Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 12
Season 12 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 11.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 12 Progress Shield
Locum
Sep 22, 2010 · 42 min
Benson and Stabler are called to investigate when a little girl goes missing. They soon find out that the mother had another daughter who disappeared some years earlier and she bec
Bullseye
Sep 22, 2010 · 42 min
The brutal rape of a ten-year-old girl leaves her unable to recall her own name. Unfortunately, once Fin assists with the ID, the detectives find that she's not the only one with m
Behave
Sep 29, 2010 · 43 min
A woman who has been raped multiple times is afraid to leave her house. The issue of unopened rape kits will see Detective Olivia Benson travel from New York City to Los Angeles.
Merchandise
Oct 6, 2010 · 42 min
A teenage girl's death exposes a human trafficking ring and leads detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler to team up with an old friend at the U.S. Attorney's office.
Wet
Oct 13, 2010 · 42 min
Detectives Benson and Stabler arrive on the scene where a woman is found dead in Bethesda Fountain. When her squeaky clean image doesn't match up with her promiscuous actions on th
Branded
Oct 20, 2010 · 43 min
Two men have been branded and sodomised by someone. Is there a connection between these men, and what nut case is on the loose?
Trophy
Nov 3, 2010 · 43 min
A rape and murder investigation puts the detectives lives at risk.
Penetration
Nov 10, 2010 · 42 min
Undercover FBI agent Dana Lewis returns to help the detectives with a case.
Gray
Nov 17, 2010 · 43 min
Stabler's participation in a Take Back the Night rally at Kathleen's campus results in an extra case for him and Benson when a student claims she was raped. Unfortunately, the case
Rescue
Dec 1, 2010 · 41 min
With young Calvin in her care, Detective Benson continues the search for his drug-addict mother, Vivian, but Detective Stabler notices a strong bond forming between Benson and the
Pop
Jan 5, 2011 · 42 min
A young boy is found dead on a park carousel after being dropped off by his uncle Joe Gilbert. When Detectives Benson and Stabler learn that the boy was beaten to death they suspec
Possessed
Jan 5, 2011 · 43 min
A young man finds that his girlfriend Larissa Welsh has been attacked in her apartment with evidence that points to her buried past. Detectives Benson and Stabler go in search of h
Mask
Jan 12, 2011 · 42 min
Debbie Shields comes home to find her partner Ann Jackson being raped by a man wearing a haunting mask. Shields contacts Ann's father to notify him of her critical condition. As de
Dirty
Jan 19, 2011 · 41 min
Detective Saliyah "Sunny" Qadri goes in search of Brooklyn District Attorney Page Ferguson, who she fears may be in danger. Qadri finds Ferguson just in time to witness her fall fr
Flight
Feb 2, 2011 · 41 min
When it is discovered that a teenage girl is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to sexual abuse, all leads point to billionaire Jordan Kress. As Detectives Benson an
Spectacle
Feb 9, 2011 · 41 min
After the sexual assault of a young woman is videotaped and featured on a campus-wide intranet feed, detectives Elliot Stabler and Odafin "Fin" Tutuola go in search of the victim a
Pursuit
Feb 16, 2011 · 43 min
The TV host of a show that spotlights predators receives threats to her safety, and this reawakens her hunt for her sister's abductor. An ADA with connections to the TV host then a
Bully
Feb 23, 2011 · 42 min
An art patron finds a body, and when detectives question the murdered woman's good friend and associates, they uncover an antagonistic work environment filled with grown-up bullies
Bombshell
Mar 23, 2011 · 42 min
A grifter named Cassandra strikes swinging men who frequent sex clubs.
Totem
Mar 30, 2011 · 43 min
When a young girl is found dead with a doll that is believed to have been left as a totem, detectives Benson and Stabler team up with Captain Jackson, a psychologist who assisted t
Reparations
Apr 6, 2011 · 42 min
Two high-powered attorneys face each other across the aisle when Casey Novak returns to the team, and Joe Dekker takes a leave of absence from his Los Angeles duties after his cous
Bang
May 4, 2011 · 41 min
When an abandoned baby is found on playground, Detectives Benson and Stabler go in search of the child's caregiver. Upon meeting the nanny and her boyfriend, Ken Turner, they soon
Delinquent
May 11, 2011 · 42 min
When a young woman finds a teenage boy asleep and naked in her bedroom, his mother, Bree Walsh, is quick to defend him. While Detective Benson and Detective Stabler try to figure o
Smoked
May 18, 2011 · 41 min
When a woman is murdered during an afternoon shopping trip with her daughter, Detectives Benson and Stabler are called in because she was scheduled to testify in their high-profile