The fiercest, strongest woman you’d ever want in your corner visited Law & Order.
The Law & Order Season 24 Episode 2 Benson crossover featured her at her best: passionate, determined, and unafraid to stand up to people she works with to get justice for a rape survivor.
This version of Benson is unencumbered by the emotional baggage she’s been carrying for the past few years and is much more like the idealistic rookie cop who first graced our screens 25 years ago.
Benson Was Not Afraid To Confront Her Colleagues
The Law & Order Season 24 Episode 2 Benson crossover was unusual in that Benson was on the side of the defense rather than working with the prosecutors.
On several previous occasions, Price or the cops needed her to weigh in on a witness or victim who had been sexually assaulted, but not this time.
This story was most similar to Law & Order: SVU Season 6 Episode 8, which involved Benson and Stabler passionately disagreeing about a rape case.
Then, as now, Benson was passionate, firm, and determined to get justice for a victim.
That’s the Benson fans fell in love with, and we need more of her!
Although Benson can be like that on Law & Order: SVU, in recent years, the series has focused on her mental health issues.
I know those stories are important. As an advocate for people with mental health conditions, I’m thrilled for accurate representation on TV and for the focus on vicarious trauma, which is not discussed enough.
However, it’s gone too far in that direction.
The character and show lose something when Benson is too close to unraveling rather than continuing to do her job while learning to set boundaries and take better care of herself.
Benson Put Getting Justice Above Her Professional Relationships
One of the best things about the Law & Order Season 24 Episode 2 Benson crossover is that Benson didn’t give a damn what it would do to her professional relationships to stand up for this victim.
Pissed Off Benson is the best Benson. She’s willing to do whatever it takes for social justice.
That was missing on Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 1, when Benson didn’t fight very hard against the higher-ups who wanted to squash the prosecution of some anti-cop protesters because they thought it would look bad.
That might have been because she was saving all her energy for the fight ahead! Benson was at her most badass female self during this story.
She started the Law & Order Season 24 Episode 2 Benson crossover by going through the proper channels, appealing to both the cops and the prosecutors to consider the circumstances of Laura’s crime before proceeding with the case.
But when that didn’t work, she didn’t give up. She fought twice as hard.
Benson’s willingness to fight for survivors is practically a TV trope, but it’s also the thing I love best about her.
She is the fierce protector I wish I had been able to turn to in high school when I was getting unwanted physical contact with a group of cisgender boys who never faced any consequences for their actions.
Benson has always been the hero survivors need, but Law & Order: SVU Season 25 mostly took her away from us, replacing her with this person who was obsessed with Maddie Flynn and in need of emergency therapy.
She’s slowly becoming herself again on SVU, but she was all the way there on the Law & Order Season 24 Episode 2 Benson crossover.
My favorite moment was when “someone” leaked to the press that DNA from rape kits was being used for other purposes without their consent, and Benson’s comment was, “I wonder who did that.”
Price was pissed. Too bad, so sad.
Maybe he shouldn’t have used DNA provided in order to catch a rapist to facilitate the arrest of a victim.
What Will Happen To SVU’s Relationship With Homicide After The Law & Order Season 24 Episode 2 Benson Crossover?
I loved Benson’s take-no-prisoners attitude. She did whatever she had to, at the expense of her relationship with Price and perhaps everyone else involved in the case.
Still, there are bound to be consequences. After all, she did break several people’s trust by leaking the news about the DNA issue.
I’m sure she will not be sorry about what she did. She was working for the greater good. But this could still come back to bite her on the butt.
This is especially interesting considering the newest member of the Law & Order: SVU Season 26 cast is a recent transplant from the Homicide Unit who won’t talk about the reasons she changed jobs.
Benson might need some insight from Jessica Brady about that, and she may not get it because of her choices here.
That doesn’t change how I feel about the way she acted on the Law & Order Season 24 Episode 2 Benson crossover, though.
If anything, that makes her choices even more admirable.
She knew that leaking info to the press, testifying for the defense, and going to Baxter to try to secure a plea deal that Price didn’t want to make would turn friends into enemies, but she did those things anyway because she knew they were the right thing to do.
In that way, she was similar to Blue Bloods‘ Frank Reagan, putting her value system above everything, including political considerations.
Over to you, fellow Benson fans.
What did you think of the Law & Order Season 24 Episode 2 Benson crossover? What fallout are you expecting from Benson’s choices?
Hit the comments and let us know!
Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU air on Thursdays on NBC starting at 8/7c and on Peacock on Fridays
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