Elsewhere in Cafe Society there is a thread current on “will they or won’t they” couples. Someone has mentioned Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson as having unresolved sexual tension. I don’t agree; I see their relationship as intimate to the extreme, but in a more brother-sister fashion than anything else. I thought it might make an interesting poll, though.
They have zero physical chemistry. Interestingly Mariska Hargitay’s character on the show is a huge crush object for gay women.
I’m pretty sure Stabler would rather fondle some sweaters and hump a refrigerator than get with Olivia.
I can never take him seriously after Wet Hot American Summer.
No. 
I actually think so as well; I voted as I did because screwing with my own poll results amused me. I mean, I’m sure Stabler’s first thought upon their initial meeting was “Holy crap! How does this woman walk down the street without having to fight off half a dozen millionaires offering to swathe her in luxury just for the opportunity to touch the hem of her garment!” and his first words to her were, “Um…yeah, I’ll stand up in just a second. My leg’s gone numb for some reason,” at this point she is entirely desexualized for him. It’s like how I know, intellectually, that my little sister is hot (one of my friends commented today on her chest, forcing me to consider killing him), but I can’t imagine kissing her.
Don’t say I’ve never given you anything. The link in the spoiler box is, of course, not safe for work.
OF COURSE he wants to bone her! Just look at that!
(Thanks!)
Well, once you’ve been in torrid sadomasochistic homosexual relationship with Tobias Beecher…
Anyway, I remember Hargitay being interviewed by Conan O’Brien a while back. He was amused by the name of her brother Zoltan, pegging him as a Republic serial villain:
“So, how’s his takeover of Earth coming along?”
wow.
Well. Another reason to start the day feeling inadequate.
Her mother was Jayne Mansfield and you’re surprised she’s got a hot bod? Genetics will out.
OTOH once you’ve seen Chris Meloni naked and pissing into a bucket (Oz, and no I’m not going to go looking for a link) it tends to prevent you from thinking of him in any romantic situation.
I have a friend who was a (very much background) extra on one episode. She said every time she saw Meloni, all she could think was, “I’ve seen your dick!”
So she’s, like, the chosen one?
Cool…
I voted for #3…sibling love, and they are each other’s primary emotional outlet. I’m not sure that sibling love is the right term for it. I think that they are comrades, they are each other’s backup, and each knows that the other will do whatever is necessary for him/her. Who does Stabler call when he’s tied up with something and his wife just went into labor? He wouldn’t call the woman he has a lust for, he calls his comrade, the person he loves and trusts MORE than his wife. Stabler might be in love with his wife, depending on the season, but he always loves Benson. I don’t think that there’s anything sexual about it, on either side. It wouldn’t matter if both characters were male or both female, they’d still love each other just the same.
I think that in this society, we tend to get too focused on sexual/romantic love relationships, and forget that we can love other people without having a sexual or family bond.
I think the show totally blew it when Stabler’s son was born. Olivia, his partner for the better part of the decade, helps deliver the baby. How on earth do you then name the baby Eliot? The baby should have been name “Oliver Stabler”, which would have been a great little detail clarifying there (IMO) clearly non-sexual, sibling-but-with-a-great-deal-of-respect relationship (as opposed to a jovial sibling relationship).
That would have been a horrible idea on Stabler’s part. Regardless of whether his wife owes anything to Olivia (she clearly does), she is nonetheless ambivalent about her; I don’t see how she could help it. Had Eliot insisted that they name the child after Olivia, it would add stress to an already stressed relationship for no good purpose.
His wife should have suggested it. She and Olivia seriously bonded when the baby was born.
No. That episode was about affirming Eliots and his wife’s committment. Remember- he briefly worried about the paternity. By reinforcing the husband/ wife relationship it showed that Elliot/Olivia relationship was important, but different.
But she was on the verge of leaving him again when he went undercover later on. Their marriage strengthened again, but it’s still really troubled.
Anyway, that was me in the other thread. I get why a lot of other people see it as a deeply caring brother and sister relationship.
I guess I’m seeing it more as a step-sibling relationship where their parents got married when the kids were older, and they spent a lot of time trying NOT to have feelings for each other due to circumstances 
I also think the show would have to jump about eight different sharks before it put the two of them together.