Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson are Reuniting and I Don’t Care What You Say, It’s the Most Important Event in Television History

A brief history mostly in GIFs

On April 1, 2021, Elliot Stabler returns to the Law and Order-verse, beginning with his long-awaited reunion with Olivia Benson on Law and Order: SVU, and continuing into a spinoff, Law and Order: Organized Crime. I’m here to explain to you why this matters, why we’re not over Stabler’s departure, and to catch you up on what you should know before the big day.

You’re welcome in advance.

There are only three things that matter. The partnership, the friendship, and the sexual tension.

TWELVE YEARS OF IT.

We’re not talking the two years it took for Ross and Rachel to get together. This isn’t like the four years we waited for Luke and Lorelai to kiss. Carrie and Big. Jim and Pam. Even on other long-running crime/police procedural shows, like Castle or Bones, the main characters eventually get together every time.

Then, there’s Benson and Stabler.

THESE TWO.

They are infuriating and addicting.

The best detective duo New York City has ever seen. Hands down. No contest.

From the start, Olivia and Elliot had great chemistry (to the credit of the real-life chemistry between Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni). They were young, vibrant, eager to catch the bad guys. They were even a little flirtatious at first. And for twelve intense crime-fighting seasons, these two never made out. Not once. Much to the dismay of a wildly devoted fandom.

I mean, can you believe this shit? “For better or worse”?? He practically proposed in season one AND THEY NEVER SO MUCH AS HAD A CONVERSATION ABOUT IT. EVER!!

You’ve got Olivia Benson, the smart, beautiful, no-nonsense, empathetic cop who was the product of a rape, and whose mother was an alcoholic and didn’t have the resources to help her cope with her trauma. Olivia is hellbent on righting the wrongs done to her mother by putting rapists in jail and getting justice for sexual assault victims. People are naturally drawn to her, but she’s kind of a loner because she has trust issues. Except when it comes to…

Elliot Stabler. He’s strong, handsome, a little more seasoned, has some anger issues, but has a huge heart for victims—especially kids. (You really don’t want to be the perp that has to deal with Elliot’s wrath if you hurt a kid.) He had a bipolar mother who refused to medicate, and an emotionally abusive father, so Elliot is pretty big on being a good dad to his four (five by season 9) children. He married young, had a shotgun wedding, and was something like 15 years into this family situation by the time he met Olivia.

So, we’ve got a single, empathetic woman with trust issues and a married, angry man with mommy issues.

It’s TV gold. This is angst-incarnate. You can’t come up with a better setup for drama.

I know, I know. “He has kids! He’s married! It would be so wrong!”

I get it. Infidelity is bad. I’m not a fan in real life. But fidelity is…

BORING.

This is TV! It’s entertainment! Fake! Just accept the drama! Embrace the pain! Feast on the conflict!

You think Shonda Rhymes makes her millions by creating appropriate relationships??

No!!

She does it by having the married President of the United States sleep with his campaign manager because she is Kerry Freaking Washington and who could possibly resist her??

But I digress (or whatever people say to move on from a rant).

Olivia and Elliot’s flirtations over the years grew into a comfortable partnership in every way. They played off each other flawlessly in interrogations. They read each other’s minds. They knew each other’s next moves. They were a little co-dependent, let’s be real. Their steps were even notoriously in sync.

They just worked. They fit. Their friendship was so tight and safe, but they always had those longing looks and knowing smirks that drove us crazy. They even started referring to their partnership as a work-marriage. Sometimes they played with our hearts and told us that partners are closer than spouses.

Other times, the creators would sucker punch us in our livers by having Elliot and Olivia go undercover as a married couple.

Big. Fat. Teases. Dick Wolf knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

There were times when Olivia struggled with having a rapist as a father, concerned that it’s a horrible trait she may have inherited, and Elliot was always there to remind her of how great she is.

There were moments. So. Many. Moments.

Especially when Elliot was separated from his wife.

YES. Separated! For years! Sepa-freaking-rated!

And do you know what Elliot did? He got all angry and emotional because he felt like a failure and ended up telling Olivia to shoot him.

If there’s one Stabler/Benson episode you need to watch, it’s Fault. Season 7. If you’re going to watch it, stop reading now and come back when you’re done. If not, continue reading and let me explain.

There’s this pedophile named Gitano on the loose. He kidnaps two kids. In a standoff with Gitano, Olivia get’s her neck sliced. Elliot has to make a choice between saving a kid or saving Olivia.

He chooses Olivia.

Because of course he does! Who wouldn’t? She’s Olivia Benson!!!

When he gets to her, she’s perfectly fine. Bleeding, but no significant damage.

The little boy, however, dies.

And you know how Stabler is with kids. He beats himself up about it, but ultimately takes it out on Olivia. He pretty much calls her a bad cop and implies that he has to babysit her all the time. Everyone watching at home was like,

But Olivia fires back and they have a huge fight in the middle of the precinct until they are yelled at by Captain Cragen. He tells them to grow up and get it together, but Elliot still storms off to go brood somewhere.

A little law and a little order happen and they end up in a warehouse where Gitano has a gun to Elliot’s head and Olivia can’t get a good shot at Gitano without hitting Elliot. Elliot is so angry with himself (because he thinks he was responsible for that kid’s death) that he gets all suicidal and keeps yelling at Olivia to take the shot, knowing that he would probably get hit, too.

And Olivia is like, “Dude, shut up. You’re my best friend and you have children at home."

And he’s all, “Don’t be like me. I chose you over that kid and I was wrong! Take the shot!”

And she’s like, “Wtf? You’re not happy I’m alive, you jerk?”

Anyway, their backup arrives and shoots Gitano from a different angle and Elliot and Olivia are shocked and relieved, then they save the girl Gitano had kidnapped and take her to the hospital. While there, they have a weird heart-to-heart in which Elliot tells Olivia that they can’t choose each other over the job anymore or they can’t be partners. We actively see Olivia realizing that maybe she feels more for him than he does for her.

They end with this exchange:

Elliot: We both chose each other over the job. We can never let that happen again. Otherwise... we can't be partners.

Olivia: I can't believe you're saying that.

Elliot: Look, you and this job are about the only things that I've got got anymore. I don't want to wreck that. I couldn't take it.

And you know what Olivia does?

She walks into the captain’s office and asks for a new partner!

UUUGGGHHHHH!!!!

Just wait. It gets worse.

She transfers. To COMPUTER CRIMES! And herein lies the most heinous crime of all—taking Olivia Benson away from SVU and putting her BEHIND A COMPUTER.

This. Is. BLASPHEMY.

So Olivia leaves, but stops by to visit when she hears about Elliot getting into a fist fight with his new partner. He asks why she left and she gives some BS answer about being partners longer than anyone else and needing a change. When he doesn’t buy it, she tells him “it was just too complicated,” and gives him this face:

YOU TELL ME THAT’S A “JUST FRIENDSHIP” FACE

She eventually comes back because Olivia Benson is SVU and it seems like they’re starting to get along again. But it’s only a few more episodes before she gets whisked off to Oregon for an undercover FBI gig and gets bangs, and Elliot takes it personally. He acts out by kissing some blonde bish we don’t talk about, and when Olivia finally returns for good, things are icy.

They fight and take cheap shots at each other and have awkward moments because of a six-week separation and eight years of unresolved feelings.

But it doesn’t take long before they make up. They learn to say, “I’m sorry and I love you” by promising to exchange internal organs.

It’s too sweet and perfect a moment to tell them that organ donation is a tad more complicated than that.

But from here on out, Benson and Stabler are truly Benson and Stabler. They got through some weird tension, had some late-night talks. Stabler confessed that he was afraid of losing her, and Benson confessed that he’s her longest relationship. They decide they would choose each other over the job every time, no matter what. They become closer than ever.

Stabler gets his wife pregnant and goes back home to his family, but it’s fine because he spends more time with Olivia anyway. Then Olivia saves his baby’s life and they share this moment:

And it’s the first time they’ve ever hugged.

Seasons 9-12 are pure old-married-couple vibes. They eat off each other’s plates, share comfortable silences, and anticipate the other’s moves when they suspect the other partner is about to do something shady.

Who sits that close?!

Elliot supports Olivia when she finds out she has a brother and checks up on her when she gets sick. Olivia supports Elliot and his entire family when one of his daughters has a manic episode. Elliot is constantly scaring off Olivia’s boyfriends, and she might act annoyed but we all know she really doesn’t mind.

Have I mentioned the time Olivia almost blew Elliot’s cover, but she thought quickly on her feet and acted like a prostitute?

No one ever recovered from that episode.

Oh, and the time Elliot came home from a trip early because Olivia had a bad day and he ran to give her a hug.

Heart eyes.

Everything was great. They were closer than close could be. They were there for each other on the bad days and good.

They cried on each other’s shoulders, treated each other’s wounds.

The real world could be stupid and changing and morphing and the ONE THING we could count on to stay the same was Benson and Stabler. We could turn on SVU marathons and always believe in this partnership. We were sure that Stabler and Benson would come back to each other.

No matter what.

Forever.

Unconditionally.

Until.

They.

Didn’t.

Season 12 of SVU ended with Elliot shooting a teenager because she opened fire in the middle of the precinct.

Season 13?

He never came back.

They made some crap up about how he can’t come back from shooting a kid, even though it was a fair shot and he was saving a bunch of other people from getting killed by this girl. He never said goodbye. We never got so much as a phone call. As far as we know, Olivia never heard Elliot’s voice again.

Stabler ghosted us all. And we were left with a completely broken hero.

Her best friend. Her partner. Her work marriage.

Gone.

And she’s left alone.

Rip my blackened heart into tiny shreds of worthless cardiac tissue. SHRED IT.

Watching this scene was torture. I sat there and wondered if Mariska Hargitay was even acting at all. We all felt those sobs deep in our un-donated kidneys.

Olivia cried for all of us. We are Olivia.

And we never got over it. I think there would have been more closure if Stabler had been killed off. Instead, he’s just out there somewhere. Alive. Not part of an elite squad. He’s out there leading us to believe that this twelve year partnership meant NOTHING to him.

But we all know that’s not true. There are thousands of fanfiction stories dedicated to proving it. For ten years, fans have written alternate versions of seasons 12-13. No one has accepted what really happened. It just wasn’t right.

Now, here we are, a decade after Stabler’s abrupt departure, and he is finally returning to give us our answers.

I’m not sure a two hour crossover event will cover the plethora of traumas and milestones Olivia has been through in his absence (boyfriends, new partners, promotions, a kidnapping, torture, hostage situations, adoption, and a psycho biological grandmother), but it’s a start.

The SVU writers and producers 100% owe this moment to the fans, but this is also legit the best marketing they could ever do for a new show. It’s beyond brilliant. Thousands of people will watch Organized Crime just to see how this relationship plays out. Stellar move, Dick Wolf. You are no fool. (Except for that time you let Stabler ghost us.)

So, there you have it.

I’m exhausted.

If you stuck through this entire blog, you’re either a true fan or a true friend. I think it took me longer to write this post than it took me to write my 400 page novel.

In fact, this post took me so long to write that if it doesn’t make it to Mariska Hargitay, life is meaningless.