From its very first episode, one of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s most notable qualities has been the chemistry between partners Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). For the first 12 seasons of the show, their partnership — and the will-they-won’t-they of their relationship — set the tone for the show and brought in most of the show’s fans. When Christopher Meloni left the show at the end of Season 12, many fans were devastated to lose what their partnership brought to television every week. For the next ten seasons, SVU focused on Olivia Benson and her journey from detective to captain, the way her personal life changed, and the new detectives she worked with.
Viewers continued to love the show because of who Olivia Benson was and the types of stories that were being told, so when it was announced that Christopher Meloni would be returning to NBC and the Law & Order franchise, it felt like a bonus. Since Meloni’s return in SVU’s Season 22, Episode 9, “Return of the Prodigal Son,” and the debut of his spinoff, Law & Order: Organized Crime, fans of both shows have been thrilled every time Benson and Stabler have been together again. Though Organized Crime is making the move to Peacock for Season 5, viewers are hopeful that the upcoming seasons of both shows will feature plenty of opportunities for Benson and Stabler to be on-screen together.
5. The Bonding of Elliot Stabler and Noah Porter-Benson
After sending two members of the gang BX9 to jail in SVU’s Season 24, Episode 2, “The One You Feed,” Olivia Benson is greenlit by the leader of BX9, Oscar Papa (Goya Robles), in SVU’s Season 24, Episode 10, “Jumped In,” and is attacked outside her apartment building with her son, Noah, watching. Olivia sends Noah to stay with his half-brother for the week, only bringing him back once the case is over. While Fin Tutuola (Ice-T), her longtime right hand, is the one who drives Noah out to the suburbs, it is Elliot that she sends to bring him back, though Noah and Elliot’s car ride is not shown in the episode. A relationship between Elliot and Noah is one that fans have been hoping to see for a long time.
As her partner and friend, Elliot was aware that Olivia wanted a child and was present in SVU’s Season 12, Episode 7, “Trophy,” when Vivian Arliss (Maria Bello) learns that she was conceived via rape and leaves her son, Calvin (Charlie Tahan), behind, signing over her parental rights to Olivia. He is also present in Season 12, Episode 10, “Rescue,” when Vivian takes Calvin back, giving parental rights to his paternal grandparents instead. Since then, fans have wanted to see Elliot interact with Olivia’s child like he interacted with Calvin when Olivia had custody. Fans hope that Elliot can become a father figure to Noah, even if Elliot and Olivia never end up in a romantic relationship.
4. It Is Time for Elliot Stabler to Really Apologize
Olivia and Elliot briefly talked about the way he left their partnership in SVU’s Season 22, Episode 9, “Return of the Prodigal Son,” when he tells her that he needed to leave and didn’t think he would have been able to if he had heard her voice. While Elliot did offer a general apology, there are many fans who want to see more explanation and a better apology from Elliot. Before Cragen told Olivia that Elliot had officially left, Elliot screened her phone calls and refused to talk to her, leaving her concerned about him and unsure about their future. About a week after telling Olivia that Elliot had left the NYPD, Cragen made Olivia pack up Elliot’s desk, where he had left a number of his belongings.
While Olivia and Elliot have done work to repair their relationship, most fans believe that to move forward — as colleagues, friends, or even romantic partners — they must have an in-depth conversation about how and why Elliot left. In “Return of the Prodigal Son,” Olivia tells Elliot that he was the single most important person in her life before he disappeared, and while that may not be completely true anymore, he remains important to her. Their relationship has all the potential in the world to return to a semblance of what it was, but Elliot must take the first step.
3. Benson and Stabler Should Hug It Out
Over their time as partners and friends, Olivia and Elliot have hugged very few times. Their very first hug was in SVU’s Season 9, Episode 9, “Paternity.” Olivia offers to take Elliot’s wife, Kathy (Isabel Gillies), to an OB-GYN appointment when they realize Elliot is the best one to chase down a suspect. When Olivia and Kathy are hit by a drunk driver, Olivia stays with her while the first responders pull her from the vehicle and then helps deliver the baby in the back of the ambulance on the way to the hospital. After Elliot arrives at the hospital and sees the baby — his youngest, Eli — he comes out of Kathy’s hospital room to talk to Olivia and ends up pulling her into a hug. Fans of the show consider the moment important to the relationship between Olivia and Elliot.
Though they hug again in Season 12, Episode 17, “Pursuit,” after Olivia deals with the death of the ADA while Elliot is out of town, Olivia and Elliot remain largely hands-off throughout their partnership. Many fans believe their lack of touching has to do with their feelings for each other and not wanting to cross a line they can’t come back from. After Kathy’s death in “Return of the Prodigal Son,” Olivia and Elliot hug again, for only their third time on screen. While their touches have increased since Elliot’s return, including some hand-holding and an almost kiss, another hug would be a huge hit with fans and would show that Olivia and Elliot are continuing to get closer and work through their issues.
2. Olivia and Elliot Need to Talk About Their Feelings
For the last 25 years, the feelings between Olivia and Elliot have been hinted at over and over again. From their longing glances in the early seasons of SVU to the “I love you” Elliot lobs at Olivia during an intervention staged by his children in Organized Crime’s Season 1, Episode 4, “The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of,” Olivia and Elliot are the longest slow burn on television, much to the disappointment of fans. Though occasionally addressed in a subtle way throughout the first twelve seasons, their feelings have become a much more prominent topic since the premiere of Organized Crime, and it’s long past time for the partners to hash them out.
Since Elliot’s return, both Olivia and Elliot have mentioned to at least one person in their lives that they are unsure about what to do about their feelings. Olivia has talked about how she feels with Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), and Elliot has mentioned how he feels in therapy. In Organized Crime’s Season 3, Episode 22, “With Many Names,” Elliot gave Olivia a compass necklace, telling her that he hoped it would guide her to happiness. Fans hoped the necklace would lead her to him, and while that didn’t happen in the most recent seasons, it’s certainly not too late for Olivia and Elliot to sit down together and have a real conversation about how they feel.
- A Detective and a Captain Sitting in a Tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G
If there is one thing fans want more than anything, it is to see Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler lock lips. Fans thought they would finally get their greatest desire when NBC aired the promo trailer for SVU’s Season 24, Episode 12, “Blood Out,” back in January 2023, but alas, it was not meant to be. Though Olivia and Elliot came close, ultimately, Olivia wasn’t ready to cross that line. Later, in SVU’s Season 24, Episode 21, “Bad Things,” both of them admitted that it wasn’t the right time for them then but that it might be one day, leaving the door open for a future kiss.
Recently, Mariska Hargitay revealed that while both she and Christopher Meloni thought things should go one way in “Blood Out,” the leadership at the show, including the franchise’s creator, Dick Wolf, disagreed. Fans are hopeful that things will change in future seasons, and Hargitay seems hopeful as well. After all, television’s longest-running primetime drama can’t end without a resolution to television’s longest-running slow burn romance. Right?
