Critic’s Rating: 4.8 / 5.0
4.8
Benson doesn’t often deal with homicides.
The intense Law & Order crossover with Law & Order: SVU was an exception, but that made sense because there’d be no reason to involve Brady if there wasn’t a murder.
Still, did it have to be THAT victim?
Maria’s Death Made It Feel Pointless To Have Brought Her Back
I get that the 2025 Law & Order crossover needed Benson to have a personal connection to the victim to fuel the story.
However, it felt pointless to bring this character back after 20 years if the only glimpses we’d ever have of her were her graduation from the police academy and one scene before she died.
I always wondered why SVU brought Maria back in the first place. Her story on Law & Order: SVU Season 7 Episode 3 was iconic, but we didn’t need to know her future.
Plus, she returned while Benson was in the middle of that obsession with Maddie Flynn, making me worry that Benson would switch her hyperfocus to the adult version of Maria.
And now she’s dead.
Why turn one of Benson’s most heroic stories — the rescue of a little girl that everyone in the squad room thought was a prank caller — into this tragedy?
Of course, many murders are cruel and senseless, and bringing Maria back only to kill her off hammered that point home.
Still, there had to have been another way to bring Benson into a case with the homicide detectives that didn’t undo what she had done for Maria during “911.”
This unnecessary death came close to being the fridging trope, in which a female character is killed solely for plot purposes — usually to give the hero a purposeful quest.
SVU does not want to do this. The fridging trope suggests that female characters are disposable, which undermines SVU’s core message.
That said, Benson did fight as hard for justice for Maria as she once fought to save her, so in a way, “Playing With Fire” bookended “911.”
Benson and Brady’s Conflict Began Because Of Brady’s Lack Of Understanding Of Trauma
The scene where Benson kicked Brady out of the interrogation room—and Brady took offense at it—perfectly illustrated the issue of trauma colliding with law enforcement’s need to close cases.
Ana was traumatized by the entire sequence of events that led up to Maria’s death, in addition to having narrowly escaped an ICE raid. Brady coming at her as if she were a suspect rather than a scared witness was only going to make it harder for her to tell the cops anything.
The difference between Benson’s trauma-informed approach and Brady’s case-closing one was extremely clear in that scene.
Unfortunately, Benson’s approach wasn’t enough to keep Ana from running away, most likely because Gomez got to her somehow, resulting in Ana’s death.
I couldn’t help wondering if Brady felt partially responsible and that was why she and Benson continued to butt heads.
Brady was already feeling guilty about continually discovering her theories were wrong so that she was no closer to answers about Rosa’s death than before, so Ana’s demise probably made it worse.
The later argument she caused by telling Benson to back off during interrogation felt petty to me, as if she were interfering with Benson’s interrogation methods because Benson had interfered with hers.
Still, Benson did her best imitation of Stabler in that interrogation room, so I couldn’t blame Brady for trying to rein her in.
Carisi’s Concern During The 2025 Law & Order Crossover Was Hypocritical
All of the discussion about Benson being too emotional to see this case clearly aggravated me.
Benson is far from a rookie detective. This woman has 25 years of experience under her belt and has gone through years of therapy to help her manage her PTSD.
Yes, she sometimes gets overzealous, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that these other characters were pushing her to recuse herself because she was a woman, whereas no one would question a man’s ability to separate his feelings from his ability to do a tough job.
Carisi’s insistence that Benson was reacting emotionally was the worst, most hypocritical, though.
His Law & Order: SVU Season 26 arc has been about him being too emotional to be objective.
Even before the hostage situation, he was reacting out of pure fear for his daughters because of all the trauma he’d witnessed on the job.
Gomez’s threat against Noah was far more credible and immediate than the threat he thought that guy on the street posed to Jessie when he stalked him with the hope of proving he was a criminal, so what right does he have to criticize Benson for being emotional?
I was glad Benson stood firm against recusal. Her behavior didn’t rise to that level, and she didn’t deserve to be treated like that.
It Was Obvious It Was Gomez, But Solving The Case Wasn’t The Point
I pegged Gomez as the rapist and killer soon after he was introduced.
His explanation for why he fought with Maria was plausible, but Ana’s disappearance and getting killed soon after crossing paths with him in the police station wasn’t.
It’s like yelling into the void sometimes — so if you’re out there, holler back.
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I’m disappointed that Stabler was so misused in this investigation, though.
Gomez’s plan was so complicated that Stabler’s skills as a detective familiar with Organized Crime cases could have been better used than a brief cameo to threaten Gomez’s henchman.
The case wasn’t all that different from the one on Law & Order: Organized Crime’s season premiere, either — they both involved the trafficking, disappearance, and murder of vulnerable girls and women — so they could have, and should have, made Organized Crime part of the 2025 Law & Order crossover event.
Incidentally, while it was great to catch up with Noah for a minute, that kidnapping scenario made no sense. Noah is old enough to know not to get in a car with strangers and too old for his mother to be picking him up at school.
In Some Ways, The 2025 Law & Order Crossover Was A Rerun Of A Previous Story
When Benson last visited the Homicide Unit on Law & Order Season 24 Episode 2, she butted heads with the prosecutors because she wanted to protect a rape victim and they wanted to extract testimony from her.
Then, as now, she couldn’t get on the same page with the team because they didn’t make protecting survivors their priority.
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Additionally, the story featured Rita Calhoun — and neither one of these Law & Order Season 24 stories addressed the tension between Benson and Calhoun that stemmed from Calhoun becoming a defense attorney who specializes in helping rapists beat the charges against them.
Calhoun went from bad to worse.
Her overzealous defense of her guilty client included objecting to the answers to questions she asked when she didn’t like what the witness had to say!
I love Elizabeth Marvel, but if all we’re going to get of Calhoun is her being an unethical lawyer, I’ll pass on any more appearances.
She needs to have another uncomfortable conversation with Benson. There is no point in bringing her back if Law & Order: SVU is just going to ignore the problems between these two women.
Your Turn, Law & Order Fanatics
Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
Say something in the comments, share if you’re moved to, and vote in our poll to rank the episode. Independent voices need readers like you.
I’d especially love to know whether you felt Maria’s death was justified or if anyone else was as annoyed with Carisi’s hypocrisy as I was.
Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU air on NBC on Thursdays starting at 8/7c and stream on Peacock on Fridays.
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