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"Mature Content!" |
| “ | I have seen a lot of good people who have lost everything. Thought they had nothing to live for after a loved one's murder. But you got to keep going. | „ |
| ~ Stabler to a grieving father who lost his daughter to a murder. |
| “ | All bravery is, is doing what you gotta do despite being scared to death. | „ |
| ~ Stabler's advice to a new detective |
Detective Elliot "El" Stabler is a deuteragonist of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and the main protagonist of Law & Order: Organized Crime.
He is portrayed by Christopher Meloni.
His Good Ranking[]
What Makes Him Admirable?[]
- He acts as a father figure for child and teenage victims as he gives out guidance, directions, and even consolation to them, thus earning trust and respect from them.
- While it is true that Stabler would violate suspects and defendants' constitutional rights during investigations and interrogations, he always pulls himself together since he has a moral compass and that he has to try to be better.
- He genuinely loves his family to the fullest despite having serious problems, as he dedicated his life to provide everything for his wife Kathy and five children while protecting them from serious harm.
- When he had to pick a choice between becoming an astronaut and pilot like his former idol and mentor Richard "Dick" Finley and taking responsibility as a father before Maureen's birth, he humbly chose the latter as he accepted his role in forming a family along with Kathy.
- Stabler once kept distance from his mother Bernadette Stabler because of her past actions resulted from her bipolar disorder, though he eventually reconciled with her, and he would often communicate with her as her dementia complicates further.
- In the episode "Swing", Stabler had tried to help his bipolar daughter Kathleen Stabler get out of legal consequences as she had stolen a felonious jewelry, though she refused to go to a mental institution as other detectives arrived at the hospital to arrest her, and while Stabler tried to convince her otherwise multiple times, Kathleen deliberately ignored him and went with the other detectives just to spite him. While Stabler gave the jewelry back to the owner so the latter would press charges against Kathleen, he knew it was not only for the best for Kathleen but also it would save her, as she refused to acknowledge her mental condition.
- During the trial of Kathleen, the latter expressed her acknowledgement of her condition as she accepted help, which was something Stabler got surprised with a certain change of heart Kathleen had, and while Benson had indirectly referenced her involvement in Kathleen's rehabilitation, Stabler remained silent and accepted it rather than expressing irritability over a colleague being involved with familiar situations without approval.
- He named his first son (his third child overall) Richard "Dickie" to honor Finley (although in the episode "Lunacy", Finley was later exposed as a murderer, causing Stabler to be angry and disillusioned that his hero had revealed his true colors).
- While Stabler would constantly monitor his children's activities while trying to prevent them from forming friendships with certain people, he genuinely believed that it would be the best for his children as he feared they would fall into wrong paths because of bad influences.
- Despite being briefly separated from Kathy, they both managed to reconcile and remain in marriage for several years before Kathy's death.
- He busted out criminal activities with his former partner Olivia Benson and other colleagues, both at the Special Victims Unit (SVU) and Organized Crime Control Bureau, along with other law enforcement organizations during his overall NYPD career.
- He stands up for the victims, even while he sometimes falls under doubt due to certain conflicting investigations.
- In several cases during his career at SVU, when a suspect or a criminal insults or hits Benson, Stabler would be quick enough to defend her from any further harm, showing how he deeply cares about her.
- Due to that kind of reputation, Benson once told her archnemesis and kidnapper William Lewis that "her old partner" would have known exactly what to do with him (Stabler would be absolutely capable of tearing apart and killing Lewis for what he had done to her, given his personality).
- In the episode "Pandora", Stabler agrees to travel to the Czech Republic to rescue a teenage girl and apprehend her kidnapper and rapist. Even though he was visibly tired from traveling by plane and told by a U.S. Customs attache that resting would not be a first option, Stabler simply stated that he had a job to finish, thus showing his nobility in intending to rescue the girl first.
- In the episode "Futility", after arresting a suspect for violating an order, Stabler picks up his puppy from the sidewalk and takes it with him. He could've left it on the sidewalk but chose not to, knowing that the puppy is not responsible for the crimes of its owner.
- In the episode "Hooked", after an vigilante father of a murdered teenage girl stated that he would not care about what was going to happen to him after losing her and his wife, Stabler sympathetically comforted him as he encouraged him to move on.
- In the episode "Perverted", when the entire law enforcement (except Donald Cragen, John Munch, Fin Tutuola, and Melinda Warner) believed that Benson was responsible for a gruesome murder, Stabler always stood by her side in the entire scenario as he correctly knew she was set up in the beginning.
- Despite being lethal towards shooters, he would feel remorse for having to shoot them at a cross of fire. In his final regular series appearance in the episode "Smoked", Stabler felt severely traumatized and remorseful about having to kill a teenage mass murderer, to the point that he chose to resign off-screen from the NYPD despite being cleared (although he would return to the NYPD six years later).
- Despite resigning from the NYPD, he worked in private security for the next few years, since he wanted to continue to help people and save lives. Additionally, he even went on to work in Rome, Italy as a NYPD liaison detective to bust out mafia and sex trafficking organizations.
- He successfully made amends to Benson on why he had to leave without seeing her again for several years.
- He joined the newly formed Organized Crime Control Bureau to avenge Kathy and to dismantle organized crime syndicates, whether they are local, national, or international.
- In the episode "Not Your Father's Organized Crime", when unidentified masked assailants attempted to abduct his youngest son, Eli Stabler, Jr., Stabler successfully managed to save him by yelling at him to get inside the hotel as he proceeded to fight the men despite being outnumbered until he was outmatched by the combined attacks from the men.
- In the episode "Gimme Shelter - Part One" of Gimme Shelter crossover event, Stabler was at first reluctant to solve a murder case involving a 15-year-old Ukrainian girl because of his attention towards an organized ring, but after hearing Detective Frank Cosgrove's words about the former SVU detective always being there for the victims, he reconsidered as he worked with SVU and Homicide Squad to stop even a greater bomb threat to a NATO conference while getting justice for the girl and his teenage undercover that were murdered by the same Russian thug Mark Sirenko.
- He also saved Cosgrove and Detective Jalen Shaw, along with an innocent bystander, from being shot at by Sirenko as Stabler and the thug fought before the latter put him down.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- Stabler is too lethal to be Near Pure Good. While not a dirty cop, per se, he tends to be an abusive detective due to his frequent assault of suspects and violations of suspects and defendants' constitutional rights.
- He has no problem brutalizing and even almost killing criminals (mainly pedophiles and cold-blooded murderers) in rage despite being given orders not to. While justified given the actions of the exposed criminals, his treatment would go too far for suspects that are not always guilty.
- Stabler is dedicated to his job as a detective, but this dedication occasionally turns into obsession, as he often takes cases personally, affecting his professional judgment. Nonetheless, Stabler has a 97% case closure rate due to his priority of helping victims, so this is a minor prevention.
- Despite being subjected to psychological evaluations, Stabler would sometimes rebuff them as his attitude would grow inconsistent towards others in certain circumstances. (However, in two occasions, Stabler would go to therapy as he felt he had failed everyone he valued and loved, especially his friends, family, and Benson, so this is a minor prevention.)
- He has too many jerkish moments to qualify as NPG, as he is usually not respectful to anyone, not even his friends and colleagues, and harassing and insulting people very often, especially towards criminals and suspects.
- In the episode "Angels", Stabler stated that whoever murdered lawyer-pedophile Bret Jansen gruesomely did him and SVU a "public service". While justified considering how Jansen had brutally mistreated his two "adopted sons", it is still too harsh to say.
- In the episode "Haystack", Stabler severely accused a woman of disappearing and killing her own baby son despite her claims of innocence, and he even took it too far by tipping off an ambitious and ruthless reporter after the discovery of the baby boy's sonogram led him to believe the woman was lying to him. The reporter's harsh interrogational accusations horrifically traumatized the woman to the point she committed suicide afterwards.
- What is worse is that it turned out that her son was not only still alive, but he was being taken good care of and had no signs of injury or abuse. While Stabler did the right thing of publicly denouncing the reporter's libelous accusations and revealing that they had found the boy alive, his notorious actions had permanently left the boy without his mother, who was innocent all along.
- He once admitted that he fantasizes in killing perpetrators (rapists, murderers, pedophiles, etc.), thus almost costing his job.
- While it is understandable that Stabler had to immediately leave the NYPD as a result of a traumatizing officer-involved shooting in "Smoked", it is still too jerkish for him to not bid farewell personally to every one of his colleagues, especially his partner Benson, who fell in tears since he left unannounced (although he would meet some of his former colleagues again in later SVU seasons and OC series, so it is a minor prevention).
Trivia[]
- Stabler is (so far) the only character in Law & Order franchise to be Inconsistently Admirable.
External Links[]
- Elliot Stabler on the Heroes Wiki
- Elliot Stabler on the Law & Order Wiki
- Elliot Stabler on the Law & Order: Organized Crime Wiki