Elliot Stabler

Det. Elliot Stabler
Law & Order character
First appearance	Payback
Last appearance	Smoked
Portrayed by	Christopher Meloni
Time on show	1999–2011
Partner	Olivia Benson Dani Beck (temporary)
Information
Title	NYPD Detective
Family	Wife: Kathy Children: Maureen, Kathleen, Richard "Dickie", Elizabeth "Lizzie", Elliot "Eli" Jr. Parents: Joseph (deceased) and Bernadette Sibings: Unkown

Det. Elliot "El" Stabler is a fictional character on the TV crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Christopher Meloni. He was the partner of Olivia Benson before retiring, following a shooting.

Character overview

Stabler was a NYPD detective with Manhattan's 16th Precinct, which investigates sex crimes. His partner for over 12 years was Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). Stabler was dedicated to his job, but this dedication occasionally turned into obsession; he often took cases personally, thus affecting his judgement. Nonetheless, Stabler had a 97 percent case closure rate.^[1]

Stabler lives at 72-12 Castleside Street in the Glen Oaks section of Queens with his wife and five children (Maureen, Kathleen Louise, Richard "Dickie", Elizabeth "Lizzie" and Elliot "Eli" Jr.). He is a devout Catholic whose faith sometimes complicates the cases he works on. In the episode "Annihilated", it is suggested that he was a hand-to-hand combat specialist while he served in the United States Marine Corps. Elliot is a Desert Storm veteran. He also has two tattoos, notably the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor tattoo on his forearm, the official emblem of the Marine Corps, and the crucifixion of Christ on his left biceps. Stabler's birthday is October 20, 1966, as established in Season 6's "Contagious". Stabler's badge number is 6313.^[2] In the Season 12 episode "Penetration", he is shot once again during a case involving undercover FBI agent Dana Lewis (Marcia Gay Harden), making it the third time he was injured while on a case involving her.

In the season 12 finale, Stabler was forced to shoot and kill a young woman who fires shots in the Special Victims squad room. Before dying in Stabler's arms, she managed to kill two suspects involved in the rape and murder of her mother and injure a third. Also killed by her is recurring character, Sister Peg (Charlayne Woodard) although it is unclear if this was intentional. ^[3] After the shootout Elliot was placed on administrative leave.^[4] Although he was eventually cleared of the shooting, he still chose to leave the police force, as he still feels remorse for killing the girl.

Family

Stabler is devoted to his family and frequently mentions or thinks about them while working cases. He married his wife, Kathy when they were both 17 years old, and in the beginning of the series they have four school-aged children: Maureen,^[5] Kathleen Louise,^[6] and twins Richard ("Dickie") and Elizabeth ("Lizzie").^[7] After years of the stress involved with being married to a police officer, Kathy Stabler leaves her husband, taking their children and temporarily moving in with her mother.^[8] Stabler later signs the divorce papers, saying, "When love warps to hate, there's nothing you won't do". He did not believe that had happened yet, but realized it would, and he did not want Kathy to regret him. However, after being cleared in the death of a suspect, Stabler realizes that he can't bear to lose either his job or his family and seeks reconciliation with his wife.^[9] A short time later, Kathy announces that she is pregnant and asks Stabler to come home.^[10] After a serious car accident, Kathy delivers a healthy baby boy, Elliot Stabler, Jr (Eli).^[11]

Of his five children, Kathleen and Dickie have most directly affected his job. Kathleen is twice arrested for DUI;^[10] he uses his clout as a police officer to make the first charge disappear, but he eventually realizes that he has to let her face the consequences of her actions, and she is sentenced to community service.^[12] Kathleen then steals her father's credit card and gives it to her boyfriend, who rings up thousands of dollars in charges.^[13] She is later arrested for breaking and entering and robbery, at which time doctors and her family realize that she suffers from bipolar disorder, which she inherited from her paternal grandmother, Bernadette Stabler (Ellen Burstyn). After speaking with her grandmother, Kathleen agrees to treatment.^[14] In the episode "Turmoil", Dickie is nowhere to be found after a fight at school. It is later revealed he is trying to join the army, something Stabler disapproves of. It later turns out that Dickie's friend, Shane, has been murdered.

Stabler is fiercely protective of his children and becomes defensive if a suspect asks about his family. In the episode "Tragedy", he reveals he helped deliver all of his children to that point; it it thus suggested that he sees aspects of them in every abused child. As a result, he harbors an intense hatred for pedophiles, admitting in the episode "Slaves" that he sometimes fantasizes about killing them; he almost loses his job as a result. Stabler has occasionally seen aspects of himself in a child abuser, as in the episode "Shaken", when an abusive parent reminds him of an incident in which he lost his temper and slapped his daughter Maureen, then a toddler. While he restrained himself from hurting her further, he was frightened by his loss of control. In the episode "Confession", he beats up a pedophile (Tom Noonan) who posts a picture of Elizabeth on his website.

Victims tend to respond to him. In the episode "Resilience", Stabler successfully reaches out to a 15-year-old girl (Rachael Bella) who regresses to a child-like state after being attacked by her father. SVU's resident psychiatrist, Dr George Huang (B.D. Wong), theorizes that only Stabler would be able to reach her, as he is a father, and she is looking for another father figure.

Stabler rarely talks about his childhood. It is implied that his father, Joseph, also a police officer, was abusive.^[15] His mother, Bernadette (née) McGinley,^[16] suffers from bipolar disorder, and once nearly killed her son during a manic phase. As a result, Stabler has "erased his childhood", and maintains little contact with his mother.^[14]

In the 12th season episode "Gray" Stabler attends a rally, in which Kathleen is involved, that provides rape awareness to the college campus; much to his own surprise, he is listed as a guest speaker. Seconds after he is introduced, an adolescent woman comes running into the rally accusing out loud that a man (who is running behind her as well) has raped her. Stabler has no other option than to arrest the man at the rally. As the investigation continues, Stabler finds out Kathleen was the rape victim's "Designated Buddy" the night the victim was raped. She then provides her father a confidential report on the accused rapist for a prior incident.

Partners

Olivia Benson

Stabler's partner was Olivia Benson. Their relationship was friendly and supportive, but not without friction. The two sometimes argued over the cases they work on; Benson was quicker to side with the victims, while Stabler was more impartial. In the season 3 episode "Ridicule", where three women are charged with raping a male stripper, Benson and ADA Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) are quick to come to the man's aid, while Stabler takes a cynical view of his claim from the start.

Benson and Stabler were separated at times during the show. In the episode "Fault", she asked for a new partner after Stabler expected her to jeopardize his life to shoot a convicted sex offender (Lou Diamond Phillips) who had kidnapped two children. Instead she was briefly reassigned to Computer Crimes in the season 7 episode "Fat", and replaced by a Queens SVU detective, Lucius Blaine (Anthony Anderson). Benson returned to SVU in the next episode, "Web". In the season 8 premiere "Informed", Benson teamed up with an FBI agent and eventually goes undercover in Oregon to infiltrate an eco-terrorist group.

Dani Beck

Stabler was assigned a temporary partner named Dani Beck (Connie Nielsen) while Benson was on loan to the FBI in Season 8. Beck seemed to be working out well until she realized that she would not be able to fix things working as a detective. Stabler and Beck shared a kiss outside of her car in celebration of arresting a pimp who dealt in underage girls but it led to nothing more. It was suggested that Olivia did not like Dani because Dani and Elliot were acting very friendly in the squad although neither Dani or Elliot knew she was there. Kathy also hinted that she did not like Dani "the stunner".

Jo Marlowe

Jo Marlowe (played by Sharon Stone) was Elliot Stabler's training officer. She was appointed by Jack McCoy to be the new ADA for the SVU Squad during a four episode run in Season 11. Stabler said he had not seen her for 15 years when she arrived to be the SVU ADA. According to Capt. Cragen in "Ace", Marlowe had been a Lieutenant in 1995 when she left the NYPD after her command decision resulted in the deaths of two of her officers. In the episode "Shattered", she reveals that she was diagnosed with an "aggressive" type of breast cancer and had a bilateral radical mastectomy a year before joining the SVU squad.

References

1. ^ "Haystack". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. NBC. February 20, 2007. No. 15, season 8.
2. ^ "Ripped". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. NBC. October 11, 2005. No. 4, season 7.
3. ^ "Smoked". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. NBC. May 18, 2011. No. 24, season 12.
4. ^ "Mega Buzz: Tiva Time on NCIS? Plus: Fringe's Future and Stabler's SVU Exit". TV Guide. August 30, 2011. http://www.tvguide.com/News/Mega-Buzz-NCIS-Fringe-SVU-1036910.aspx. 
5. ^ Maureen is said to be 15 in episode "Wrong Is Right". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. October 20, 2000. No. 1, season 2.
6. ^ Kathleen is said to be 19 in episode "Swing". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. October 14, 2008. No. 3, season 10.
7. ^ Lizzie is said to be 15 in episode "Confession". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. September 30, 2008. No. 2, season 10.
8. ^ "Doubt". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. November 23, 2004. No. 8, season 6.
9. ^ "Dependant". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. February 13, 2007. No. 14, season 8.
10. ^ ^{a b} "Screwed". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. May 22, 2007. No. 22, season 8.
11. ^ "Paternity". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. November 27, 2007. No. 9, season 9.
12. ^ "Alternate". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. September 25, 2007. No. 1, season 9.
13. ^ "Trials". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. September 23, 2008. No. 1, season 10.
14. ^ ^{a b} "Swing". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. October 14, 2008. No. 3, season 10.
15. ^ "Ripped". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. October 11, 2005. No. 4, season 7.
16. ^ "Intoxicated". Law & Order: SVU. NBC. March 15, 2005. No. 19, season 6.

Persondata
Name	Stabler, Elliot
Alternative names
Short description	Fictional character on Law and order
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