'Law & Order: SVU' Hits 600 Episodes; Dick Wolf Says It Won't Happen Again

By Daniel Okafor

"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" aired its 600th episode Thursday night on NBC. Dick Wolf told the cast and crew at a wrap party exactly what that means: "This has never happened, and it will never happen again."

He's probably right. Prime time treats 100 episodes as a career achievement these days. Six hundred is another sport entirely.

Mariska Hargitay, who has played Captain Olivia Benson since the Universal Television series debuted in 1999, admits she never saw it coming. Wolf did, she says. She laid that out in a speech at the dinner Wolf hosted after the milestone wrapped, with current cast, crew, Wolf COO Peter Jankowski and Christopher Meloni in the room.

"It really doesn't feel totally real, which, in a way, is exactly how it should feel, because it's as if we all get to live in this dream of what you thought might be possible someday," Hargitay told Wolf. "You've shown that it's not only possible, but it's so much better than anyone could have imagined."

What did Hargitay say about the show's longevity?

She anticipated the skeptics and answered them in one breath. "If somebody told me that there was a show that's been on the air for 600 episodes, I would say, 'Really?' That's got to be tired. It's got to be wheezing along. Must be running on fumes, or they're catering to some mindless audience that just keeps coming back for some unknown reason," she said. "But here we are with a show that is healthy, that's muscular, that's fresh, smart, honest, and just so damn important."

She continued: "They keep coming back because you started something very special that we've all had the great privilege of carrying forward for all these years."

The word "family" gets abused in press releases. Hargitay isn't having the cynicism. "People throw around the word 'family,'" she says — then defends it. "To like them, to love them… I go to work and we hug, and it's real. It feels like you're going to a good dinner party when you go to work on Monday."

What happened in the 600th episode?

Showrunner Michele Fazekas wrote it; Brenna Malloy directed it. Jury consultant Gwen Sharpe, played by J. Smith-Cameron, persuades Benson to revisit an old case that put a man in prison for a 1998 rape and murder. Benson then realizes she worked that case with Stabler — Meloni's character, back in the fold.

He hesitates. He failed to follow leads that could have surfaced the truth, and he cut Benson out of the interrogation. He joins her anyway, and the two hit the road to put the right person behind bars.

Captain Renee Curry objects: "With respect, Captain, he's not your partner anymore. You don't need his buy-in." Fin, played by Ice-T, delivers the episode's thesis: "It doesn't matter. Some partnerships don't end, even when they do."

The case stirs old wounds. Benson tells Stabler directly: "I let you shut me out… I have to live with the fact that I didn't do the right thing because I was new, that I didn't follow my instinct because I thought you knew better."

For the first time with him, she uses her voice fully — and discovers how much both of them have changed. That, the episode argues, is fine. The partnership is permanent.

How did the production itself run long?

By nearly 12 minutes, Hargitay says. "This was a big one. We were writing and rewriting and playing, and we had to shoot some scenes before we knew exactly what a scene was going to be, so there were a lot of different ways it could go. But it's an embarrassment of riches."

She also credits the set itself. Guest stars compliment the environment when they arrive and leave. "People are happy to be there," she says. "I love making a space where people feel safe enough to try, to risk, to play, and to hunker down, and know that we're not playing around here. This is someone's life. This is serious, and these are important stories. I'm so grateful."

Wolf's verdict — never again — doubles as a challenge. Episode 601 is already the reply.