NBC’s Law & Order Thursdays are back in the fall 2025 TV schedule, with the original series kicking off Season 25 with an unceremonious cast exit and SVU killing off a beloved character to start Season 27. This year, Organized Crime is back in primetime despite making the move to streaming for viewers with a Peacock subscription earlier this year. NBC is airing an F-bomb-free version of Season 5 on Thursday nights, and any fans who loved Christopher Meloni’s appearance in SVU’s premiere won’t want to miss the next episode of OC that will air with Mariska Hargitay as a guest star.
Christopher Meloni’s SVU Ad-Lib
The one perk of SVU’s premiere killing off Dann Florek’s Captain Don Cragen (who had been in the franchise going back to Law & Order’s pilot) was that it led to some reunions from classic seasons of the show. BD Wong was back as Dr. George Huang, Dean Winters reprised his role as Brian Cassidy, and Christopher Meloni made his long-awaited return to share the screen with Mariska Hargitay as the Stabler to her Benson.
Benson and Stabler shared a bittersweet moment outside of Cragen’s memorial gathering, reflecting on their years working together when he was their captain. It was exactly the kind of comfortable interaction that I was missing between the former partners during all the tension of the first few seasons following his return to NYC. The scene ended with Stabler dropping a “Love you” on Benson, in a much more appropriate setting than the first time he did it, before she drove away.
And as it turns out, fans have Christopher Meloni to thank for that moment. On X (formerly known as Twitter), the actor responded to a fan asking for a comment on the “Love you” by revealing that it was an “Ad lib” that “Made the cut.”
As somebody who loves when Meloni and Mariska Hargitay share the screen but definitely doesn’t need a romance out of their characters, the ad lib really worked for me, and reminded me of the last time that I’d seen the duo on screen together on Organized Crime.
Mariska Hargitay’s Episode Of Organized Crime Season 5
Now, I won’t spoil the events of Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 here for any who are watching for the first time on NBC rather than streamed it on Peacock over the summer, but Mariska Hargitay’s guest appearance was highly hyped ahead of time. As NBC viewers recently saw with the Season 5 premiere, Stabler ended the episode in a car crash, and the promo afterward showed that he 1) ends up in the hospital and 2) is not happy to be in the hospital.
And of course, Mariska Hargitay appears as Olivia Benson. Without getting into big spoilers, I’ll say that Benson and Stabler’s interactions in this episode of Organized Crime might be my favorites from any of the years since Meloni returned to the Law & Order world in 2021. And that's despite my soft spot for their relationship in SVU’s Season 24 finale! It also delivers something that I’ve wanted for a long time: Benson meeting one of Stabler’s brothers.
Basically, if you enjoyed Christopher Meloni adding a "Love you” to the SVU Season 27 premiere, I think you’ll enjoy seeing how Benson and Stabler interact in the second episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime, which will air on NBC on Thursday, October 2 at 10 p.m. ET. If you’d rather see it sooner, you can find it streaming on Peacock now. (If you’ve already seen it, check out what Dean Norris told us about one of my favorite scenes.)
