What Was the Meaning of Elliot’s Gift to Olivia in Law & Order: SVU and Organized Crime Crossover Season Finale?

After Law & Order SVU and Organized Crime’s heavy two-episode season finale, the actual closing scene of the finale was a bit more hopeful. Spoilers are incoming for the SVU Organized Crime crossover season finale, so you’ve been warned. The scene featured Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) coming to visit Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) at her office, and during that meeting, Elliot reveals he’ll be gone a while on a new case, and she thanks him for telling her this time. He also has a gift for her, and while it definitely teases the general direction of Bensler, it also possibly includes an additional meaning for fans of the show.

Stabler will only give Benson the gift if she lets him open up the Christmas present she’s had on her desk this entire time. Benson does, and inside the box is a small Live, Love, and Laugh sign. Benson says he has to keep it, but he says you can always fix things, and he takes off the first e to make it Liv, Love, Laugh. Then he says it’s her turn.

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Benson opens up the box and says, “a compass, how beautiful. Thank you. Is this supposed to lead me somewhere? To something?” Stabler says “Lead you to happiness Liv.” Benson says “I sure as hell am gonna try.” Stabler responds, “Me too. Partner.” Stabler leaves, but eagle-eyed fans have taken a closer look at the Compass, and it seems to feature another secret.

Elliot Stabler giving Olivia Benson a compass necklace to lead her to happiness #SVUxOC pic.twitter.com/uW5wIsmak4

— the chris meloni project (@MeloniProject) May 19, 2023

There are a few theories, but @bsweetsymph99 has one that makes a lot of sense and in a way is an easter egg for fans. The compass features four letters, those being E, L, C, and M. It’s hard to spot the M but it looks like it is on the bottom of the Compass. If true then the Compass features the first letters of the actor’s real names and the first letters of their character names.

E would be for Elliot, while C would be for Christopher. Meanwhile, L would be for Liv (instead of O for Olivia, while M would be for Mariska. This is likely to be brought up in a future episode, and if it is something different we’ll have to wait and see. It’s also a tease of more connectivity between Elliot and Benson, with the compass leading back to him, but the added layer of mystery and homage is delightful too.

SVU and the original Law & Order will return with new seasons in the Fall, but Organized Crime will be gone a bit longer. NBCUniversal revealed that Organized Crime won’t return until mid-season, so it won’t come back to TV until 2024.

That sort of takes any major show crossover out of the equation until 2024, but perhaps we’ll get still get some crossovers and unexpected appearances on SVU and the flagship series in the meantime.