History Heartwarming / LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit

* When Fin's son Ken is nervous about introducing his fiance Alejandro to his father, he seeks out Munch for guidance, and Munch is completely supportive and awesome.

* Benson and Chief Dodds reconciling in "The Newsroom". Their relationship has been strained since the season premiere when Dodds accused Benson of getting [[spoiler:Mike]] killed, but when a suspect implies the same thing, Dodds immediately cuts the interview short, and then, once they're alone, tells Benson he doesn't blame her and never did and apologizes for taking his grief out on her. Benson, knowing what he was going through when he made the comment, forgives him instantly. The end of the episode shows the two of them talking over a case in Benson's office -- it took a year, but they've finally recovered the tentative friendship they had started to build before everything happened.

* In "Undercover Blue", the entirety of Amaro's reaction to learning he has a nine-year-old son. He starts the episode being a little bit of an [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Arrogant Cop Guy]] and is distinctly unsympathetic to Brian Cassidy's predicament, only to get [[BreakTheHaughty knocked down a few pegs himself]] when his own indiscretions while working undercover are revealed. One of those indiscretions resulted in a child, which Amaro only learns about when the mother sues for child support. Amaro's first impulse? Is not to look out for his own interests, but to go out and immediately try to establish a relationship with the boy, and then to go PapaWolf when he's blocked by the kid's drug dealer stepfather. Equally heartwarming is watching the SVU squad help him do exactly that, rallying just as they did for Rollins in her ItsPersonal episodes.

* Benson and Chief Dodds reconciling in "The Newsroom". Their relationship has been strained since the season premiere when Dodds accused Benson of getting Mike killed, but when a suspect implies the same thing, Dodds immediately cuts the interview short, and then, once they're alone, tells Benson he doesn't blame her and never did and apologizes for taking his grief out on her. Benson, knowing what he was going through when he made the comment, forgives him instantly. At the end of the episode, they have a friendly conversation for what seems to be the first time in months, further showing that there are no lingering issues between them.

** Dodds' scene with Mike in the ICU is heartwarming as well. Up until this point, every scene with the two of them was either work-related or Chief Dodds trying to manage Mike's career, but after Mike is hurt, all that drops away and for the first time, we see him just being a father, and it's made extremely clear that underneath it all, he really does love his son. Although it only makes [[spoiler:Mike's death and the Chief's reaction]] that much more wrenching.

*** In the season 22 premiere, eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the photo Carisi took of Rollins and Jesse is now on his desk at the DA's office.

* In "Babes", after a girl's mother is taken to jail for assault, and her brother for murdering the father of her child (he thought she was raped; she wasn't), she's begins crying, because she thinks she's going to be taken to foster care, and she thinks that her family is lost forever. The grandfather of her child then takes her in, despite his son being murdered by her brother, saying there's been too much grief and suffering already. It gave this troper chills, though my description doesn't do it justice.

* In the episode "Bedtime" when investigating an old murder, Cragen shows Olivia and Elliot commercials of the victim's husband who was a local celebrity years ago, Elliot recognizing them gets a uncharacteristically delighted and almost childlike look on his face.

* Another episode has Munch tracking down a serial killer. After they catch him, Munch goes to visit the one that got away, and tells her "You can turn off your lights tonight."

* In "Witness", the eponymous character is a refugee from the Congo, where rape is used as a weapon of war, who overcomes her fear of deportation to testify after the victim whose rape she witnessed dies of an infection. When the guilty verdict is read out, the witness just stands there in absolute awe at the fact that a rapist is going to be held accountable for what he did, and that she was a part of that. You can practically see her entire worldview shift as it really hits home that there are parts of the world where things are different, and consequently that the situation in her own country doesn't have to be that way. The experience is so profound that she decides to go back to the Congo, despite the risk to herself, in order to help women in her country get justice too.

* In "Witness", the eponymous character is a refugee from the Congo, where rape is used as a weapon of war, who overcomes her fear of deportation to testify after the victim whose rape she witnessed dies of an infection. At the end of the episode, she finally sees something she never dreamed she'd see: a rapist punished for what he did. ''And'' she gets to know that she played a huge part in making that happen. In that moment, she finally realizes that change is possible. The experience is so profound that she decides to go back to the Congo, despite the risk to herself, in order to help women in her country get justice too.

* In "Witness", the eponymous character is a refugee from the Congo, where rape is used as a weapon of war, who overcomes her fear of deportation to testify after the victim whose rape she witnessed dies of an infection. At the end of the episode, she finally sees something she never dreamed she'd see: a rapist punished for what he did. ''And'' she gets to know that she played a huge part in making that happen. The experience is so profound that she decides to go back to the Congo, despite the risk to herself, in order to help women in her country get justice too.

* In "Witness", the eponymous character is a refugee from the Congo, where rape is used as a weapon of war. At the end of the episode, she finally sees something she never dreamed she'd see: a rapist punished for what he did. ''And'' she gets to know that she played a huge part in making that happen. The experience is so profound that she decides to go back to the Congo, despite the risk to herself, in order to help women in her country get justice too.

* In "Transgender Bride", the perp, Darius, is a 15 year old boy who accidentally shoved a trans girl, Avery, off a bridge. Unlike his buddies who were egging him on, Darius genuinely feels ''terrible'' for what he did, and is wracked with guilt. He gives some papers to Fin, asking to see that Avery reads them. It's a beautiful comic he drew for Avery, apologizing for what he did, saying he'd give anything to change it, and hoping that one day Avery can find it in her heart to forgive him. The comic ends on an image of Avery and Darius holding hands. Judging by Avery's tearful smile, she ''did'' have it in her forgive him. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, she dies before she gets a chance to tell him so.]]

** You have to give credit to the Caskey's. Despite the fact that Richie did rape rape a girl and admits it, he and his wife still love each other deeply, and have stuck together through everything they had to go through. He couldn't live with her anymore (which was why he lived at the shelter) because their apartment was too close to a school and they couldn't afford to move, they decided to never have kids because they didn't want to deprive a child of experiences like playdates and sleepovers (because he couldn't be near kids) or force them to live with the stigma of being the child of a sex offender, and he can't find a job to help support her. Despite the fact that Richie did admit to a horrible crime, they both were willing to work through their problems and not give up on each other. They are really one the few true examples of a good, trial-tested couple in this series.

* In "Witness", the eponymous character is a refugee from the Congo, where rape is used as a weapon of war. At the end of the episode, she finally sees something she never dreamed she'd see: a rapist punished for his crime. The experience is so profound that she decides to go back to the Congo, despite the risk to herself, in order to help women in her country get justice too.

** Fin happily tells Olivia that he has a dinner date with his son and his husband; Ken's fiance did survive being the victim of a hate crime and the two were able to become a couple.

* The beginning of "Intersecting Lives" has a small one for Fin's arc: Over dinner with his father, Ken reveals that he and Alejandro are going to adopt a child, and Fin is delighted. He may never be able to fully make up for being a subpar father to Ken, but at least now Fin has the opportunity to be a good grandfather.

* In "Educated Guess", a man who was arrested for masturbating in public while under a drug's influence witnesses a victim (Gia) being raped. Immediately afterwards, he tells Fin and Rollins about the assault. He doesn't pretend not to see anything. He doesn't try to say it wasn't rape. He doesn't try to use Gia's rape to get him out of trouble or anything, he just wants to help Gia. A genuine PetTheDog moment.

* The episode "Liberties" is a questionable one. The judge presiding over the case for one defendant is revealed to be the defendant's long lost father. The realization and reunion at the end is heartbreaking, but all the more beautiful for it.

** It helped that the same man (played by Michael Badalucco from ''Series/ThePractice'') [[ShamingTheMob stood up to his neighbors]], who were about two steps away from kicking down the door of the girl's apartment to get at the mother.

** The neighbors were trying to get the mother because they thought she badgered a pregnant girl, a friend of the daughter's responsible for the pregnancy pact and the cause of everything, into hanging herself in her room, which isn't exactly a situation that would bring out that much sympathy.

* In "Witness", the eponymous character is a refugee from the Congo, where rape is used as a weapon of war. At the end of the episode, she finally sees something she never dreamed was possible: a rapist punished for his crime. The experience is so profound that she decides to go back to the Congo, despite the risk to herself, in order to help women in her country get justice too.