Christopher Meloni On His Favorite ‘SVU’ Scene Opposite Mariska Hargitay

deadline.com:

Christopher Meloni took a trip down memory lane, dishing on his favorite Law & Order: SVU scene opposite longtime on-screen partner Mariska Hargitay.

Speaking in a recent interview with Us Weekly, the Organized Crime star pointed to a particularly fraught moment within the grisly crime procedural’s world — and one that would have repercussions for his character Elliot Stabler and Hargitay’s Benson for seasons to come. “My favorite Law & Order: Special Victims Unit scene featuring myself and Mariska Hargitay was when Lou Diamond Phillips had a gun to my head, and Stabler told Benson to take the shot,” Meloni revealed, referencing the Season 7 episode titled “Fault.” Recognized by fans as an especially difficult episode, the aptly named installment caused a seismic shift within the duo’s friendship.

When hunting down serial killer and sex offender Victor Gitano (Phillips), the characters are forced into a life-and-death decision that results in the murder of a child after both of them prioritized each other’s safety, letting their relationship cloud their professional judgment.

Earlier in the episode, Stabler chooses to check in on Benson, whose throat is cut by Gitano, rather than saving a boy Gitano kidnaps and eventually kills.