History Awesome / LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit

* In the same season, Carisi getting a crooked priest to confess in "Unholiest Alliance" by appealing to his faith. The rest of the squad didn't even think it would be possible, but it works for Carisi because he genuinely believes every word of what he's saying.

* Probably the most satisfying and well deserved WhatTheHellHero moment to Stabler. '''Coming from Fin'''. To explain, in the episode "Cold", Eliot thinks Fin has tipped off a suspect (who happens to be their colleague, Chester) to run, and dumps his phone records to check. A correct move for a cop, but an absolute dick move to do to a friend and co-worker (even Olivia thinks he should've just asked Fin). Elliot tries (halfheartedly) to apologize, but Fin's having none of it:
-->'''Fin''': You're a bulldog, Stabler. Quick to assume, slow to admit when you're wrong. Makes for a good cop, but a lousy human being.\\

'''Olivia:''' That's an easy one; [[UndercoverCopReveal Special...Victims...Unit!]] (''Jumps up and pushes the social worker onto his desk'') Did I not mention that?\\

-->'''Olivia''': Fin, hear him out.\\

--> '''[[BadassAdorable Tommy]]''': You killed Jill. ''(calmly walks back to stand over the uproar in court and the protests of his father and his attorney)'' I'm ready now.

* Season 20’s “A Story of More Woe” has Britney Moore, a teenage girl who murdered her father because her 13-year-old sister Laura told her he was molesting her. But soon the truth comes out that both girls were manipulated by their neighbor, Greg Callahan. Greg was the one in a sexual relationship with Laura, not the girls’ father, and even forged documents so he could get custody of the girls. While questioning Laura, Benson learns that Greg proposed to her. Britney is naturally horrified and furious when discovering the truth. In a sting operation set up at a diner, Britney talks to Greg, telling him she knows about the ring he gave Laura. He denies asking Laura to marry him, and assures Britney that he’ll get guardianship of the girls, and they’ll all be happily together. Britney then goes off script and lies, telling Greg that Laura is pregnant, and they’ll have to do a paternity test to see if it’s their father’s. Greg of course panics and admits that the baby is his. Britney angrily confronts him for lying to and manipulating both her and Laura, before finally screaming, ''“I KILLED MY FATHER FOR YOU!”'' and stabbing him in the cheek with a butter knife. That’s when Benson and Fin come in to diffuse the situation. Greg begs them for help and says that he’s bleeding. Fin’s response before cuffing him? “Shut up, she should’ve killed you!”

* In "Trials", features a victim who married a man unaware that he had raped her years ago. When he is revealed as her rapist and tries to sway her to say their sex was consensual, she knees him in the crotch.

-->'''Fin''': You're a bulldog, Stabler. Quick to assume, slow to admit when you're wrong. Makes for a good cop, but a lousy human being.
-->'''Olivia''': Fin, hear him out.
-->'''Fin''': Stay out of it, Liv. That being said, I know what it cost you.
-->'''Elliot''': Appreciate that.
-->'''Fin''': I'm not done. The problem is you will still be the same rat bastard tomorrow, and nothing you say will ever change that. ''(walks out of the station, handing his transfer request to Munch on his way out)''
* In "Legitimate Rape", a free rapist is suing his victim for custody of their rapechild. The judge awards her full custody of the infant, but he gets court-mandated visits for two hours every week. When she doesn't show up at the station for the first visit, the prick starts getting angry and throwing tantrums, demanding an Amber Alert, and Fin tells him, "Listen, you want to be a father? The first thing you need to learn is ''it's not all about you anymore!"''

-->'''Suspect:''' [rants about needing to be special because that's what everyone else said]
-->'''Rollins:''' Well then it must have really '''''SUCKED''''' to find out everyone was lying to you!!

-->'''Dr. Sutton:''' This country's at war. I've got skills to contribute to that fight. You really want me not to use them?
-->'''Warner:''' You took an oath. You don't get to take a time-out because we're at war, because it's difficult to uphold. The oath was written for times like these.

* In "Turmoil", Alex gets one over on teenage rapist Sam Baylor who raped classmate Nikki Sherman in a bathroom at a party and then tried to taint the case by leaking risqué photos of her at a previous party online and bribing one of her friends to lie and say that she recanted her accusation; these forced Alex to withdraw the charges to avoid a Brady investigation by the state bar and caused Nikki to attempt suicide out of distress over being denied justice. When the suicide attempt causes her friend to come clean with the truth and agree to testify, Alex refiles the rape charges, along with additional ones for witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Baylor's attorney asks for a plea deal, but Alex refuses, intending to go to trial. When he questions putting Nikki on the witness stand after her suicide attempt, she only has this to say the two:
--> '''Alex''': All Nikki Sherman wanted was her day in court. And I intend to see she gets it.
--> '''Baylor''': What does that mean?
--> '''Alex''': It means you're going to prison. [[PrisonRape And you're going to find out exactly how Nikki felt when you raped her on the bathroom floor.]]

-->'''Casey''': [approaches Morton as he leaves the courthouse in chains] Well, you were great.
-->'''Robert Morton''': Did you like it? Bet you didn't know what was gonna happen next.
-->'''Casey''': You put on quite a show. You got her off; she's going to a psych ward.
-->'''Morton''': Is that a frown on your pretty face?
-->'''Casey''': Actually, I think Cecilia is going exactly where she belongs. And so are you.
-->'''Morton''': [smirking] You're backing out on the deal.
-->'''Casey''': No, you're being transferred to a federal prison.
-->'''Morton''': [looking surprised] I thought you'd be a sore loser.
-->'''Casey''': [smiling smugly] You're gonna love Florence [=SuperMax=]: 23-hour lockdown, no visitors, no mail, no phone calls -- ''no human contact for the rest of your life.''
-->'''Morton''': You can't do that to me!
-->'''Casey''': Why don't you wave bye to all of your fans?
-->'''Morton''': We made a deal!
-->'''Casey''': [[LiteralGenie And it's a masterpiece]]. How do you like ''my'' work?

* Despite her lack of screentime, even Greylek was prone to having awesome moments. During "PTSD" when talking to military liaison that's been at odds with SVU the entire episode, including trying to take over the entire investigation from them, she introduces herself telling him that she'd like to kick his ass in court, and then takes every piece of evidence that he uses to take the case from them and twists it in the favor of SVU. She even walks off giving him the biggest SmugSnake [[https://i.imgur.com/Zi6yhj5.png smirk.]]

-->'''Olivia:''' Hey. Everything all right?
-->'''Barba:''' [[DullSurprise [same calm tone of voice] Not really- someone just threatened to kill me.]]

-->'''Prosecutor:''' And the man who beat [the victim] to death, is he in this courtroom?
-->'''Chuckwei: (points at King)''' That is the man. There
-->'''King:''' He's a liar. The cops are makin' him lie!
-->'''Chuckwei: (jumps out of his seat defiantly)''' No! NO! You murdered that boy in front of a crowd of people! And in front of GOD!!
-->'''King: (gets out of his chair to attack Chuckwei but is restrained by court officers)''' [[VillainousBreakdown "You're dead! You're family's dead! EVERYTHING YOU LOVE IS DEAD! YOU'RE DEAD!"]]

* In "Decaying Morality", after the SVU squad manage to bust a dentist who raped his niece and other women, Carisi physically escorts him to get printed. He then lays into the rapist for raping his niece along with destroying his family by manipulating her sister's husband to kill an innocent man (who was suspected to be the rapist but was actually trying to help said niece). When the rapist complains about Carisi hurting his hands, a livid Carisi asks him if that is all he has to say. This culminates in Carisi forcefully grabbing his fingers and asking what hurts more: that or what he did to his niece. A crunching sound is visibly heard. Although it is inadvisable in Real Life, that scene was pretty satisfying to watch.

'''Barba:''' Sexual Tourism. Section 24, 23c of Title 18: engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places. Punishable by up to ''30 years'' in prison. \\

--> '''Commissoner:''' "You're dangerously close to insubordination, Captain."
--> '''Cragen:''' "Then, write me up or get out of my office!"

* At the end of "Hardwired", Liv visits the mother of a molestation victim to tell her the man who molested her child got convicted of child porn possession and sentenced to two years for each one of the 1,500 child porn images on a flash drive in possession -- ''consecutively''.

--> '''Baylor''': What does that mean.

* In "Deadly Ambition," Amaro initially appears to be heading straight into WhatAnIdiot territory by expressing sympathy for Rollins' lying scumbag sister and reciprocating when she flirts with him. He even takes Kim out to a nice restaurant for dinner on the spur of the moment. Except that nice dinner? Is basically Amaro pulling a male HoneyTrap, where he charms Kim right into confessing the entire FrameUp of Amanda on tape. Since Kim had spent the entire episode being a remorseless ManipulativeBastard to everyone in sight, watching Amaro completely own her at the same tactic is ''very'' satisfying. He's so good that he even has the recording device (his phone) ''right out on the table'' and she never even suspects.

'''Benson:''' Your client ''is'' a pedophile, ''and'' a rapist, ''and'' a murderer. [to Brubeck] And [[JusticeByOtherLegalMeans if this is the only way we can get you]]? Than ''this'' is the way that ''you're going down''! \\

'''Barba:''' Sexual Tourism. Section 24, 23c of Title 18: engaging in elicit sexual conduct in foreign places. Punishable by up to ''30 years'' in prison. \\

** Moments after [[spoiler: Fin rescues Olivia from being orally raped by a violent-psycho prison guard, Olivia looks her would-be rapist right in the face and says, "Who's the bitch now?"]]
*** Immediately following that scene are 3 instances where Olivia looks her would-be rapist in the face showing 0 fear: first [[spoiler:when she faces him one-on-one in the interrogation room (he even jumps in her face and she barely bats an eye)]], then a second time when [[spoiler: she and Elliot go back to the prison to officially arrest him (they have a quick stare down as he's being led away in handcuffs)]] and finally in the last scene [[spoiler: after taking photos of his privates for evidence, Olivia basically tells him to piss off and that he'll be in prison for at least 20 years.]]
* At the end of "Hardwired", [[spoiler:Liv visits the mother of a molestation victim to tell her the man who molested her child got convicted of child porn possession and sentenced to two years for each one of the 1,500 child porn images on a flash drive in possession -- ''consecutively''.]]

* In "Users", Dr. Huang treats an addict witness with an illegal drug so the witness can testify against his dealer. When the dealer -- a psychiatrist -- finds out and threatens to report Huang, he counters by saying [[spoiler:he'd already reported himself; he considered his one-month suspension a [[WorthIt worthy price to pay to take the dealer down.]]]]

* At the climax of "Holden's Manifesto", Rollins pulls off the acting gig of the century. She approaches Holden, who has killed girls for not going out with him, telling him she understands him, that those girls were just too immature to see how great he is, that women would like him. She manages to convince him to let his hostages and Nick go, claiming she wants to be alone with him, and even convinces him she wants him, manipulating his sense of entitlement and hatred towards those that rejected him to make him trust her. Rollins keeps her cool the whole time, persuading Holden to lower his gun and let her approach him, supposedly for a kiss. [[spoiler:Had he not been taken out by a sniper's bullet, she almost certainly would've disarmed him herself.]]
* In "Dissonant Voices," Rollins finally snaps on the perp, [[spoiler:a teenage girl who fabricated child molestation accusations against a completely innocent man, destroying his life]]. This is after Rollins had suspected the truth all along, and successfully [[SpotTheThread spotted the thread]] earlier in the case. Giddish channels enough disgust and rage that it's as close to a PrecisionFStrike as the moment can get on a network show.

* Dodds gets a particularly awesome one at the end of "Star-struck Victims". A popular actor, Bobby [=D'Amico=], and a friend of his are charged with rape, and when the D.A. says there's not enough evidence, [[spoiler:Rollins goes undercover to catch them in act. Unfortunately, they never get to use Rollins' evidence in court, and Bobby and his friend are acquitted, much to their accuser's devastation. However, Dodds gets to have the last laugh as he leaks Rollins' evidence video to the press, effectively ruining [=D'Amico=].]]
-->'''Sgt. Dodds:''' [[spoiler:[=D'Amico=] got what he deserved. Told you I never liked the guy.]]

* In "Savior," a defense attorney attacks a witness's credibility on the basis that the witness has been a prostitute since the age of 12. Cabot, on redirect, has the witness estimate her pimp has forced her to have sex 13,000 times. Cabot then turns to the defense attorney and says "I hope I cleared things up for you, counselor. That [''points to the witness''] is a victim, and '''that''' [''points to the defendant''] is a criminal." [[spoiler:She wins the case.]]

* When Querns is defending Cassidy for his acts when undercover, he allows what seems to be a character assassination of his client and is walking out of the court for a lunch break when Barba, who was watching, says it's fascinating for a defense attorney to allow a prosecutor to turn a simple fact witness into a character assassin. Querns replies that attorney sounds like a complete incompetent. Barba agrees, but points out that Querns isn't and wonders why he did. Querns simply walks off, saying it was a nice chat and lunch is only one hour. And then the trial resumes... [[spoiler: And as it turns out, Amaro, the fact witness, had his own escapades when undercover, which Querns gleefully exploits...]]

* The little girl that Olivia spends the whole episode talking to in "911." Despite being obviously (and rightfully) scared out of her mind of her captor, she manages to stay on the phone long enough and give Olivia enough information that [[spoiler:the SVU squad finds her, and, after all those years of being kept as a sex slave and used for child porn, they find her alive.]] The amount of courage and desperation to live that must've took is unimaginable.
* In "Dolls," the whole ''episode'' is a long one for Violet, the mother of a girl whose daughter's gone missing. She approaches Fin when she's afraid an unidentified corpse is that of her daughter, talks to suspects and the mother of another little girl who was kidnapped (and killed) by the same perp, and always holds her ground that she only left her daughter alone with a neighbor so she could go to rehab and get clean for the sake of her daughter's safety. She even ''faces down the perp herself'', demanding to know where her daughter is. Violet is a MamaBear in every sense of the word, [[spoiler:which is what makes it so beautiful when, at the end of the episode, she gets her daughter back alive.]]

* In "Behave", Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Vicki, a woman raped four times in the last fifteen years by the same person -- who had ''stalked her across the country''. Benson picks up the case and goes on a crusade to get Vicki some actual goddamned justice. She strikes out in similar cases in Detroit and Chicago -- because the rape kits were lost due to a backlog -- and only managed a partial (and expired via statute of limitations) rape kit connecting the suspect to Vicki's rape in Los Angeles. When the suspect goes free after an evidentiary hearing, an upset Benson and Stabler prepare to close the case before finding something that helps them immensely: [[spoiler:the perp kept rolls of duct tape labeled with dates corresponding to his rapes -- including one of Vicki's. Vicki tells Benson the perp had duct taped her during that particular attack, which allows Benson and Stabler to arrest him for kidnapping just before he could leave New York. When the cops bring him into a holding cell at the precinct, Vicki sits waiting for him. The perp begs her to renounce her accusations as a "misunderstanding", but Vicki turns the control on him:]]
-->[[spoiler:Now ''I'll'' always know where ''you'' are. Be a good boy. (''Vicki closes the cell door'') Behave yourself.]]

-->'''King: (gets out of his chair to attack Chuckwei but is restrained by court officers)''' "You're dead! You're family's dead! EVERYTHING YOU LOVE IS DEAD! YOU'RE DEAD!"

-->'''Barba:''' Right here, in front of all these people? Maybe they wouldn't be able to save me, but they sure as hell would catch you. So, ''amiguito'', I'll tell you what. You want to kill a DA, right here, surrounded by all these cops and cameras? Spend the rest of your life in prison? [writes on piece of paper and then hands it to him] Here, here's my home address. [[BadassBoast You come by any time you want.]]

-->'''Barba:''' [[DullSurprise [same calm tone of voice] Not really... someone just threatened to kill me.]]

* The reporter, Jackson Zane, from "Storm" receives information from Benson about the appearance of anthrax, something that was ordered confidential to Benson from her superiors. However, with her help, he published the story...[[RealityEnsues which gets him jailed.]] However, when Benson tells him to reveal she was the one to give him the information, he ''tells'' her not to. Even Novak lampshades how awesome his act was.

* In "Producer's Backend", after frustrating dead end after frustrating dead end with uncovering past crimes of a producer having sex with underage girls either meeting the age of consent in state laws or being outside the statute of limitations to press charges, and even the death of one of his victims that he probably caused is out because it was officially ruled an accident. Even with the flash drives provided by the producer's assistant, the states they were filmed in met the age of consent... untilthey find one girl in Canada who "auditioned" for a movie that was never made. Barba realizes he's finally got the producer, and the scene where he reveals it is ''magnificent'':

* In "Babes", the unit has encountered a number of private school girls who, despite pledging their chastity until marriage, have gotten themselves pregnant on purpose. They all point to one named Fidelia as the girl who started the trend. When Benson goes to interview her, Fidelia begins to feed her a typical teenager's "you're jealous" taunting. How much this actually gets under Liv's skin is debatable, but one can see the glint of evil in her eyes just before she starts listing the unpleasant facts of teenage motherhood until the girl runs crying into her father's arms. Lesson: don't treat a baby like a new pair of shoes. Olivia Benson will ''destroy you''.

* In "Producer's Backend", after frustrating dead end after frustrating dead end with uncovering past crimes of a producer having sex with underage girls either meeting the age of consent in state laws or being outside the statute of limitations to press charges, on top of murdering one (which had been ruled accidental). Even with the flash drives provided by the producer's lawyer, the states they were filmed in met the age of consent. Barba is the one to catch where the producer slipped up. All the videos were filmed "auditions" for the producer's movies, but they find one girl in Canada who "auditioned" for a movie that was never made. Barba realizes he's finally got the producer, and the scene where he reveals it is ''magnificent'':