‘Law & Order: SVU’ Reveals Stabler Family Member Death in ‘Organized Crime’ Crossover

After more than a month off, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit returned this week with a crossover event fans have waited on for years. Thursday night’s episode, “Return of the Prodigal Son,” which you can watch for free with a Hulu trial, had to carry a lot of weight in its 60 minutes, as it marked Christopher Meloni‘s first appearance as Elliot Stabler. The first meeting between Stabler and Mariska Hargitay‘s Olivia Benson, now the SVU captain, came before the main titles and revealed right away that Stabler’s family is in serious danger. The episode also revealed which member of the Stabler family died, leaving Stabler inspired to stay in New York City.

The episode began with Benson arriving at a car bombing and quickly realizing the victim was Kathy (Isabel Gillies), Stabler’s wife. Liv turned to find Stabler standing right there. “They tried to kill Kathy,” was all Stabler could say. It turns out Stabler has been working for the NYPD abroad as a terrorist task force liaison in Italy. He came back to New York, and the team suspects a right-wing extremist for the bombing. Benson allowed Stabler to question the suspect, which turned out to go as well as they used to do. Stabler rushed to the suspect, who was baiting him.

Later, Stabler and Benson got into an argument, which was interrupted when his children told him that Kathy was awake. Carisi (Peter Scanavino) believes Stabler couldn’t be working closely on the case. Benson then rushed to the hospital, where Kathy said it seemed like “old times.” Benson and Stabler really have not spoken in 10 years and Stabler kept apologizing for not contacting her. He didn’t even tell her he was back on the force. Benson was clearly frustrated by him just leaving all those years ago without saying goodbye. “I was afraid… If I heard your voice. I wouldn’t be able to leave,” Stabler said.

The conversation was cut short by a phone call from Garland (Demore Barnes), who was shocked by Stabler’s record. Garland told Benson that Stabler’s old behavior would not be accepted in his squad room. She said she understood. Meanwhile, Kat (Jamie Gray Hyder) and Fin continued investigating the bomb. They discovered it was more like an international device than a home-grown explosive. That means the right-wing protester interviewed before wasn’t responsible.

That night, Fin and Stabler had drinks to talk about what’s been going on in the past decade. Fin suggested the bomb might be connected to Stabler’s terrorism task force work. Everyone then went back to the hospital, where Kathy had a cardiac arrest, which she survived. Later, Benson told Kat and Rollins (Kelli Giddish) that Stabler was working on organized crime, anti-terrorism, and sex trafficking cases. That didn’t really help narrow things down. It’s beginning to look like Stabler was the target. DNA on the key trigger brought them to a young man named Sacha Lesnki. Stabler wanted a shot at interrogating Lesnki, but Benson told him to just stick by Kathy’s side.

Carisi began realizing Lesnki was just a hired hand. But just before Lenski was about to squeal though, a high-powered defense attorney walked in. When Carisi delivered the bad news, there was a phone call and Liv rushed to the hospital to see Stabler staring at an empty emergency room. It appeared Kathy died, and Stabler began crying in Liv’s arms. Kathy’s spleen ruptured and the doctors could not save her in time. Stabler refused to let Liv tell his children about Kathy’s death.

Meanwhile, Fin and Carisi came up with the idea of removing Lenski from Riker’s. Fin and Kat found Lenski dead in his cell, and it was made to look like an overdose. Benson ordered Carisi and Stabler to find out who killed their suspect. There’s an invisible hand at work behind the scenes. At the end of the episode, Garland told Benson she had to step aside and the Intelligence Unit will take over. The episode ended with Stabler hugging his children in the precinct church, with Benson looking on. This all segued into Stabler storming into a courthouse, where he told the two men he was testifying against that they were “dead men” for what they did.

“Return of the Prodigal Son” led right into Meloni’s own Law & Order spinoff, Law & Order: Organized Crime. After the personal tragedy that unfolded in the SVU episode, Stabler decided to direct his energy to rejoin the NYPD at home. He was assigned to lead a task force investigating crime syndicates. SVU airs at 9 p.m. ET, with Organized Crime following at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. Watch the episode at Hulu with a free trial.