Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 1 Review: Stabler Tells Benson ‘Love You, Night’

Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 1 marks the first episode with Michele Fazekas as the series’ first woman showrunner, and “overdue” doesn’t begin to describe it. If this hour is a sign of things to come, count me so enthusiastically back in, I don’t even know how to explain it. So, what makes ‘In the Wind’ good, maybe even great, and a sign of good (maybe even great) things to come during Fazekas’ tenure? A lot, really.

The entire team gets something to do in a way that’s balanced, effective, and makes sense within the context of their actual jobs. (Looking at you, ADA Carisi and Captain Curry…) Additionally, when the squad’s latest rape investigation involves a key witness whose immigration status makes him a target, it allows the storyline to comment on current real-world events without feeling awkwardly, grudgingly forced and/or out of touch. Certainly, an NYPD Captain being selfless enough to get herself arrested by ICE to protect a witness is a bit of a stretch — especially when she has a son, whose absence here is probably the hour’s biggest missed opportunity — is the work of pure fiction. Or, at the very least, Liv coming out of it without being thrown to the ground or otherwise physically attacked by some unidentifiable thug is fantasy (at best). But it still somehow…works?

Possibly the most important aspect of this premiere’s success is the way it brings back the humanity of our main characters. (No, I’m not, actually, referring to a certain loving moment between “friends” here…even if I might have had a nervous breakdown, or a stroke, or both after that.) There’s this nice mixture of casework, personal touches, and even evidence of how personal struggles affect the job. In the obligatory “Benson encourages her victim she’s fighting for her” scene, Olivia doesn’t just spout platitudes and lines that come across as asking the latest AI slop to tell you what Olivia Benson would say. No, she actually…says those things in the right place, at the right time, in the right context, and while relating to Ella Parsons on a human level.

And that gives Mariska Hargitay the chance, among many other chances in this hour, to remind us she’s kinda good at this whole acting thing. It’s not like we’ve really ever forgotten that. But when she actually has material to work with — Liv’s huge personal loss, a tough case, a sense of betrayal when she learns Fin hid something huge from her — the work she does, and the show as a whole, is so much better. Maybe that’s the bottom line on this premiere: SVU Season 27 is just so much better already.

MORE: How does the SVU Season 27 premiere stack up against other seasons? Read our Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 1 review to compare!

“I had this really great boss, who believed in me”

Talk about learning how to blend personal and professional. (Something, I can’t stress enough, recent seasons of SVU sorely lacked — at least when it came to our leading lady.) Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 1 certainly dives in from the very first scene. I mean, it doesn’t get much more personal than a memorial for Captain Cragen, complete with little personal moments between Liv and some folks we haven’t seen in a minute like Dr. Huang and ex-boyfriend Brian Cassidy. And, as we all know, every single one of these characters is, or was, also tied to various eras of Benson’s professional life.

If I’m being perfectly honest here, I both understand and hate Cragen’s offscreen death. Obviously, Liv has been through enough suffering for a lifetime…and then some. Did she need to lose yet another person she loved? Eh. No. On the other hand, this isn’t the type of show where people don’t die (it ain’t Law & Order: Vampires, y’all), and at least Cragen didn’t go the way of Mike Dodds. Furthermore, although the idea that a strong female character needs to experience a loss before she can experience happiness as some sort of consolation prize is as played out as it is nauseating, the bittersweet reunions Liv experiences here aren’t that. They’re just…life.

When else could all of these people come together like this and make it make sense? And when else do families that have been pushed apart by time and circumstances find a way to show back up for each other? Weddings and funerals are about it, and we’re not ready for an EO wedding. (Or, well, quite a lot of viewers are. The series, however, not so much. Storylines need to catch up to what’s been obvious for 84 years.)

With Richard Belzer’s 2023 passing, perhaps opening the Law & Order: SVU Season 27 premiere with everyone coming together to celebrate Munch’s life would be a little bit less of a shocker, a little easier to handle. But that wouldn’t necessarily open up the same storytelling avenues as a result. I’m not sure Liv could even begin to admit, out loud, that she and Fin are “closer to the end than the beginning” without losing Cragen. And, probably key here: The only way to give Cragen the sendoff he deserve, bittersweet, nearly wordless conversations between old friends and all, was this. The writers had to be able to decide, to plan, to get the actors together — all the messy logistics — instead of having the real world outside the series unexpectedly get in the way.

…but yes, this was still a rough way to start a new season. I was fully prepared to write something, uh, unfriendly here. But, in the right hands? It turns out you can kill off a major character in a way that, while it still hurts and isn’t necessarily what viewers are looking to see, still manages to be good TV…in its own, sad way.

MORE: Cragen returned in ‘The Five Hundredth Episode’ of SVU and Organized Crime Season 4 Episode 8.

Are Benson and Stabler…officially EO?

Before Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 1 gave us those three huge words from Elliot to Olivia, I thought my main takeaway from the EO scenes would be how it was awkward, yet oddly fitting, that Elliot would hesitate outside instead of going in and seeing everybody. But. Well. It turns out that him casually leaning against Olivia’s car, having a special moment for just them, wasn’t your usual example of “good God, look at the chemistry between Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni.” Yes, all the usual magic that comes from putting these two together, in literally any scene, was there. But there was more.

Because, see, the last time Elliot Stabler told Olivia Benson he loved her, it was wildly inappropriate. Blurted out, in the middle of an intervention while he was ridiculously deep in grief. This time, sure, there’s grief. But nobody’s acting wildly out of character. They just…are. This time, the shock for the audience comes from how not shocking a Bensler “I love you” is for the characters. How, after a very comforting (and, again, normal) hug between El and Liv, his parting words to her are “love you. Night.” That’s it. Simple, casual, natural, as if he says it all the time. And Olivia reacted like she hears it all the time now. Notice she didn’t look like she was about to black out, and she didn’t run away screaming.

But what does it mean? Is this…are we finally here? Are Elliot and Olivia finally EO; are Benson and Stabler finally Bensler? Here’s hoping that’s a definite yes. At a bare minimum, it certainly looks like the first real progress in a very long time. We’ve been fooled before, though, and it’s not like the timeline isn’t about as fuzzy and complicated as it can possibly get, what with Organized Crime both streaming on Peacock earlier this year and (re)airing immediately after SVU this fall. Is this before or after what we saw in Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 2? Before or after Joey’s funeral? Nobody knows!

So, I’m approaching this with cautious optimism.

…when I’m not repeatedly screaming “WHAT” in my friends’ texts and saying things like “did I have a stroke? I definitely blacked out because I don’t know how Fin wound up on the ground like that,” that is.

MORE: It looks like Olivia has come a long way since telling Elliot she’s “not ready for this” and “I want to” in SVU Season 24.

More on Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 1

• The way I just shouted “NO” when I saw that photo of Cragen.
• Huang!
• “It’s good to see you.” “Same.” Things that would not happen if Elliot was glowering over Liv’s shoulder.
• Missed opportunity to see Cassidy and Stabler catch up? Or just right at this time? Hm.
• “He was the best boss I ever had. Everything that I know about being a captain…I learned from him.”
• Absolutely floored by the “tell me you didn’t just say that” series of expressions from Hargitay to go with Liv’s “you — you thought about retiring” line to Fin.
• Chief Tynan is so, so, so, so, so interesting. Like, immediately. No “why should I care.” Just more like “…oh. She’s too good to be true, but I love her already and bet I’ll eventually love to hate her.” Noma Dumezweni is great here, and I can’t even pinpoint why yet!
• “You’re the standard I’d like everyone else to meet.”
• …but how does Rollins know so much about the new Chief of Ds, when Benson — a higher-ranking member of the NYPD — …doesn’t? Ok then.
• That shot of Olivia walking through that subway/steam smoke is *chef’s kiss*.
• Kids who grew up in the 90s will get this: Elliot Stabler is a better leaner than Jordan Catalano could ever.
• “Not that you can go back, and not that I’d want to, but…you know…we had a pretty good run there for a minute.” “We still do. It’s just different.” DIFFERENT HOW…oh. The hug.
• His little smile after she tells him to get off her car, though. This man is in LOVE love.
• WHAT.
• No, really. WHAT.
• OH.
• “I love you. Night.”
• On a serious note, Hargitay and Meloni are as good as ever here. The way they take their time to let all the otherwise simple bits of dialogue breathe and hold real weight…plus, you know, all the emotions…
• Curry asking Benson about the service, and Benson admitting “this one hit hard,” is another oh-so-simple little detail to transition between the personal and the professional that was literally all most of us were asking for in recent years. Amazing.
• While I’m at it: I’m so glad to see Captain Curry get to be a full member of the team, with actual things to do and actual places where she really steps up. Aimé Donna Kelly is fantastic throughout this premiere, and I really hope we get to see more of what she, and her character, can do. Really, truly, please.
• “A lot of these places, it’s just a bunch of dudes, you know? So, it can feel like nobody’s in your corner but you.” “Oh, I get that.” Liv…Liv’s allowed to relate to the victims on a personal level without being a giant weirdo who gets too involved again??? SVU Season 27, I love you already.
• Oh…her face when she gets the call about Fin.
• Ah, Fin. He’s going to go out cracking bad jokes, huh.
• “So, quick question: Who the he** gets jumped on their way home from a cop funeral?” “Brutal.” The best old friends are the ones you can have this kind of banter with, actually.
• I love everything about every single line delivery when Curry’s feeding the super all his bad lies for him.
• It’s Liv’s very quick “sit down” for me. Yes, Ma’am. Captain, Ma’am.
• “Now, before you answer me, keep in mind. That I already know the answer.” Exquisite rhythm here.
• “They’re not like us.” An admission? That the NYPD in the Law & Order franchise…ain’t representative of the actual whole? Love to see it.
• Oh, sweet summer child. These goons aren’t going to help you out, Liv. You just made it easier for them to come after your witness, too.
• “It would have to be at the courthouse.” “No. He could get arrested there.” I loathe everything about our current reality.
• Speaking of Liv being a bit naïve: I’m not sure anything could be “worth it” if “worth it” means being rounded up, held in terrible conditions, and shipped off. Especially if they sent him to that awful, awful internment camp in El Salvador. And Sudan, for what it’s worth is kinda in the middle of a genocide.So, no, getting disappeared to there wouldn’t be a good option either.
• Fin! Knows! A! Guy!
• Welcome back, SVU 1.0. I’ve missed you.
• The way Captain Benson glances back and forth between her two detectives makes it look like she knows they’re lying to her about something but has no idea what.
• Also: She knows they’re misbehaving because that’s how she did it back when she was Cragen’s wayward star.
• “What is the best-case scenario here? Just getting some guy deported for testifying? That sucks. I don’t want to do that.” A real hero.
• “…I am tired. I’m so tired. How do you not get so tired doing this every day?” Me reading the news.
• “…but you have this voice inside that tells you that you’re not good enough? That you’re not worthy? I get that. Because I have that same voice inside. But I had this really great boss who believed in me and who told me that I was worthy. And then eventually, I started to believe it. He worked a lot longer than he needed to, because he was so good at his job and because it gave his life meaning. He and I were a lot alike, and I don’t think I fully realized it until after he was gone.” Gutted.
• …and she’s allowed to be insecure and have flaws and be a person!
• Works hard, tax payer, sends money to his family…arrested for something he didn’t even do. “…so, my choices are to — to run and hide and hope that they never find me…or to — to just leave my whole life and just go back. And now, you’re asking me to do something nice for my government? Why would I do that.” This is not ok. Full stop. None of it is ok.
• You know it’s bad out there when even a show that’s been repeatedly called out for being copaganda makes ICE, and the overall way we treat immigrants (especially lately but always, really), look bad.
• That “oh, no” from Captain Curry and the way she looks like she’s about to go to war for Liv and Jorge…What a moment. Truly, what a moment.
• Ok but Liv. If they put you in federal prison, who’s going to take care of Noah?
• “Buy the jailbird a drink, will ya?”
• Mannnnnn, the look of betrayal and just plain hurt when Liv hears about the gun…
• “Just…figured enough people were keeping you in the dark.” Girl, like you did with some pretty big information there for a while?
• “…they are not welcome here.” Not all heroes wear capes, etc.
• A shot of Liv watching them take Mr. Ruiz away.
• “…I thought that I put in the time, and the work to — to earn your trust.” The way her voice breaks on the first “to.” Odafin Tutuola, how DARE you.
• “Look, I know that we’re closer to the end than the beginning…I feel that I still have more to do. And we all need to decide how we want to go out. But if you are willing to throw away all the years that we have worked together, all the trust that we have built, then maybe you should retire and just save us all the heartache.”
• I hope when he gets out of that hospital, Elliot UnStabler puts him back there.
• Just kidding…mostly.
• THE RELIEF when Liv hears about Jorge’s happy ending.
• I’m glad Mariska Hargitay is acting out Liv being completely incapable of making words so well here because 1) this is me after Elliot said “I love you” to her, and 2) she’ll make a much better reaction gif than that old one of Nathan Fillion from Castle.
• …ok but it’s like…the new Chief has her in the palm of her hand because she helped out with Mr. Ruiz, but also I think she genuinely respects her, but also I just don’t know, but also…???
• Oh, this is neat. It’s not outright enmity, and it’s not at all reading as “catty” (thank God for a woman showrunner!). But it’s not reading as entirely friendly either.
• What a season premiere!
• …or did I hallucinate it?

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Episode 1? Leave us a comment!

New episodes of Law & Order: SVU air Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC.