included a scene that would explain why he was so despondent about it and said that he lost that friend “recently.”
What’s The Verdict?
Well, on the one hand, it’s not hard to explain away some discrepancies between the shows when it comes to Benson and Stabler. After all, the characters each have different perspectives on their dynamic, and one show is serialized while the other is procedural. The timelines don’t entirely match, and they’re both professionals who are not going to vent their personal troubles at the office.
It even makes sense that Stabler is more likely to mention her than vice versa, because he has no reason to hold a grudge against her or want to give up on everything they had between them. Plus, we’re only ten episodes into SVU Season 24 and Organized Crime Season 3. It tracks in a lot of ways, and could still change.
On the other hand, I’m really stuck on Stabler not reaching out to Benson after she was attacked by BX9 in the SVU winter premiere and not mentioning it on OC. Seriously, a one-sided phone call scene of Mariska Hargitay pretending to talk to Christopher Meloni on SVU would have helped. Or even Benson screening his call! He just would have found out about the attack. And I’m stuck on Stabler mournfully saying that he “recently” lost a friend without any sign that something recently has gone wrong between them.
Still, with SVU seemingly going at least semi-serialized now with Benson wanting to take down the man who greenlit the attempted hit on her, it’s possible that he’ll pop up or reach out before the end of the arc. She certainly seems like she could use a friend, based on the promo for the next episode. Even though I’m a fan who prefers the drama of an ambiguous relationship over a romance for them, I have a limit! So, I hope – and I doubt that I’m alone on this – that SVU and OC get on the same page when it comes to their relationship. Or just have them being nice, like the Christmas episode of OC’s second season!
See what’s next for both shows on Law & Order Thursdays, with the original airing at 8 p.m. ET, SVU at 9 p.m. ET, and Organized Crime at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. If you want to revisit comparatively simpler days for Benson and Stabler, you can find the early seasons of SVU streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.
