“Law & Order: SVU” just brought fans a reunion marked by tragedy.
SPOILERS FOR “LAW & ORDER: SVU” BELOW!
On Thursday’s big-event episode, Christopher Meloni’s Detective Stabler returned to the show, reuniting with Mariska Hargitay’s Benson, for an episode setting up the new spinoff “Law & Order: Organized Crime”.
Fans had been anticipating Stabler’s return for a long time but were not prepared for the shocking death that would come along with it.
In the episode, Benson is called to the scene of a car bombing, only to discover the victim is Stabler’s wife Kathy. While she initially survives, at the hospital her spleen ruptures and she dies before surgeons can save her.
As we learn, Stabler has been living in Italy as an NYPD terrorist task-force liaison and had come back to New York to testify in a case, hoping to surprise Benson while he was there.
After first suspecting a right-wing terrorist in the bombing, evidence suggests another plot entirely, in which Stabler himself was the intended target of an organized-crime hit.
The episode ended, leading right into the series premiere of Meloni’s “Organized Crime” spinoff.
