Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni Reignite Their Chemistry in Organized Crime Premiere: ‘Watch Me Get Naked’

Warning: this story contains spoilers from the April 17 episodes of Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and episodes 1 and 2 of Law & Order: Organized Crime.

After two long years, Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler are back on screen together — and the beloved duo didn’t miss a beat!

Law & Order Thursdays returned to NBC on April 17 for one night only with their entire slate of programming. The evening kicked off with a Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit crossover event, which even featured a surprise guest appearance from Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), before the fifth season of his spinoff show, Law & Order: Organized Crime, premiered with a special telecast (all subsequent season 5 episodes will be available exclusively on Peacock).

The crossover episode kicked off with Maria Recinos (Dani Montalvo) — the woman who was rescued from a pedophile by Benson (Mariska Hargitay) as a young girl before growing up and joining the police force — as she went undercover at a church and helped a young woman named Ana Machado.

Maria — under the identity of “Sophia” — attempted to seek justice for Ana after learning she was sexually assaulted, but was ultimately killed in a warehouse fire after going to confront the man. When Benson learned what went down, she vowed to catch the man who killed her friend — especially since the warehouse was the prior scene of a similar murder two years ago.

During the investigation, detectives decided to question Ana, but after she fled the precinct while being questioned, she turned up dead, with traces of DNA on her body connected to recent parolee Miguel Pinto.

Pinto swore he didn’t touch Ana and his alibi later cleared him. After further investigation, DA Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) was able to surmise that the real killer was enacting a frame job and Benson and Ana’s boss, Paul Gomez, took their investigation back to the church shelter, where they questioned Father Alberto.

The meeting went sideways and the priest ended up fleeing the scene before a resulting gunfight left him dead and Gomez wounded. Benson soon realized someone must’ve threatened the priest and took her team’s findings to ADAs Dominick Carisi (Peter Scanavino) and Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy). Through DNA matching, an electronic warrant and later, an additional witness coming forward, the team was able to determine that Gomez framed Pinto for Ana’s murder.

However, in the meantime, a strange man tried to convince her son Noah to get into the car outside of his school, which sent Benson into overdrive. This later led to a surprise guest appearance from Stabler as he confronted the man, Mueller Hayes, who harassed Noah in the school parking lot.

“Your head smashed up against the cold tile under the weight of all your bad decisions and a 600 FICO score, which is why Paul Gomez owns you,” said Stabler. “You and I are just gonna cut through the noise. If you ever go anywhere near my friend or her son again, I won’t take you down. I’ll take you apart. Tell Gomez to watch his back.”

In the end, Gomez was found guilty on all three counts of rape and murder, and the crossover ended with Benson and with Lieutenant Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) honoring the lives of the women lost at their funeral.

Season 5 of Organized Crime then kicked off with its special telecast, which followed Stabler as he went undercover as a trucker named “Hank” to bring down a human-trafficking ring run by the Coyote biker gang and 3 Kings Trucking company.

While at some trucking stops, Stabler met some of the sex workers, including one girl who went by the name Sad Eyes, another called Cricket and Bunny, a young girl whose mother abandoned her. Stabler eventually caused a scene when he intervened on behalf of Pebbles, another one of the sex workers, when she was being assaulted by one of the newest Coyote gang members.

Despite the tussle, Stabler was invited to participate in a smaller pick-up from the Coyotes ahead of their next big drug drop, but he grew concerned after Bunny informed him that Sad Eyes was missing.

Back at OC headquarters, Bell, Bobby Reyes (Rick Gonzales), Kyle Vargas (Tate Ellington) and Jet Slootmaekers (Ainsley Seiger) realized while trying to locate Sad Eyes that they managed to uncover 36 unsolved murders along I-90 between Buffalo and Albany.

A frantic Cricket then told Stabler that Bunny was missing and one of the girls had seen her with Steve, who co-ran the trucking company alongside his brothers Vic and Mark Kingman. After beating up Mark (and then Steve) inside their offices, Stabler rescued Bunny before she was trafficked — but not before Vic found their getaway pick-up truck and t-boned them with his semi-truck.

The second episode of OC — this one written by Meloni himself and available on Peacock — began with Stabler being wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher, and his brother Randall Stabler (Dean Norris) receiving the call that something bad had happened.

Stabler then “woke up,” though he was in a dream-like world seemingly representing his slipping in and out of consciousness. He heard a voice at the end of a tunnel, one that audiences likely recognized as Benson’s, calling his name.

In reality, Benson was perched over Stabler’s hospital bed, as the doctor explained that he’s unconscious and will likely remain that way for the next 24-48 hours as his body heals.

Stabler’s family — including his mother, Bernie (Ellen Burstyn) — later joined Benson in the waiting room as they prepared for the worst. “Do not make me bury you,” Bernie said, leaning over her son.

An emotional Randall also got his chance to speak to his unconscious brother for a minute before Benson interrupted. “So, you’re his brother, yeah?” she asked.

“The better looking, older brother, yeah,” Randall joked, getting a sad laugh out of Benson. “And you two… you uh, partners?”

“And great friends,” Benson replied, later clarifying that they’ve been together “long” and “from the beginning.”

Randall then decided it was time to turn on the moves, awkwardly attempting to flirt with Benson by asking her if she liked brisket. Confused and clearly uninterested, Benson shut his advances down — but not before Stabler temporarily came to and took a clear side in the brisket conversation.

“Hers is better,” he quipped.

Randall then went to retrieve a doctor, leaving Benson and Stabler alone. Confused, Stabler asked what had happened and if he had scared Benson in the aftermath. “No,” she quipped. “Not even a little.”

Stabler asked about Bunny’s condition, to which Benson said she faired the same as Stabler, meaning she was likely unconscious in the children’s ward. He then drifted back to sleep, where he was greeted in his dream-world by Bunny, who gave him a necklace that said “I am a Catholic. In case of accident, call a priest,” and made him promise to save Sad Eyes.

When he woke up, Stabler confronted Theodore and managed to get him to reveal that a man named Lug Nut likely had Sad Eyes.

When Benson returned Stabler’s hospital room, she found Elliot missing from his bed. He was around the corner, changing. “You’re not gonna cuff me are ya?” he said to her.

“Are you kidding me? What are you doing?” an exasperated Benson asked.

Stabler told her he’s doing the exact same thing she’d be doing — trying to find this missing woman named Sad Eyes. “Liv, I know what I’m doing,” he said. “You know me better than anybody! You can’t expect me to lie down on that bed and do nothing! That would kill me.”

“Why?” Benson asked, grabbing Stabler’s face between her hands. “Why? Why you gotta make everything so difficult?”

“You sound like Randall, Liv, I’m going home, and you can either help me out and start your car, or just stand there and watch me get naked,” he said.

With that remark, Benson whirled around, insisting that he could not leave her sight. “Deal,” Stabler agreed.

Together, Benson drove them to OCCB headquarters, and while en route, they discussed the fact that Bunny didn’t make it. Upon arriving, the partners headed right into interrogation, where they questioned the remaining Kingsman brothers, Mark and Steve, about their trafficking operation.

The interrogation led the detectives to a “swap meet” for truckers, where they anticipated Lug Nut would be with Sad Eyes. After Jet located Lug Nut, who nearly killed her in a struggle, she and Stabler found the “workshop” where Lug Nut said Sad Eyes would be. Together, they shot the man holding Sad Eyes hostage, but not before he fired his nail gun at Stabler, landing him — you guessed it — back in the hospital.

In a final scene showing Stabler’s dream-land, he saw Benson sitting on the side of his hospital bed. “What’s the matter?” he asked her, to no response.

“Liv, what’s wrong?” he tried again, but Benson walked out despite him calling after her.

“Liv, don’t leave!” he yelled.

When he finally regained consciousness, Stabler was greeted not by Benson on the side of his bed, but his mother. who expressed her worry for him.

In the end, Bell returned what was found in Stabler’s pocket at the crime scene: a photo of Bunny, along with a tangible version of the necklace she gave him in his dreams, leaving Stabler in the OCCB headquarters with his head in his hands.