The 15 Best Law & Order: SVU Episodes, Ranked

This article contains discussions of addiction, domestic abuse, mental health, sexual assault, and suicide.

When you consider that "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" has been on the air since 1999, it's not surprising that it's spanned hundreds of episodes. (To put that in context, the series, which is easily the most successful spin-off of Dick Wolf's "Law & Order" and has even surpassed that show's longevity, is older than some members of Gen Z.) Led by Mariska Hargitay's empathetic and passionate detective Olivia Benson since the very beginning, the series investigates sex crimes in New York City, and whether the crime in question is based on a real-life situation or fabricated from whole cloth, it's gripping, disturbing, and fascinating to see it play out on TV. So which episodes are the best of the best?

First things first: please check any and all trigger warnings for pretty much any episodes of "Special Victims Unit," but especially the 15 episodes listed here. They may be some of the best-ever installments of the long-running NBC series, but they also contain some genuinely disturbing storylines. Still, for our money, they're some of the best episodes of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" ever made.

Likely based on the real case of serial killer Aileen Wuornos (who was also immortalized in the film "Monster"), "Chameleon," the season 4 premiere of "Special Victims Unit," misdirects the audience a handful of times (and to great effect). After detectives Olivia Benson and her partner Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) raid a gentlemen's club, they discover a dead body in the bathroom. After another woman turns up dead, the path leads to a woman who claims to be named Debra (Sharon Lawrence), a sex worker who shoots and kills a man in a hotel room in apparent self-defense.

As it turns out, Debra, whose real name is Maggie Peterson, is a prolific killer who targets men, murders them, and steals their credit cards. Not only that, but Maggie's young son isn't, as she claims, hers, and evidence shows that Maggie murdered the boy's mother and stole the baby for herself. Even though assistant district attorney Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March) wants to pursue the death penalty, Maggie evades justice and dies by suicide in prison. "Chameleon" is a phenomenal episode, particularly because Lawrence's central performance as a woman who will manipulate any situation is outstanding. (Oh, also: spoilers follow for all of these episodes!)

"Persona," like many of the best episodes of "Special Victims Unit," presents the audience with one case only to reveal a larger and more sinister situation for the detectives to uncover. When Mia Latimer (Clea DuVall) claims she was raped, Benson and Stabler hit a roadblock when her possessive, abusive husband Brent (Nathaniel Marston) prevents them from speaking to her. The detectives do speak to the couple's neighbors, Linnie and Jonah Malcolm (Brenda Blethyn and Mike Farrell), who confirm that Brent is abusive ... but everything changes after Mia is found dead at Brent's hands in their home.

Linnie, early in the episode, tells Benson that she had a "friend" who suffered abuse at her husband's hands but escaped; as it turns out, it was Linnie herself, and Linnie isn't her real name. It's Caroline Cresswell, and she's been on the run from the law for decades after killing her abusive husband and escaping from prison. Not only that, but Judge Elizabeth Donnelly (Judith Light) was a young ADA when she first tried Caroline and bears a grudge. "SVU" is great at presenting nuanced cases, and in this one, it's honestly hard not to understand why Caroline did what she did.

Olivia Benson faces multiple devastating and brutal situations thanks to her work in the Special Victims Unit, but the worst — without question — is the violence she faces at the hands of sadistic sociopath William Lewis (Pablo Schreiber). In the Season 14 finale, Lewis, a deeply dangerous man who commits genuinely disgusting crimes, has the entire Special Victims Unit hunting for him ... and even though they collar him, his case is ultimately thrown out and he walks free. Benson heads home to decompress, and Lewis kidnaps her.

Because Benson's captain, Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), told her to go home and turn off her phone, nobody notices she's gone at first. Meanwhile, Lewis tortures and beats Benson in her own home before taking her to a remote beach house; once her colleagues figure out Benson is missing by visiting her apartment and seeing that it's torn apart, a manhunt begins. Lewis, as it turns out, killed his girlfriend's parents during this rampage and is now torturing Benson again; thankfully, she gets the upper hand, but savagely beats him in return after handcuffing him to a piece of furniture. Watching Benson break bad almost feels cathartic, because Lewis is such a horrific villain ... and even though this episode is harrowing to watch, it's worth it alone for Mariska Hargitay and Schreiber's masterful performances.

"Hothouse" starts out with detectives Benson and Stabler investigating an apparent sex trafficking ring that brings girls from Ukraine to the United States ... and then pivots completely in its second half to focus on child prodigies pushed to a breaking point. After a young girl's body is discovered, the detectives learn that she's not the victim of sex trafficking but a brilliant young student who attended Morewood, a boarding school for the best and the brightest that puts its students through hell in the name of academic excellence. 

The murderer turns out to be the girl's classmate Jennifer Banks (Sarah Hyland), who, addicted to ADHD medication that helps her study, flew into a jealous rage and killed Elsa by the Hudson River. Thanks to a combination of sleeplessness and her meds, Jennifer was essentially experiencing a psychotic break when she committed the murder ... shining a light on the dangers of pushing young minds too far.

Some of the best "Special Victims Unit" episodes feature phenomenal guest stars, and that's precisely why "Authority" belongs on this list. Based on real-life events — including the Milgram experiment and a real string of sinister phone calls — the episode features the late, great Robin Williams as Merritt Rook, a man who calls people, pretends to be a police officer, and forces them to do degrading things. Williams himself asked to be a part of the show, and according to executive producer Neal Baer, this plotline was written specifically for him.

This episode is notable because, despite Benson and Stabler's best efforts to corner and collar Merritt, he actually escapes at the end of the episode after using fake, pre-recorded screaming to trick Stabler into thinking that Benson is in danger. Williams delivers a truly unforgettable dramatic turn in this episode ... and his character is one of the only ones to outsmart the show's shrewd detectives.

When a the body of model Danielle Masoner is discovered in Central Park, detectives Benson and Stabler meet her husband Wesley Masoner (Chris Sarandon), the director of a dance company, one of his dancers Naomi Cheales (Catherine Bell), and Naomi's tech-savvy husband Glenn (another late legend, Bob Saget). It's ultimately revealed that Wesley was having an affair at the time of his wife's death, and worse still, the affair is with Naomi; meanwhile, Glenn knows that Wesley regularly cheated on his wife but thinks it's a random woman and not his own wife.

It's ultimately revealed that Danielle was poisoned, and records indicate that Wesley purchased the exact poison ... until the detectives discover that Glenn easily manipulated that information. Worse still, Glenn implanted a tracking chip in Naomi's neck, which caused an infection and exacerbated an underlying condition. Saget's performance as Glenn is top-notch, and the twists and turns throughout this episode will definitely keep you glued to the screen.

When cops discover a gruesome murder scene at a townhouse with four victims who were brutalized and tormented before their deaths, Benson, Stabler, and their fellow detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (Ice-T) realize they're looking for a sick and sadistic killer ... but the entire case spirals out of control quickly when more victims pop up, indicating that the murderer is on a spree. Eventually, a stolen car belonging to building superintendent Al Baker (Frank Langella) provides more evidence, particularly when the detectives meet his two sons Billy (Jason Ritter) and Charlie (Ian Somerhalder).

Two women are kidnapped in short order, and as the detectives scramble, they speak to Charlie's ex-girlfriend, who reveals that he and Billy were, perhaps, too close. Even though Charlie is responsible for all of the horrible acts, including the still-missing women, he frantically tries to pin everything on a hapless Billy and creates confusion in the process. Somerhalder and Ritter are particularly good in this episode, which is, even by this show's standards, especially sick and twisted.

Anchored by a stunningly great performance from Kyle MacLachlan, this episode of "Special Victims Unit" is particularly great because of the way it grapples with morality and choices in a way that could easily divide the audience. After a young boy named Jake (Jordan Garrett), who's 13, kills a five-year-old named Henry. It seems, at first, as if Jake suffered a lifetime of abuse and killed Henry by accident after the child saw him fall on a cat, which lead to its death, and so Henry's father Dr. Brett Morton (MacLachlan) recommends some leniency in sentencing. Before long, though, Jake reveals himself to be an unrepentant sociopath; all the claims that he was bullied were untrue, and he's been bullying others for years.

Brett, stricken with grief and horror, grabs a cop's gun and shoots Jake in the courthouse after he's sentenced to a juvenile facility ... meaning he'll be part of society again after turning 18. Jake dies in surgery, but Brett feels sure that he may have prevented Jake from killing again when he's older. "Conscience" is a deeply sad episode, but it'll leave you wondering, in the end, if Brett was right.

After a little girl is flagged by her school nurse due to her abnormal injuries, Benson and her partner during this period, Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) speak to the Mesner family and make a truly horrific discovery: Henry Mesner (Ethan Cutkowsky), the 10-year-old son of Tom and Viola Mesner (Alex Manette and Hope Davis), is the one hurting his own sister. Further investigation reveals that Henry is a psychopath and regularly inflicts harm on others, and throughout the episode, he hurts his mother, torments a young friend of his and even kills the little boy's dog by drowning it in a bathtub.

When Henry tries to burn down the Mesner home after tying Ruby to her bed, things escalate and his parents realize he needs intensive help ... all of which builds to a standoff when Henry gets access to a firearm and shoots Amaro. "Born Psychopath" is terrifying ... and the young actor Cutkowsky really sells it.

After three people are shot, Benson and Stabler follow leads to Marv Sulloway (Vincent Cutarola), a rather unsavory man who owns several adult entertainment venues and is married to a former Rockette, Birdie (Carol Burnett). When Marv falls from his and Birdie's apartment and nobody directly witnesses what appears to be a suicide — not even Birdie's loyal "nephew" Chet (Matthew Lillard) — the detectives work to figure out what really happened to Marv, only to make a much, much bigger discovery.

Marv happens to be Birdie's fifth husband, and he's also the fifth man to die under somewhat suspicious circumstances while married to Birdie. Not only is Birdie a bonafide black widow, but Chet — who isn't her nephew, but a friend's son that she took in — is her lover, and he's been helping her dispose of these men the entire time. Because Birdie discovers that she has multiple brain tumors and is dying, she gleefully confesses to her crimes but ensures that Chet, who actually physically commits the murders, goes to prison after he betrays her confidence. Burnett and Lillard are brilliant in this episode, which delivers twist after twist after twist.

Again, some of the best episodes of "Special Victims Unit" feature really outstanding guest stars — and there's a reason that "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon won an Emmy for her turn in one of the show's standout installments, "Alternate." When a woman named Janis Donovan (Nixon) comes into the precinct to report that she thinks a baby is being abused, it's soon apparent that Janis suffers from disassociative personality disorder, and the woman "abusing" her "baby" is another facet of Janis' personality. (Thankfully, the baby in question is Janis' niece, and she's fine.) When Janis' sister Cass (Laura Allen), who was previously incarcerated, reveals that the pair's parents were extremely abusive throughout their childhood, the detectives assume that she must be suffering from the disorder due to the abuse, but everything changes when Janis and Cass' parents are found dead.

Despite a convincing "performance" from Janis, including a disturbing interlude where she shows up at Stabler's house with a knife, it's revealed that she faked her disorder and planned to kill her parents with Cass. Nixon is so good in this episode; each of the five personalities she plays deserves an Emmy.

When a young girl named Ashley Tyler (Shareeka Epps) is found raped and brutalized in a New York community garden, the SVU detectives learn that her mother, Risa (Daria Hardeman), is serving time for a drug offense. Ashley also tells the detectives that she knows her mother is being targeted by a specific guard in the correctional facility, so Benson volunteers to go undercover as a prisoner to track down a guard who may be physically and sexually assaulting the female inmates.

Disguised as a prisoner — but aided by Fin, who also goes undercover as a guard — Benson immediately catches guard Lowell Harris' (Johnny Messner) eye; after Ashley is hospitalized with drug-resistant tuberculosis, the prison enters lockdown due to the fact that someone there could be infected. Lowell takes advantage of the crisis by isolating Benson and trying to assault her, and he very nearly succeeds but is apprehended right after his pants come off. Though Benson escapes at the last minute, this incident affects her for quite some time, and Mariska Hargitay's performance is heartbreaking.

The Season 10 finale of "Special Victims Unit" puts both Benson and Stabler in danger after leading viewers through an entirely different mystery, and it's at once fully fascinating and stomach-churning. Throughout the back half of the season, crime scene technician Dale Stuckey (Noel Fisher) proves to be an irritating presence in the precinct, but when he mishandles evidence on a case, everyone turns against him. To try and get the actual killer arrested again, Stuckey murders a woman and plants the suspect's fingerprint at the scene and then attacks other people who mocked him, injuring Judge Donnelly and killing longtime forensic technician Ryan O'Halloran (Mike Doyle).

When Stabler discovers O'Halloran's body, Stuckey attacks and incapacitates him, but thankfully, Benson arrives to save the day. After tricking Stuckey into thinking she also hates Stabler and seducing him, the two overpower him so that he can be held accountable for his crimes. "Zebras" is full of twists and turns, but the best one might be that Benson realizes Stuckey is lying because he says Stabler went out for sushi ... and he'd never touch raw fish.

There's stiff competition for this title, but "Scavenger" may just feature the scariest villain in the history of "Special Victims Unit:" Humphrey Becker (Doug Hutchison). After a long-dormant serial killer with the moniker "RDK" — which stands for "Rape, Dismember, Kill," likely based on the real life "BTK" killer ("Bind, Torture, Kill") — seems to reappear, detectives track down Humphrey, a copycat killer trying to make a name for himself in the history books. Detectives need him to cooperate once they apprehend him, because Humphrey kidnapped RDK's only surviving victim, a woman named Jeannette Henley (Elizabeth Franz), and buried her alive with a small oxygen tank, intending for the squad to try and track her down before she dies.

Everything becomes clear when the detectives meet Humphrey's mother Ida (Anne Meara), a snarling and cruel woman who used to lock her son in a dark closet so she could leave the house to see movies. Jeannette is, ultimately, rescued before time runs out, but there's no question that Humphrey is a uniquely scary "SVU" perp.

"911" is a particularly astonishing installment of "Special Victims Unit" because most of the episode takes place across just a day or so and remains in the same location as Benson tries to track the location of a little girl in danger. Just as she's about to leave the precinct for a date, Benson's presence is requested by Cragen, who tells her that a young girl told a 911 dispatcher that she's being held captive in a windowless room and abused by a mysterious man. Even as her colleagues wonder, to Benson herself, if the call could be a prank using a voice-changer, Benson remains steadfast in her belief that the girl, Maria, is real and needs their help.

As Benson remains on the phone with the girl, the rest of the squad uses context clues and the technology available to them to find her ... and not only is Maria real, but she was sold to a dangerous pedophile and is near death when they do find her. "911" might be one of Mariska Hargitay's best performances ever (which is saying something), and it's the best episode of "SVU," period.