Well, what do you know? After 10 years, Thursday, April 1 will see Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler finally reunite on Law & Order: SVU. Fans have been looking forward to this since Christopher Meloni left his role behind suddenly before the Season 13 premiere, leading to his character being written out off-camera. While viewers are probably very excited to watch this event go down, and to see Meloni's Stabler lead his own task force in Law & Order: Organized Crime right after, here's why he says the Benson and Stabler reunion won't be satisfying.
Even though we know that Benson and Stabler will meet again, and have seen the moment be teased (but not directly shown) in the promos for the crossover event between SVU and Organized Crime, apparently Christopher Meloni doesn't believe that the well-guarded reunion will manage to satisfy. While that may seem impossible, take a look at what he told TV Line about Benson and Stabler having a bit of a rough time when they first see one another again, and try to find the logic in his words:
Well, this is what I think about that: No one’s going to be satisfied. [Laughs] I mean, it’s such a long time. It is so many unanswered questions. I think there’s such a great sense of abandonment and betrayal and a what-the-fuck-ed-ness of it all, that, you know, that wound is, you know, not going to… get its dressings all, you know, squared away. You know, it’s going to be a process, right?
Well, alrighty, then. I mean, for all you Bensler fans out there, I think this is probably not the answer you were hoping for, and it certainly isn't a great sign for how their first meeting will go, but it is understandable. Just like many viewers who have a ton of questions about what happened and why Stabler never reached out to his friend and crime-solving partner over the years, along with wondering about a lot of other things, Christopher Meloni seems to be saying that Benson has all of the same questions, so seeing her former friend again isn't going to immediately erase all of that.
On top of that, well, you must know what pretty much always happens anytime a meeting or event is highly anticipated and or hoped for when it comes to a popular TV show, right? As Meloni also seems to note, everyone has been waiting on this for 10 years, so not only are Benson and Stabler not going to be 100% satisfied when they finally, miraculously, come upon each other again, but there will likely be a lot of fans who will not find the reunion satisfying, either.
So far, all that we really know about how it will go down, is that Stabler and his family are going to need the help of Benson and her team, as he tries to figure out who's been threatening his family. We've also been promised that he'll be dealing with "a devastating personal loss" by the time Organized Crime starts, so I suppose we can count on a lot of unrelated emotions coming into play and helping to make this meeting even more difficult than it otherwise would have been.
Christopher Meloni will share the screen with Mariska Hargitay again when Law & Order: SVU airs, this Thursday, April 1, on NBC, at 9 p.m. EST, with the debut of Law & Order: Organized Crime coming right after. For more to watch in the meantime, check out our guide to 2021 TV premieres!
