Law And Order: SVU Called Way Back To Mariska Hargitay’s Earliest Days As Olivia Benson, And Now I Need More Backstory

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Spoilers ahead for Episode 11 of Law & Order: SVU Season 26, called “Deductible.”

2025 TV lineup finds “Law & Order: SVU” returning with a chilling case that began as one victim’s ordeal but spiraled into an alarming pattern of workplace exploitation for Captain Benson and the team, involving multiple women over years. Detective Carisi struggled to gather ironclad evidence, leaving Benson to seek out the crucial testimony of a potential witness who could put the culprit away. This storyline echoed back to the early days of Mariska Hargitay’s character before “SVU,” and I can’t help but wonder what her career was like before joining this elite unit.

When Benson sought to persuade Grace to testify by appealing to her sense of right and wrong, Grace countered with the point that a New York Police Department officer might struggle to grasp the corporate environment that had led her to shield a rapist for such an extended period. However, this argument didn’t hold water, causing Benson to respond:

Ah, I get it – it’s like walking through a man’s world as a woman in a predominantly male profession. I’ve spent three decades with the NYPD, and I’ve managed to persevere.

Fortunately, Benson managed to persuade Grace to testify, which helped Carisi secure another victory following his recent wake-up call. However, this interaction and the episode overall left me yearning for a deeper exploration of Olivia Benson’s past with the NYPD. The fact that she has been with the force for 30 years makes me realize that while SVU has been airing for an impressive 26 seasons, her tenure as a cop predates what we’ve seen on screen.

In the initial season of SVU way back in 1999, Benson had already advanced to the position of junior detective. It’s worth noting that she wasn’t new to the job straight out of the police academy; Stabler and Munch, both played by Christopher Meloni and the late Richard Belzer respectively, had been on the force longer than her. Even if we consider Benson as having a few years under her belt in “Deductible,” there are significant parts of her career that remain unexplored on screen.

I’m eager for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit to explore those earlier years in some shape or form, going beyond what we’ve seen so far. In the recent episode, she even hinted to Grace that “things have shifted,” which has me curious about the environment Benson was operating in before the series began, an environment you can now watch on Peacock with a subscription.

It’s evident that watching older episodes of SVU more recently, such as revisiting the pilot for its 24th anniversary, one can’t help but notice that the show handled certain topics differently than it would in 2025. This is seen in how the unit approached themes like gender and sexuality, as well as police brutality. There could be a reference to Benson’s early years in a conversation with Fin, given Ice-T didn’t join SVU until Season 2. Additionally, it would be intriguing if Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni ever share the screen again during a crossover for Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Currently, it seems that SVU is carrying on with its regular operations in anticipation of the upcoming episode airing this Thursday, February 13, at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. Here’s a sneak peek:

Will “Law & Order: SVU” delve into Olivia Benson’s early years in the NYPD before her Special Victims Unit days? It remains to be seen if this will happen soon, but fans can certainly anticipate Tony Goldwyn appearing as a crossover character and interacting with Mariska Hargitay and Peter Scanavino in at least one scene.

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2025-02-01 03:08