Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3 is right around the corner, and we’ve got thoughts about Elliot Stabler. More specifically, we’ve got wants for him — and it’s not just about wanting him.
Yeah, ok. We said that out loud. What else is new?
So, we’ve made no mystery of what our thoughts are on Stabler’s relationship with Olivia Benson. But, if you need it spelled out for the billionth time, we’ll go ahead and lay it out for you. Conversation, kissing, “hoitus coitus.” That last one comes courtesy of Mariska Hargitay, longtime undisputed Captain of the EO ship. (Which, of course, makes it fitting that she also plays SVU’s Captain.)
So, with the obvious out of the way (for now), let’s talk about what else we want to see for Elliot Stabler in Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3.
Let Zaddy be Zayde
So, Christopher Meloni is the internet’s Zaddy. And, after his recent nude workout Peloton ad, from which our brains still haven’t recovered, that’s absolutely not going to change.
But! Elliot Stabler is a grandfather — in Yiddish, a zayde — which is, quite frankly, wild to us. Like, first of all, why are we thirsting so hard over a “Grandpaaaa!!!” who got scolded by his grandsons at the family Christmas party? And second, how can we wrap our minds around Detective Poster Boy for Rage being a grandfather without content? Is Zayde Elliot more chill than Daddy Elliot? Or is he even more protective? Obsessive minds need to know!
So, yeah. We’d love to explore this dynamic more in Law & Order: Organized Crime‘s third season. For sure.
Avoid undercover missions
Look: We’re not saying we didn’t like Detective Stabler’s undercover beard. And we’re certainly not saying we don’t love the casual clothes. (Honestly, bless those tight jeans.) We’d also deserve all the judging in the world if we said we didn’t like seeing Meloni get to play so many different layers.
However.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3 needs to avoid undercover work for El as much as possible. Why? Our boy’s face has been plastered all over everywhere, thanks to that confession Richard Wheatley forced out of him. It’s just not believable that any major crime family would be like, “sure, he looks just like that one cop who was all over the news, but let’s just let him into our inner circle anyway!”
Not to mention, Stabler has some begging to do. On his knees. For his Captain. Buuuuut, he kinda can’t do that if he’s ghosting her, and avoiding his many other issues, by pretending to be someone else.
…which brings us to…
Send Stabler back to therapy in Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3
This man has issues. Mommy issues, Daddy issues…”lifetime of being married for guilt and duty reasons” issues…And then, “wife went ‘boom!’ issues” on top of all that.
Not to mention, we still have no idea WTF made him ghost his partner/bff/one true love of his life for 10 years, what went on during that decade, and how he’s handling his guilt over that. Other than, you know, awkwardly flirting like a 12-year-old boy, trying to ask the hot girl from class to their first dance.
So, instead of hiding out in other people’s skin — or even just pretending to be the worst version of himself — Detective Stabler needs to work his shit out. In therapy. A lot of it.
This should go without saying, but Suits happened. So, for the record, if he sees a female therapist, no, we don’t want him to be “in love” with her. (Thank you for ruining our faith in shrinks, Paula.)
Keep us thirsty.
Detective Stabler needs to stay in a certain kind of shape for all his action hero activity. As a bonus, exercise is a great way to deal with stress. So, who are we to deny him that outlet? If Elliot happens to do shirtless pushups as part of his workout regimen, we’re not going to argue.
If he needs to wash away a hard day? By all means, go ahead. We will look respectfully. It’s probably too much to hope for to say we wound’t exactly be opposed to Elliot sharing that shower and/or releasing tension in other ways with his Olivia in Law & Order: Organized Crime‘s third season…
…buuuuuut, if it happens, we won’t look away. Just. Saying.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3 needs the best of Stabler, in every way
As an overall ask, we just want to see the good side of our leading man.
And yes, that includes his backside.
Getting serious and moving on from the thirst again now…
It’s not that last season was a failure — not by any means. But, seeing Elliot lean in to the worst of himself, even for undercover reasons, was painful. We just want to see him snuggling with his “Mama,” showing how much he’s changed from his days of raging through life, and proving it’s possible to move on from a lifetime of trauma.
We just want Stabler — and, yes, Benson, too — to be happy. El earned that Combat Cross. Let’s see what he learned from it. And how can he put those lessons into action, not just professionally but personally as well?
Basically, what we’re saying is he can be a badass, have a nice ass, be tough on crime (feels kinda icky and copagandish to say that…), and be soft with the ones he loves all at once. It’s called crafting a complicated, human character.
So, in Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3, let’s cut out all the bullshit. Life has ups and downs, so we don’t expect all warm fuzzies and sunny skies. But let’s make sure the negativity we do show makes sense, is dealt with in a respectful and meaningful manner, and always leads to creating a better version of our hero. This includes continuity, across series, with SVU.
And, in case you still haven’t caught on: Yes, that does include making amends and moving forward with the Captain.
What do you want to see for Elliot Stabler in Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3? We know there’s a lot, so drop us some comments!
So good to see you write about our favorite zaddy again.
Yes. Continuity between the two shows. That’s it.
And maybe a scene where first Elliot has to tell Olivia everything he did in the years he was gone, before Olivia ever has to open up her history.
Starting with why he left. That most likely was a choice between what Elliot wanted and what his family needed.
Maybe he went to Montana to work on a farm of an old buddy from the Marines or something else, but out of New York. To get away from everything.
Then there has to be a clear picture of where he was 2013-2014. Maybe in Africa, helping women affected by sexual violence in warzones. I don’t know maybe the whole family decided to go, including the adult kids who took a gap year. So they never got the word of WL.
Maybe throw in a reference to one of Elliot’s many siblings, let’s say he runs resettlement camp in South Sudan and asked Elliot to help out.
I think at the end it would be easier for Olivia to accept that at least he was doing something good in that time, helping others, if not her. I think with her passion for sexual violence victims, she might almost be happy that he was doing what he was doing, helping people who are worse off.
Then they can move him to private security in Europe to earn all his fancy tastes and good money.
And finally they have to find a way to show why did he come back. What made him rejoin NYPD? Was it in 2017?
Why decide to see Olivia in 2021. Maybe can’t fight the feeling anymore? But now they have to tie in that stupid letter.
P.s. July 14 changed me… First I was like what!!! My eyes… I can’t believe my eyes!!! Then I was like replay, replay, replay. That ad was so funny. It still brings a goofy grin to my face.
Ha! I figured I had to get back to it eventually, so I might as well do some editorials as warmups t o get my Zaddy-thirsting mojo back.
I Like the idea of him doing literally anything GOOD in the world, especially related to victims, as his reason for not knowing about WL. My working theory/fear has been that Bernie saw the news, tried to contact him, and was basically gaslit by the rest of the family so he wouldn’t go back. I really want to be wrong, and I truly hope (unlike that stupid AF letter) there’s something creative, meaningful, and true to the journey there.
And, regardless of what answers we get — assuming we even get them at this point — I’m still always going to think it was disgustingly out of character to not at least send a freaking EMAIL after what happened. Like, come on.
There’s so much ground to cover, and I really feel like…Even if individual episodes and arcs of the (“Marsha” voice) “SO SEPARATE” shows were, overall, really strong, a lot of last season was a waste. It’s been a whole year with basically zero conversations, stupid AF letter aside, and that’s just not ok in the end. What was the point in bringing this character back to this universe, after all this time, if the development wasn’t an option, right???
And yeah…July 14. Was. A. Lot.
Yes the individual shows had good arcs.
I wonder if the shows were waiting out the departure of WL before bringing these two fools in love truly back together. And they called it as Olivia giving Elliot space and time to recover from Kathy.
I would say the Albanian arc saw Elliot put away his ring. So there was some progress. And at the end of the Brotherhood arc, he was packing up Kathy photo alongwith his desk stuff. I am interested to see if a new photo replaces it, likely one with his kids, mom and grandkids.
I think they have brought him to a place where he can fully pursue Olivia, and even if she keeps saying no (out of fear of being hurt again), he remains unfazed and keeps asking for her personal time. He has to win her back now, after all that has happened in 24 years.
I am glad you like the idea of him doing something good for the victims as the reason for not being there. I hope the creators think the same way.
P.s. Not even an email. Because internet was hard to come by at the resettlement camp. And Mama was having an episode in 2013/2014, which made her not realize what exactly happened to Olivia. She thought Olivia died and Elliot was at her funeral, that she missed. Besides who watches news all the time, especially local news?
Am I going to defend Elliot Stabler to the very end? Yes I am.
I mean…The type of thing that happened to Liv would’ve been all over the news, both local and national — especially when nobody had any idea where she was — most likely, and not even during regular “news” blocks. But otherwise, good points.
Yeah. Then I go with family in some foreign remote place with unreliable internet and Bernie having an episode during the time. So they miss the news.
Hi Shana, I have been reading your write ups for a while and really enjoy them. Thank you and keep writing.
For OC, I was hoping they would do a fictionalized version of investigating Charlottesville or January 6 type of events scaled down to NYC so that NYPD would have to handle it. OC should be able to tackle such a complex web (with so many different organizations and characters involved), since they do multi-episode arcs. They could even have SVU handle the fictionalized Alex Jones/Kyle Rittenhouse portions and have a reason for OC and SVU to work together.
I also think it would be fun to have Rafael Barba as DA/ADA for OC. I got this inspiration after watching Merrick Garland press conference defending the integrity of the justice department this week. Rafael Barba channeling Merrick Garland. And a chance for Stabler and Barba to get to know each other from having to work together.
First off, thank you!
I worry about the big recent events because SVU has often covered them with…not the greatest track record of success. But you’re right in terms of OC’s multi-episode arcs being a much better format for handling those. If any series in the Law & Order universe could be successful in that regard, OC and its format would absolutely be the way to go.
And I LOVE the idea of Barba getting to know the real Elliot, or maybe just his better side since the other stuff is still part of what makes him a human character, through having to work together. That would obviously do a great service in terms of working to repair the damage done on SVU. Getting him back into the DA’s office, specifically, might be a sticky plot wrinkle. But, considering some of the completely baffling choices with no follow through that have happened in the past, I’d probably be willing to let it go if it meant for good character work.