History YMMV / LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit

* HolierThanThou: See StrawmanHasAPoint below. The detectives (mostly Stabler) can be extremely judgmental. Let's see, there's not [[NoBisexuals believing in bisexuals]], asserting that women who [[YoungerThanTheyLook look young]] shouldn't be allowed to have sex and the men that want to have sex with them are pedophiles, and classifying every single type of porn they see as "sick and wrong" or "perverted." YMMV, but whenever the detectives express disgust over perfectly normal fetishes it makes this troper just want to see the bad guy win.
** In addition, the detectives have very low opinions about every other government body, including other police departments and the FBI. To the members of the SVU, they themselves are the only ones who actually care about the victims, everyone else is just looking to play the system as much as they can and don't care about the well-being of others.

* HolierThanThou: See StrawmanHasAPoint below. The detectives (mostly Stabler) can be extremely judgmental. Let's see, there's not [[NoBisexuals believing in bisexuals]], asserting that women who [[YoungerThanTheyLook look young]] shouldn't be allowed to have sex, and classifying every single type of porn they see as "sick and wrong" or "perverted." YMMV, but whenever the detectives express disgust over perfectly normal fetishes it makes this troper just want to see the bad guy win.

* HolierThanThou: See StrawmanHasAPoint below. The detectives can be extremely judgmental. Let's see, there's not [[NoBisexuals believing in bisexuals]], asserting that women who [[YoungerThanTheyLook look young]] shouldn't be allowed to have sex, and classifying every single type of porn they see as "sick and wrong" or "perverted." YMMV, but whenever the detectives express disgust over perfectly normal fetishes it makes this troper just want to see the bad guy win.

* HoYay:'''And how.''' "Loss" is a virtual cornucopia of LesYay for Alex/Olivia, but there's evidence [[http://community.livejournal.com/ship_manifesto/43570.html#cutid1 well before that]]. It just breaks your heart.

* FanNickname: After one too many uses of the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique, Elliot became widely known as "[=UnStabler=]."

* Magnificent Bastard: Darius Parker [[spoiler: or Fin's stepson]]. Not only does he commit one of the most heinous crimes depicted on SVU [[spoiler:by murdering a woman, raping her with his KNIFE, and then burying her 14-month-old son alive]], but he walks, even after confessing to the crime. How? First [[spoiler: he mentions that he has an upcoming burglary case before he confesses to the crime while waving his right to counsel. However, because he mentions his upcoming case, it is implied that he should have counsel present, making his confession and the bodies discovered by that confession inadmissible in court. He then goes to trial and picks apart the prosecution's case while airing Fin and Stabler's dirty laundry, getting the Judge recused from the case by mention the DUI of Stabler's daughter, and getting his mother to reveal that she hates him because he was the child of her rape(by his grandfather/father)]].

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Crops up here and there, but the sixth year finally had an egregious case, wherein [[spoiler: the military has been giving anti-malaria meds to soldiers that cause serious psychological problems in perhaps one in every one hundred-fifty people. The Military]] points out, however, that a few people experiencing some admittedly horrible side effects is still better than thousands of people being unable to fight because of malaria, and the pill is otherwise more efficient than alternatives.

** JohnMunch, TheSmartGuy

* VillainSue: Merrit Rook, an AffablyEvil con man played by RobinWilliams, decidedly in his "funny" persona, who starts a counterculture movement that manages to draw in Munch, has a [[FeedMe scenery-chewing]] VillanousBreakdown that turns out to be an act, and [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat apparently commits suicide]], but of course they NeverFoundTheBody. Just for extra Sue points, his crime, which was RippedFromTheHeadlines, is toned down to be ''just'' behind the MoralEventHorizon (he talks a man into stripping and binding an underage girl; the person he was based on talked a man into rape).

* {{Narm}} : ''Shattered''. The scene where [[spoiler: Jo reveals she had cancer to a mother who lost her child and was holding the station hostage. Then Jo picked up the dead body of the kid and was telling her to "hold her child".]] [[LargeHam Sharon Stone's]] performance was the key factor.
** Also, and this was ''spectacular'', Kathleen Stabler's intervention with Kim Garnett in "Crush". It was Narm-''tastic''.
** How about the fact that the show always starts with the speech at the top of the main page? Yeah, that speech was thought-provoking the first 400 times you said it.
** In "Sick", while gathering information on a young boy who was most likely molested, they interview a school bully. The bully says the kid one time violently fought back and expressed surprise not in the fact that such a kid would retaliate, but that he screamed the word "rape" with every punch he threw.

** {{Your Mileage May Vary}}

* DownerEnding: "Screwed..." Just "[[MeaningfulName Screwed]]." Everything goes downhill for the cast as their past mistakes come back to bite them. Not to mention the results of those mistakes become the key reason why [[spoiler:[[TheBadGuyWins Darius Parker walks away]] [[KarmaHoudini Scott free]]]].
** A significant chunk of the episodes fall under this.
** Another big example is "Unstable". Basically, a serial rapist was caught, exonerating another man falsely imprisoned for his crime. [[spoiler:However, either due to the actions of the CowboyCop or the perp escaping, the guy dies and is therefore unable to testify, meaning the wrongfully imprisoned man doesn't get released.]]
* FandomNod: in 11x13, "P.C.", [[spoiler:Kathy Griffin's lesbian character [[HoYay coming onto Liv]]. The reasons she gives for her mistake are pretty much the same ones fans have been using for their SlashFic since, oh, the start of the show.]]
** The best part being when Olivia asks, "Why does everyone think I'm a lesbian?"
*** No, the best part has to be Olivia fooling the suspect into confessing by ''pretending'' to be a lesbian, [[FetishFuel swaggering into the interrogation room in a leather jacket.]]

* WallBanger: The entire series after three, or maybe five, seasons. There's a ''reason'' that Sex Crimes cops are rotated out after a few years. It's a good show, but the main cast needs to be rotated out.
** At least Benson and Stabler, Munch has plenthy of untapped potential if he wasn't just the Dale Gribble of the show.

** She's gone, thank god.