Bensler
Olivia Benson & Elliot Stabler’s 13 Hottest Moments, Ranked
Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) are soulmates. Whether they’re just platonic soulmates or ultimately romantic soulmates is still the million-dollar question.
Benson and Stabler have always had chemistry. The proof is baked into the core of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Organized Crime. They’ve been flirting since 1999. These two have danced around their feelings for decades and have become the ultimate will-they-or-won’t-they.
From kidney promises to lingering hand-holding to their long-awaited reunion, Swooon has compiled the top 13 Benson and Stabler moments that made us swoon. It’s impossible to rank them all, so we’ve rounded up the moments that made us gasp, blush, and pick up our jaws off the floor.
Do you think Benson and Stabler should ever become a romantic couple? Let us know your thoughts and favorite Bensler moments in the comments below.
Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC
Law & Order: Organized Crime, Thursdays, Peacock
13. 'I'm really glad you're back' (SVU, Season 12 Episode 17)
Hallways love to see these two coming. When Sonya Paxton is brutally murdered, Stabler rushes back from Quantico to comfort Benson. “I’m so glad you’re back,” a relieved Benson says as she power walks into Stabler’s arms. Stabler wishes he could have come sooner. There’s a moment when Benson leans her forehead on Stabler’s temple that’s so intimate, but you’ll blink and miss it if you’re not paying attention.
12. The letter (Organized Crime, Season 1 Episode 1)
Kathy Stabler hasn’t even been buried yet, and her husband’s over here giving Benson a love letter (more on that later) of sorts. This is the Bensler letter that launched a thousand theories. Honestly, who doesn’t swoon a little when Stabler, a man of few words, hands the letter over to Benson?
11. Stabler dreams of Benson (Organized Crime, Season 5 Episode 2)
Nothing screams soulmate more than dreaming about the woman you clearly love. Stabler is hospitalized after a car accident, and Benson’s right there holding his hand when he wakes up. Later, Stabler gets a little flirty with Benson, going so far as to say she can “watch me get naked” when he’s trying to leave the hospital.
10. Benson & Stabler's hookup fakeout (SVU, Season 10 Episode 7)
When Stabler goes undercover as an exotic animal smuggler and radio silent on his wife, Benson tracks him down to tell him to call Kathy. When the smugglers show up, Benson literally strips down to her bra to pretend she’s a hooker that (an already practically naked) Stabler’s spending the night with. “Are you ready for me, daddy?” Benson says as she walks out from the bathroom. This whole scenario is fake, but no one can deny it: These two look good together in next to nothing.
9. 'Can you blame him?' (SVU, Season 1 Episode 10)
In the first season, Stabler deduces that Benson’s been sleeping with Cassidy. She tries to deny it at first, but Stabler’s spot on with his hunch. “I’m your partner. For better or worse,” he says. (The man was literally using marriage phrases this early on.) Benson feels guilty about breaking a rule, but now Cassidy wants to see her again. “Can you blame him?” Stabler replies. He gives Benson some pointers about how to handle the Cassidy situation, but his attitude is giving off an underhanded jealousy.
8. Holding hands in the hallway (Organized Crime, Season 1 Episode 5)
Benson and Stabler have been light on physical touch from the very beginning, even though Stabler’s love language is absolutely that. This Bensler moment will make anyone giddy. It’s not just the hand-holding—it’s the way Stabler’s hand lingers around Benson’s hand. It’s Law & Order’s version of the Pride & Prejudice hand flex.
7. Benson and Stabler's kidney vow (SVU, Season 8 Episode 9)
Ah, the kidney promise. In Season 8, Benson returns (goodbye, Dani) to work with Stabler again. There’s an undercurrent of tension between these two as they recalibrate to each other after some time apart. Naturally, they fall right back in sync. At the end of the episode, Benson admits that she doesn’t even know Stabler’s blood type. He quickly tells her, and they wind up having the same blood type.
“I’d give you a kidney,” Stabler says in the elevator. “Not if I gave you mine first,” Benson replies. This scene is the television representation of “your husband’s coworker he told you not to worry about.”
6. Benson and Stabler's 'married' moment (SVU, Season 12 Episode 19)
These two take going undercover as a married couple—at a swingers club, no less—a little too seriously. Just look at the way their fingers are interlocked! They’re practically clutching each other. Look at the way he’s looking at her! Benson and Stabler step into the “married” roles so easily.
5. Benson and Stabler choose each other (SVU, Season 7 Episode 19)
Did anyone expect these two not to choose each other in a life-or-death situation? As soon as Benson hits the ground after getting sliced in the neck, Stabler abandons his chase of the perp to make sure Olivia isn’t dead. The pure fear in his “Olivia!” will give you goosebumps. Stabler’s decision leads to the death of a little boy, which fuels guilt and tension between Bensler. Later, the roles are reversed, and the perpetrator has Stabler at gunpoint. Benson refuses to pull the trigger and potentially kill her partner. Thankfully, she never has to make that choice because a member of S.W.A.T. takes the criminal down.
At the hospital, Stabler tells Benson that he believes she ultimately would have pulled the trigger. “No, I wouldn’t have. Did you really expect me to? Did you really expect me to cause your death?” she replies. Stabler realizes their bond has crossed a line. “We both chose each other over the job. We can never let that happen again. Otherwise, we can’t be partners,” he says. Stabler doesn’t want to wreck what he has with Benson, and he knows he’ll choose her every time in a dangerous situation. She knows that, too, and that’s why she asks for a new partner. The sacrifices they’ve made for one another…
4. 'I love you' (Organized Crime, Season 1 Episode 4)
The biggest Freudian slip of all time. The man quite literally declares his love for Benson during an intervention with his children PRESENT. Stabler tries to take back the “I love you” by saying “I love you all,” but he meant what he said. This is an “I love you” two decades in the making.
3. The reunion (SVU, Season 22 Episode 9)
When Benson and Stabler see each other for the first time in a decade, it’s a full-body chill moment. Sorry not sorry, but the look between them is how you look at your long-lost love after being torn apart by war. (Sorry, Kathy.)
Here’s the thing about Kathy Stabler: She knows there’s always been something between her husband and his former partner. She even says they’re “so in sync” with each other! After that, they don’t even try to hide it. When Benson confronts Stabler about disappearing on her without so much as a call, Stabler confesses, “I was afraid if I heard your voice I wouldn’t be able to leave.” Regardless of whether or not you ship Bensler, this scene is monumental on so many levels.
2. Benson & Stabler's near kiss (SVU, Season 24 Episode 12)
Many people will think this should be the number one moment, but it’s still an almost kiss. They both acknowledge their feelings for each other, and there’s a moment when Stabler goes in for the kiss, only for Benson to pull away at the last second. They both want this, but she’s not ready yet. She doesn’t want to ruin their relationship. Even though there’s no action—just a little head grazing—it feels like a promise of something more.
1. 'It will always be you and I' (Organized Crime, Season 2 Episode 3)
Ship or no ship, this scene is more sexually charged than most TV sex scenes. The chemistry between them, even in Stabler’s drug-induced state, will make you weak in the knees. Stabler explains that Kathy is the whole who helped him write the letter, but there’s one line he wrote himself: “In a parallel universe, it will always be you and I.” This is the most star-crossed lovers line ever. The timing has just never been right for these two, and they know it.
And that’s not all. When Stabler stumbles to the floor, Benson races to his side. Stabler clutches onto Benson and then proceeds to take his hand and gently brush her lips! It’s so intimate that it almost feels like we’re intruding.
