'SVU' and 'Organized Crime' Give Bensler Fans New Hope on Premiere Night
Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni
Law & Order: SVU and Organized Crime returned on Thursday night for their 25th and 4th seasons, respectively, and although the episodes didn't constitute a crossover event, they did each feature a tantalizing Bensler reference that fans won't want to miss.
On SVU, the episode starts with Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) wearing the gold compass necklace Stabler gifted her at the end of last season. She's at the christening of Rollins and Carisi’s son, Nicky, and Carisi's cousin, who is hitting on her, asks her about the pendant. The J stands for "joy," she tells him, the C is for "compassion" and the L is for "love."
Related: Everything to Know About 'SVU' Season 25
Over on Organized Crime, we see Stabler (Christopher Meloni), who just got home from an undercover operation, leave a message for his would-be better half. "Hey Liv, it’s me, I just got back," he says. "... Maybe I just wanted to hear your voice. Call me.”
Towards the end of the episode, Meloni catches a bit of a press conference with Olivia on TV (the same press conference that takes place in the SVU premiere) and smiles lovingly.
Of the Bensler will-they-won't-they, Meloni recently told Parade that the couple's slow burn is "our currency."
"I’ll give the credit to our original SVU showrunner, who set that stage and recognized [the chemistry] as something the audience saw," he said. "But I think what they were really seeing was Mariska and my genuine affection for each other, and they ran with it. The fans had a big role in insisting the writers play up that angle just a little bit. And once we got a whiff, we leaned into it because we thought, Let’s give the people what they want."
As for whether he thinks a Bensler hookup should happen, he said, "Well, look, I don’t think so. But, to be honest, if they would write it that way, I’d go with it."
And the fans would thank you.