The Funniest Moment Of Law & Order: SVU Season 1

Over the course of its record-breaking primetime run, NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" has provided no end of procedural thrills and chills. With the already long-running series continuing to earn renewals from the network, it'll seemingly continue to do so for years to come. Of course, as "SVU" is primarily focused on victims and perpetrators of sex crimes, the series also provided its share of high-intensity drama over the years, with fans continuing to cheer on the tough-as-nails Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) as she takes on and/or takes down some of the city's worst offenders.   

Given its often delicate subject matter, high drama is typically the order of the day on "SVU," so it's safe to assume those fans haven't been tuning in for a laugh parade from one week to the next. But just like every "Law & Order" series, "SVU" has always offered up brief moments of levity amid the drama. And yes, one of the funniest moments from the show's first season was provided by the tragic death of an unfortunate household pet. 

The pet in question was mercifully not involved in any sort of criminal act. That being said, the creature's tragic, yet hilarious demise on "Law & Order: SVU" may still have scarred one of the show's secondary characters, because one can never tell how a kid will process the death of his beloved pet turtle — particularly if it died at the hands of his own father. The father in question is Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). And yes, the steadfast man of the law actually killed his son Dickie's (Jeffrey Scaperrotta) pet turtle in a Season 1 episode of "SVU" titled "A Single Life."

That episode is largely focused on Benson and Stabler's investigation into a complicated murder case involving all the twists and seedy sojourns one expects from a "Law & Order" story. But it also offered a welcome glimpse into the home life of Stabler himself as we're treated to a scene of the man fixing a broken disposal in his family's kitchen. Upon fixing the problem, Stabler's moment of triumph quickly turns sour when young Dickie rushes into the kitchen looking for his turtle — which he had, naturally, left in the kitchen sink.

With the disposal grinding away, the sudden realization passes over Papa Stabler, with Meloni's perfectly shifting expression ensuring the undeniable humor of the semi-tragic moment really comes across. Laughs aside, Stabler's turtle-killing proved a wonderfully humanizing moment early in the "SVU" narrative that savagely lightened the tone of a show fated to linger in darkness.