One of the longest-running and our all-time favorite crime drama series Law and Order: Special Victims Unit or SVU, from Dick Wolf Law and Order Franchise, has its final episode aired on the 19th of May 2022.

The SVU with a total of 23 seasons aired its last episode 22, A Final Call At Forlini’s Bar, on Thursday 19th May, and gave us some new hints to look forward to its next season 24 which will supposedly be returning in fall 2022.

So, what is the cliffhanger of this last episode and why must we be looking forward to knowing more about it in the next season, let’s get some spoilers to know what happened.

“Law and Order SVU”: Olivia Benson’s Relationship

 

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The SVU is the spin-off of its original series Law and Order, which aired in 1990 and SVU started airing from 1999 till the present. This thriller crime drama focuses on helping and protecting the victims of various crime cases under the Special Victims Unit of the crime department.

The series’ main character is Captain Olivia Benson played by Mariska Hargitay who is the detective and the main commanding officer of the SVU. In the series, another main character is Officer Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), who was the main Captain of the SVU in the beginning, and Benson was his partner but he left the SVU in the 12th season, promoting her as the Captain.

Then in the 14th season of the series we were introduced to the character Rafael Barba the assistant district Attorney played by Raul Esparza, who worked together with the SVU and became good friends with the SVU Captain Olivia Benson.

The series mostly deals with various stories and events related to various crime cases coming to the SVU and how they solve the cases and behold the mystery but it does show us the main characters’ personal life drama and their various relationships with others.

As far as we know there is always a spark of romance between the two main characters Benson and Stabler. Well, we were not sure of Stabler’s feelings for Benson as he was married and has kids but we do know Benson’s feeling for him is more than just being SVU partners.

In the latter part of the series when Stabler made his appearance when he lost his wife, we have seen Benson and him getting much closer as he relies on her after the death of his wife and somehow he shows his love to Benson and we can see the possible spark of romance between them in the future.

What Happened between Olivia and Barba?

Now coming to the season 23rd final episode of the series A Final Call At Forlini’s Bar, we are now hoping for something more between Olivia Benson and Rafael Barba, so what really happened between them?

The episode shows us Attorney Barba dealing with a murder case involving a domestic violence victim who killed her husband, working together with detective Amanda Rollins of the SVU. But Benson didn’t speak to Barba the whole time throughout the case and the reason is the trouble and disagreement they had when Barba defended Wheatley in opposition to Benson’s disagreement.

They have been close friends as colleagues and were always respectful of one another but since that disagreement, Benson stopped speaking to him making their relationship shaky.

But in the ending of the final episode, Benson meets with Barba at the Forlini, after the closing of the case, and guess what, their short farewell meeting has made us wonder much new hope for Olivia and Barba’s relationship to turn into something else.

Is it a New Possible Romance? Don’t use so many direct conversations.

 

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Their conversation starts with Benson thanking him for what he did for Delia, and the two talks about Delia’s present life and how she is living a better life now, to which he said “unlike the two of us.” then their relationship conversation begins

Barba: I don’t get… why you are angrier at me than you ever let yourself feel toward Stabler.

Benson: You don’t know anything about my feelings for Elliot, and you don’t know him. I have known him for 23 years, and he’s always had my back.

They keep talking about Stabler and Benson’s relationship and then Benson changes the topic, saying this is not about Stabler, but about them and about how he betrayed her by defending Wheatley.

Then Barba responded that he got it, why she is like this and that this is what you do when you love someone unconditionally.

Benson tells him that he doesn’t know her feelings. But Barba said that, if this is the case, then he knows how it feels to love someone unconditionally. He ends the conversation by saying,

“When you’re ready to stop feeling betrayed by me, I’ll be here.”

Then both of them end their conversation and are ready to go their separate way and then,

Benson: Rafa.

Barba: What?

Benson: I miss you too.

And the episode ends with it. So what do you think, will there be some new budding romance between these two or are you expecting it to be Benson and Stabler? We are yet to know more and we will be waiting for the next season to unfold this love mystery.