Since Netflix will be removing Law and Order SVU in a couple of week, I decided to have a rewatch. The only Seasons available are 6,7,9,10 and 11, so I started with S6 and it is still one of my favourites to date!
In one of the episodes, there are a couple of junkies, who I think are married. The husband’s mum lived with them, she is called Jenny, and is seemingly being abused by her son and his wife.
Stabler is the only one who seems to pick up on this and gets really protective of her, more so than he would normally, at least to my eyes.
We know Joe St was physically and verbally abusive to his kids ( multiple examples in OC and in S7 Ripped) and, in OC, it is revealed that he physically and verbally abused Bernie every single day they were married. This comes as a surprise to Elliot, but I think that this episode shows that he subconsciously knew his mother was being abused by his father, although maybe not the full extent of it .
I think this is one of the main reasons he wants to be a cop: so he can help/save people ( especially women and kids) from abusers like his dad.
Season 6 is so hard-hitting for Elliot, as the brilliant @ocstabler worked out, a lot of the really bad cases this Season have a lot of overlap: the one with Abraham the cult leader, who is marrying pre-teens and getting them pregnant, Contagious with Holly who has been sexually abused by someone in the community, then I think there is a missing child case too. This is when Kathy leaves Elliot too, so I think he is thinking about his family a lot, even more than usual.