Are we finally out of the woods? Mariska Hargitay was right in telling fans not to “give up hope” when it came to her Captain Olivia Benson and Christopher Meloni‘s Detective Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Last night, during the premiere of “In the Wind,” the pair made some big strides in the grand scheme of the 27-year-old slow burn we’ve been watching. After the death of Captain Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), Elliot and Olivia exchanged an embrace on screen before Olivia had to leave. Then, in shocking everyone (to their delight), Elliot says, “love you, night” in such a casual way before they parted.

Now, it’s been revealed by Meloni himself that the exchange was actually ad-libbed. In answering a fan on X, Meloni says the ‘love you’ was, “Ad lib. Made the cut. Ur welcome.” Many fans have taken the exchange to mean something monumental has shifted between the two characters. When the episode was first filming, Meloni said he’s “f*cking trying” to get Benson and Stabler together. If this is what he meant, the fans thank him very much.

Benson and Stabler Endgame Matches ‘SVU’s Bigger Changes Perfectly

The premiere episode as a whole had a different air about it. That’s likely due to new showrunner, Michele Fazekas (Gen V). Fazekas previously wrote for the show during the early years. Recently, she confirmed the tonal shift, saying, “In some ways, I’m going back to when I was on the show, which was like seasons 3 through 7. I remember what we were doing then that worked well. It’s like, ‘Alright, we’re gonna bring some of that back.’” After last night’s premiere, the vibe was definitely accomplished. Even though Meloni ad-libbed the line, it fit seamlessly with the episode, which Fazekas wrote. For so long, the pair were stuck in limbo, leaving fans frustrated and wondering if the trigger would ever be pulled on them as a couple. The chemistry is certainly there, but Elliot’s decade-long absence hung over them like Damocles Sword. Now it seems they’re finally moving forward. A quiet “love you, night” like it’s something he says every day, leaves things open-ended for the stage of their dynamic. Is it a burgeoning relationship? Or something that’s been happening since his accident in the Law & Order: Organized Crime episode “Dante’s Inferno?”

We know that they do talk off-screen, as seen by Olivia texting him in “Play With Fire” before he roughs up the man that threatens her son, but to now see this? It’s quiet, it’s intimate, it’s settled, it’s them. They’ve always been able to anticipate each other’s needs. After Elliot’s return in “Return of the Prodigal Son”, we only ever saw that during a case, with their interpersonal dynamic too fractured by the betrayal of his radio silence for a decade. Last season, Olivia made a point to say she was working on forgiveness, and that’s possibly one of the biggest hurdles to their dynamic. So maybe something happened off-screen. Maybe there’s hope to see more of this quiet progression of their dynamic. One of the biggest things missing from recent seasons was the presence of interpersonal moments between characters, especially Olivia. She was faced with multiple changes this episode, but one that didn’t seem like such a huge change was Elliot telling Olivia that he loves her (fork found in kitchen.) Being able to hold onto that (and onto him in the first on-screen hug of theirs that she initiated) might just be what she’s able to cling to as she faces the new challenges this season that Fazekas wants to see Olivia take on.