Whereas; TV, especially TV procedurals of this type, should be allowed to show that men and women could just be close friends without it developing into anything more without some kind of extenuating excuse (some examples of such excuses are how despite otherwise seeming like the kind of leads that would, Lola and Mark on legal drama All Rise couldn't be together because Lola's married to someone else or Oliver and Carol on medical drama Brilliant Minds couldn't be together because Oliver's gay so he wouldn't be into her anyway)

Whereas; those involved with the show (be it actor or not) who support the idea of their romance have seemed to indicate that they'd want it to conclude the series meaning if it happens at all (though I'm not saying the series should go on metaphorically-forever if it didn't) it would have to happen when the show is ready to end which despite the turmoil in the TV industry I don't think would/should mean anything would happen between them this season

Whereas; between Christopher Meloni only being said to be guest-starring this upcoming season (when I think if it was recurring-guest-starring they would have said recurring) and the potential that (if Law & Order: Organized Crime's move back to NBC proper doesn't spell the end for it) he might be balancing two shows come the season after this with his new Dan-Fogelman-created sports thing I don't think he'd have the time for Stabler to have time for her unless they went really ham with the crossovers

Whereas;  not only does it feel like the cultural landscape (even just among cop procedurals so I'm not even going to touch on the "copaganda" thing as I'm not the sort who'd use that term or I wouldn't care about SVU shipping) has kind of outgrown Elliot Stabler and especially the kind of masculinity he could be construed as narratively representing/symbolizing or at least now sees that as a bad thing but if one's kept up with Law & Order: Organized Crime and if I remember its most recent storylines correctly I'm not sure Stabler's  in a place where it'd be in-character for someone like her to want someone like him any closer/more-in-her-life than they already are without him doing some serious character growth before that happens.

Whereas; kinda stemming off my last point Olivia Benson deserves better than him/another love interest, I'm just not sure who that'd be. Years back some of the more avid (even more than me) SVU watchers in my family expressed the idea (with evidence to back that up)  that Barba would be a better choice for her but unlike Rollins idr if he left the show in a way he could come back to it from (though I do feel like at the very least that "type" would work for her). Also there's Renee Rapp wanting to be on SVU playing a love interest for Olivia and while I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of a late-in-life-realization-of-bisexuality arc like what fans of the CBS show Elsbeth want for Elsbeth Tascioni for Olivia Benson (hey, there are several things about Elsbeth that kind of push the idea of the Good Wife and Law & Order universes kinda being connected-parallel-universes-on-parallel-paths), giving her a female love interest as young as what-Rapp-could-reasonably-play might lead to backlash of people trying to hide their homophobia with calling her a hypocrite or worse (as to some people even a big age gap between consenting adults might as well be, well, something worth calling the SVU over)

Whereas; there's an angle where having the story end with a Benson/Stabler romance (even if it wouldn't be as direct as, like, whenever SVU finally wraps up its series finale being a wedding) would actually kinda not be all that feminist as it'd seemingly make all her personal B-plot over the course of the show feel like just part of her love story and if whenever the show ended it ended like that I guarantee you there'd be shippers recontextualizing moments from even early in the series regarding her romantic or personal development as if they were intended to foreshadow her romance with him/prove he's the "one". I'm not saying that it'd make even her crime-fighting take a backseat but Olivia Benson is way too badass to feel narratively reduced in her personal plots to some kind of Disney Princess or romcom heroine archetype and the show feels (albeit for some eras just relative to its time) too feminist and progressive to make the story such that it seems all leading to a romance with a very masculine man (insert dark joke here about how it might as well flashforward to showing a much-more-traditionally-feminine-in-appearance-albeit-not-full-Stepford her having retired to be full-time SAHM despite her being perfectly capable of balancing job with single-motherhood)

Therefore; while (if both arc and character are written/handled well) Olivia Benson does deserve a long-term love-interest it should not be Elliot Stabler as Watsonianly he's the opposite of what she deserves/needs and Doylistically having the show's natural conclusion be their romance seems like it'd twist at least fan perceptions of the narrative making them view all her B-plots/personal arcs through the lens of being just another part of their love story.

#OliviaDeservesBetter #JustNoBensler