Spoilers ahead for Episode 11 of Law & Order: SVU Season 24, called “Soldier Up,” and the promo for Episode 12.
We may only be a couple of weeks into the new year, but it’s already safe to say that 2023 is not going well for Olivia Benson on Law & Order: SVU. Sure, she and Duarte worked well enough together in “Soldier Up” that they were able to accumulate evidence to close more than a hundred rape cases in the Bronx in one fell swoop, but she’s still sporting the black eye from when she was attacked outside her own home with her young son looking on. Could Stabler dropping by from Law & Order: Organized Crime in the next episode be what she needs?
Well, based on the preview, it’s going to be complicated but they're going to get more much up close and personal than we usually see from them! And I’m not sure I’m ready for what’s going to happen. First things first: if you watched “Soldier Up” but had the misfortune to turn off the TV before the promo for the next episode, take a look at what undoubtedly has Benson/Stabler fans everywhere ready to time travel to the next Law & Order Thursday on NBC:
As somebody who has been watching SVU long enough that I used to check the DVD sets out of the library in the pre-streaming days, of course my attention was grabbed by this promo. After all, it sure doesn’t look like Benson is just leaning on Stabler as her old platonic pal! In fact, for all of the close calls and fakeouts of Benson and Stabler possibly becoming more than friends, their upcoming SVU reunion evidently has them close enough that it seems like there’s no way that either of the shows can just brush past it.
Of course, I do think she gets a free pass for one awkward exchange with Stabler after he showed up at her apartment drugged and ready to talk about the letter! Still, even if Benson thinks better of it at the last second after what she said in the fall finale or Stabler pulls away because he think she’s in too vulnerable of a place after her attack or – knowing the L&O franchise’s ability to keep them apart for 24 years and counting – an earthquake rattles New York at the exact wrong moment, can they really ignore that the intent is there? Can SVU and Organized Crime get on the same page about Benson and Stabler?
Given that I wrote about that very topic just one week ago, I would have predicted that I’d be all-in on seeing how the plot is about to thicken for the duo. But I’m not so sure about it at this point! For one thing, early in the promo, Stabler asks his former partner why she called him, which seems to indicate that he somehow didn’t hear about what happened to her, which doesn’t reflect well on him.
The footage is also cut in a way that really looks like she’s on a vendetta against Oscar Papa and wants Stabler’s help on it, which… isn’t a terribly healthy reason to reach out to somebody. If that is the case, would Elliot “Didn’t Write The Letter But Did Drunkenly Announce His Love” Stabler help her, or try to talk her down from wanting revenge?
It would be a bit of the pot calling the kettle black if he tried to give her a lecture about revenge. Then again, when has their relationship not been a little messy since his return? On the whole, I’m just not sure if I’m ready for SVU to dive right into their relationship complexities unless it happens in service of what she’s been going through in the wake of her attack. That said, I may spend the next two weeks intermittently crossing my fingers in the hope of a scene between Duarte and Stabler, and not just because of Duarte’s "attraction" to Benson.
Sadly, I say “two weeks” because fans are in for a bit of a break to see what happens when Stabler finally appears on SVU for the first time since the three-show crossover at the beginning of the 2022-2023 TV season (which you can revisit streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription). You can see Law & Order: SVU return to NBC on Thursday, January 26 at 9 p.m. ET with a new episode, called “Blood Out.”
Interestingly, the episode description doesn’t even mention that Christopher Meloni will appear, but simply reveals that Benson and Carisi will put a crime boss on trial while Fin tries to help a victim and Velasco makes some drastic moves to get information. It’s therefore hard to say how much of Stabler to expect in the episode. There will be plenty of him on the night, however, with a new episode of Organized Crime at 10 p.m. ET following SVU.
