However,Brady brings her own emotional baggageto the table.

When Benson finds out, she challenges Brady and makes her feel like her competence is being questioned.

The truth is, theyre both right, which is exactlywhat makes their conflict so powerful.

Custom image of Mariska Hargitay and Maura Tierney as Olivia Benson and Jessica Brady in a crossover episode of Law and Order and SVU

Image by Nimesh Niyomal Perera

For both characters,this case becomes a reckoningwith unfinished business.

Rather than take sides, the writing allows both women tochallenge and grow from one another.

Theres no dramatic blowout or neat resolution, but instead a gradual and earned shift toward mutual understanding.

LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT –

Image via NBC

Together,they bring him to justice and finally get answers for the womenwhose lives he so brutally stole.

The next crossover between the long-running procedurals airs on April 17.

Whats especially refreshing is how the crossover lets these women be in conflict without reducing either of them.

Maura Tierney as Lieutenant Jessica Brady and Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson in Law & Order crossover “Play With Fire Part 1”

Image via NBC

Law & Order

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law-order-svu

This series follows the Special Victims Unit, a specially trained squad of detectives in the New York City Police Department that investigate sexually related crimes.

Law & Order

Mariska Hargitay