After all the stress her job—and her past—has brought her, should Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) take a break from her duties at the Special Victims Unit?

Last week's episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit saw her almost go to the brink.  And you can't blame her, really.  It's the nature of the cases that she and her colleagues investigate, and more so if you've been a victim yourself.  It almost felt that she was stepping the line when she decided to break up a fight between her contact and, when she was inadvertently pushed to the wall—and everything has to return there—she points the gun at him.

Everything ended well last week, although the consequences were pretty tragic: they found the victim's baby floating on the Hudson, apparently thrown there to hide any evidence of the murder.  A visibly shaken Benson was tasked by Don Cragen (Dann Florek) to take some time off, because she got that close today.  And, in the world of fighting crime, you have to keep your distance, regardless of how much you can relate with your victims, or suspects, or both.

But that gets the job done.  Those flashbacks?  Sure, Benson's I-was-a-victim mindset may get in the way, but sometimes it provides a perspective, albeit muddled, towards whoever could've done the crime.  Then again, it could push you to do, err, extraordinary things—and, in Benson's case, it affects her so much it almost stops her in her tracks.

Story-wise, it'd be a bit weird seeing Benson gone, leaving Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) somewhat alone.  But it seems it could happen—Hargitay, in an interview with Ladies Home Journal, hinted that she would consider leaving the show to take on motherhood full-time.  (Or, maybe, try for a second kid, as she also stated in the same interview.)  But we'll never really know.  Maybe she'll take that break after all, or maybe she won't.

On tonight's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the team deals with a suspected serial rapist (guest star Michael Trucco) whose alleged victims always end up having no recollection of what happened.  I can sense Benson getting caught up with it again.  Tonight's episode is the last new episode before a string of re-runs to celebrate the holidays, so better catch it tonight from 10pm on NBC.  Oh, and the network itself is asking for viewer discretion.  Some scenes may be sensitive, after all.


-Henrik Batallones, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: NBC, People Magazine
(Image courtesy of NBC)