History Fridge / LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit

* In "Hothouse", the VictimOfTheWeek is a math prodigy named Elsa who was the top student at her elite prep school, Morewood Academy, and the culprit is her rival Jennifer, who hated her because she couldn't outscore her on tests. The two girls were bitter rivals who absolutely loathed each other, with Jennifer describing Elsa as an InsufferableGenius who wouldn't even give her the time of day. We also find out that Elsa's father put her through TrainingFromHell from a very young age to make her a genius, abused her regularly and forced her to enter math competitions for the prize money to cover his gambling debts. Growing up, Elsa probably never had time to make friends or develop social skills, which would have made her come across as insufferable to Jennifer, on top of all the pressure that was already being put on both of them to succeed.

* In "Hothouse", the VictimOfTheWeek is a math prodigy named Elsa who was the top student at her elite prep school, Morewood Academy, and the culprit is her rival Jennifer, who hated her because she couldn't outscore her on tests. The two girls were bitter rivals who absolutely loathed each other, with Jennifer describing Elsa as an InsufferableGenius who wouldn't even give her the time of day. We also find out that Elsa's father put her through TrainingFromHell from a young age to make her a genius, abused her regularly and forced her to enter math competitions for the prize money to cove his gambling debts. Growing up, Elsa probably never had time to make friends or develop social skills, which would have made her come across as insufferable to Jennifer, on top of all the pressure that was already being put on both of them to succeed.

* In "Hothouse", the VictimOfTheWeek is a math prodigy named Elsa who was the top student at her elite prep school, Morewood Academy, and the culprit is her rival Jennifer, who hated her because she couldn't outscore her on tests. The two girls were bitter rivals who absolutely loathed each other, with Jennifer describing Elsa as an InsufferableGenius who wouldn't even give her the time of day. We also find out that Elsa's father put her through TrainingFromHell from a young age to make her a genius, abused her regularly and forced her to enter math competitions for the prize money to cove his gambling debts. Growing up, Elsa probably never had time for friends and likely never developed any social skills, which would have made her come across as insufferable to Jennifer.

** The couple probably had some kind of system to tell them which was which (like "the ones on the left are real formula, the ones on the right are the product"), so they wouldn't have made the mistake, but the housekeeper did because she had no way of knowing that not all of the formula was safe. As for why they kept it all in the same general area, if they were having housekeepers and the like in, they probably wanted to avoid anything that could remotely make someone ask questions.

** Also, when Olivia interviews the "mom", she indicates the police called her ahead of time, presumably to make sure she was warned as soon as possible. It's possible that they did keep the real and fake cans separate usually, but put them together specifically in anticipation of the cops' arrival so that it wouldn't look suspicious.

* From waaaay back in the series, the "Your ''Jew''?" scene. When Fin says "Then I'd be ''your boy'', John!", he's not just reiterating the validity of his own methods (basically improvised undercover), but making a pun ''and'' a joke on Munch being an old fart. Munch is using "my boy" as a particularly old-fashioned racist epithet, but in a modern context, your boy is your best friend. Of ''course'' Fin wouldn't object, it's only offensive if you're older than dirt.

* In "Risk," an infant dies after being fed liquid cocaine hidden in a liquid baby formula can. The baby's mother stole it from the couple she cleans for, who reportedly have a four-month-old baby themselves. Turns out the couple is smuggling cocaine across the border, using babies from the husband's corporate daycare as accessories to make it easier. But when the couple hands over the cans of formula, stored in their kitchen cabinet, for testing, only two of six were found to be cocaine. The rest were formula. Why keep them all in the same place? The techs couldn't tell until they removed the labels which ones had been tampered with, so why risk giving your client the wrong one? It's also not clear how long they keep the babies; the housekeeper was under the impression the latest one was theirs and the wife had been travelling with him several times over the past three weeks, so at least that long--why risk giving your product to the baby and a) now having less product and b) killing the baby?

** There's an even more subtle brilliance to it. When they genuinely don't realize they're stepping in a federal case ("Raw"), are specifically asked to help ("Pandora"), or go through proper channels ("Merchandise"), then the negative consequences of this type are usually avoided. But when they intentionally ''interfere'' (as in, without getting permission, or worse after being expressly told to back off), then the problems start to happen. And there's actually a good in-universe reason that this is the case; if they're working ''with'' the Feds, then they have the full big picture and everything is coordinated, but if they're working ''against'' the Feds, they're probably only getting a limited view of the total situation and the two groups are not coordinating with each other, increasing the likelihood of a SpannerInTheWorks situation for one or both cases.

** There's an even more subtle brilliance to it. When they genuinely don't realize they're stepping in a federal case ("Raw"), are specifically asked to help ("Pandora"), or go through proper channels ("Merchandise"), then the negative consequences of this type are usually avoided. But when they intentionally ''interfere'' (as in, without getting permission, or worse after being expressly told to back off), then the problems start to happen. And there's actually a good in-universe reason that this is the case; if they're working ''with'' the Feds, then they have the full big picture and everything is coordinated, but if they're working ''against'' the Feds, it's more likely there will be pieces of the puzzle they're not aware of, increasing the likelihood of them ending up being a SpannerInTheWorks.

** There's an even more subtle brilliance to it. When they genuinely don't realize they're stepping in a federal case ("Raw"), are specifically asked to help ("Pandora"), or go through proper channels ("Merchandise"), then the negative consequences of this type are usually avoided. But when they intentionally ''interfere'' (as in, without getting permission, or worse after being expressly told to back off), then the problems start to happen. And there's actually a good in-universe reason that this is the case; if they're working ''with'' the Feds, then they have the full big picture, but if they're working ''against'' the Feds, it's more likely there will be pieces of the puzzle they're not aware of, increasing the likelihood of them throwing a SpannerInTheWorks.

* Something that's always bothered me about the show is Benson and Stabler having the habit of jumping into cases that aren't theirs, especially when the FBI are involved; there have been several episodes where the victim or suspected perp are involved with an FBI investigation, and they either jump in or treat the FBI as the bad guys for not assisting their case. It took me a while to notice, but it's actually the opposite! 9 times out of 10, Benson and Stabler's interfering actually makes things much ''worse''. In the episode where reoccurring agent Dana/Starr was raped, they went into such a frenzy assuming (incorrectly) she was in trouble/over her head/kidnapped after seeing her willingly enter a car that they indirectly caused several deaths (by being so obvious in their policework and frightening the baddies) and almost ruined months of undercover work. In another episode with a rapist in the witness protection program, if they had been content to let the FBI handle it, a shootout with the mafia that killed a dozen people would have been avoided — not to mention the deaths of both the rapist and his father. There's no way this is an accident since it keeps happening; the show is very subtly showing either a Deconstruction of what really happens when you jump into a case over your heads... or an outright TakeThat at the assumption time and time again that only the SVU detectives can solve the case.
** There's an even more subtle brilliance to it. When they genuinely don't realize they're stepping in a federal case ("Raw"), are specifically asked to help ("Pandora"), or go through proper channels ("Merchandise"), then they generally get the outcome they were hoping for. But when they ''intentionally'' charge in full speed ahead (sometimes after being specifically told not to), then we start to have problems.
** This is completely subverted, however, with "Acceptable Loss", in which the SVU cops' decision to defy a "drop it" order from Homeland Security ends up being the reason that a terrorist is caught. But even then, it's pretty much just dumb luck that things work out as well as they do (not to mention, Homeland Security was really holding the IdiotBall on that case anyway).

* Tempered by occasional FridgeBrilliance and ShownTheirWork. For example, what was the name of the radical group in the season 10 episode ''"Transitions"''? Children of Ariel. Many transgender children, especially mtf children, [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic express an affinity for]] [[Disney/TheLittleMermaid mermaids]].

* In "Risk," an infant dies after being fed liquid cocaine hidden in a liquid baby formula can. The baby's mother stole it from the couple she cleans for, who reportedly have a four-month-old baby themselves. Turns out the couple is smuggling cocaine across the border, using babies from the husband's corporate daycare as accessories to make it easier. But when the couple hands over the cans of formula for testing, only two of six were found to be cocaine. The rest were formula. Why keep them all in the same place? The techs couldn't tell until they removed the labels which ones had been tampered with, so why risk giving your client the wrong one? It's also not clear how long they keep the babies; the housekeeper was under the impression the latest one was theirs and the wife had been travelling with him several times over the past three weeks, so at least that long--why risk giving your product to the baby and a) now having less product and b) killing the baby?

* In "Parasites", the husband is stunned to learn that his wife is dead and that her twin sister has taken over. Fair enough, except. . .you didn't notice ANY changes in her? Her personality? Her domestic skills? Her bedroom skills? That she suddenly didn't know the names of friends, neighbors, etc.?

* In the Season 12 opener, "Locum", a young runaway, Mackenzie Burton, is found at a train station in the company of one Erik Weber, an anti-pedophilia activist who claims he just met her and was trying to convince her to go home. Though Weber is initially suspected of luring the girl from her home via online chat, the detectives find another individual behind the screen name, and realize Weber really didn't have an online relationship with Mackenzie. Weber is released, leaving detectives and viewers with the assumption that he really was just trying to help, and the story takes off in a different direction. But the following episode reveals that [[spoiler:Weber was actually a pedophile who raped two girls around the same age as Mackenzie. Was Weber actually trying to convince Mackenzie to go home, or did he have something else in mind?]]

** There's an even more subtle brilliance to it. When they're unaware of the FBI angle ("Raw"), are specifically asked to help ("Pandora"), or go through proper channels ("Merchandise"), then they generally get the outcome they were hoping for. But when they ''intentionally'' charge in full speed ahead (sometimes after being specifically told not to), then we start to have problems.

** There's an even more subtle brilliance to it. When they're unaware of the FBI angle ("Raw"), are specifically asked to help ("Pandora"), or go through proper channels ("Merchandise"), things tend to work out. But when they ''intentionally'' charge in full speed ahead (sometimes after being specifically told not to), then we start to have problems.

** There's an even more subtle brilliance to it. When they're unaware of the FBI angle ("Raw"), are specifically asked to help ("Pandora"), or go through proper channels ("Merchandise"), things tend to work out. But when they ''intentionally'' intervene (sometimes after being specifically told not to), then we start to have problems.

* In the Season 12 opener, "Locum", a young runaway, Mackenzie Burton, is found at a train station in the company of one Erik Weber, an anti-pedophilia activist who claims he just met her and was trying to convince her to go home. Though Weber is initially suspected of luring the girl from her home via online chat, the detectives find another individual behind the screen name, and realize Weber really didn't have an online relationship with Mackenzie. Weber is released, leaving detectives and viewers with the assumption that he really was just trying to help, and the story takes off in a different direction. But the following episode reveals that [[spoiler:Weber was actually a pedophile who raped two girls around the same age as Mackenzie.]] Was Weber actually trying to convince Mackenzie to go home, or would she have become his next victim if the police hadn't found her when they did?

* In the Season 12 opener, "Locum", a young runaway, Mackenzie Burton, is found at a train station in the company of one Erik Weber, an anti-pedophilia activist who claims he just met her and was trying to convince her to go home. Though Weber is initially suspected of luring the girl from her home via online chat, the detectives find another individual behind the screen name, and realize Weber really didn't have an online relationship with Mackenzie. Weber is released, leaving detectives and viewers with the assumption that he really was just trying to help, and the story takes off in a different direction. But the following episode reveals that [[spoiler:Weber was actually a pedophile who raped two girls around the same age as Mackenzie.]] What was Weber actually trying to do, and what might have happened if the police hadn't found Mackenzie when they did?

* In the Season 12 opener, "Locum", a young runaway, Mackenzie Burton, encounters Erik Weber, an anti-pedophilia activist, who claims he just met her and was trying to convince her to go home. Though Weber is initially suspected of luring the girl from her home via online chat, the detectives find another individual behind the screen name, and realize Weber really didn't have an online relationship with Mackenzie. Weber is released, leaving detectives and viewers with the assumption that he really was just trying to help, and the story takes off in a different direction. But the following episode reveals that [[spoiler: Weber was actually a pedophile who raped two girls around the same age as Mackenzie.]] What might have actually happened if the police hadn't found Mackenzie when they did?

* In the Season 12 opener, "Locum", a young runaway, Mackenzie Burton, encounters Erik Weber, an anti-pedophilia activist, who claims he just met her and was trying to convince her to go home. Though Weber is initially suspected of luring the girl from her home via online chat, the detectives find another individual behind the screen name, and realize Weber really didn't have an online relationship with Mackenzie. Weber is released, leaving detectives with the assumption that he was telling the truth, and the story takes off in a different direction. But the following episode reveals that [[spoiler: Weber was actually a pedophile who raped two girls around the same age as Mackenzie.]] What might have actually happened if the police hadn't found Mackenzie when they did?

** Oh, and on the subject of TakeThat moments, [[ReplacementScrappy Dani Beck]]'s existence makes a lot more sense when you realize she is essentially the manifestation of everything fans complained Olivia Benson should be. BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor,

* One episode goes like this: Benson and Stabler suspect a recently-released ex-con that Stabler put away some time back for a series of rapes. For the first half of the episode, Stabler hassles the guy while looking for evidence to connect the dots. Finally, the suspect is found dead of a heroin overdose - just as they get word of another rape and attempted murder which had been committed while the guy was a corpse. After Stabler angsts for a bit, the second half starts up with Fin Tutuola going to meet and informant who gives them a lead on the real culprit. It was only after several viewings that I realized the episode was a TakeThat against Stabler, and a {{Deconstruction}} of the show's own abuse of ItsPersonal. During the first half, Stabler does his typical RabidCop routine and fixates on this one guy he had a personal history with, convinced he must be their man. Meanwhile, Tutuola was offscreen, slowly cracking the case by ''doing his job''.

* In "Rockabye", why didn't Lauren just go to a different clinic? If she was that desperate, even after being told she had a fever, would she have really stopped at just the first clinic in the phone book?