aptain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) has little time to rest at the helm of the elite squad of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but when her mother’s intuition kicks in, you better believe she’s going to do whatever is necessary to protect her son.
SVU fans have relished watching Benson’s motherhood journey with her adopted boy, Noah (Ryan Buggle), who is now a teenager, believe it or not. Benson revealed earlier this season that Noah is actually 15 years old nowadays. After saving Noah’s life as a young child and adopting him as an official member of the Benson family, viewers have watched Noah grow up and slowly wrap his head around his powerhouse mother and all the heroics she pulls off daily. In Season 27’s “Deep Under,” as Benson worked a high-stakes trafficking case with her former squad member, Detective Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano), viewers got to see a rare pop-in from Benson’s son, who has grown to become quite an inquisitive teenager. Noah no doubt inherited that investigative spirit from his mother.
Viewers love any glimpse into the captain’s home life as Mama Bear Benson, and they got to see her maternal instincts kick in after receiving an unexpected house call in the middle of the night during SVU‘s April 9 episode. Here’s what happened:
Benson reveals her son Noah is going through a “rebellious streak”
Ryan Buggle as Noah during Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 Episode 17.
As pressures mounted surrounding Velasco’s undercover assignment within a trafficking organization, the SVU alum was forced to get creative in connecting with his former captain about a concerning shipment coming soon. In the middle of the night, Benson was shocked awake by the sound of knocks on her apartment door.
Benson wasted no time grabbing her service weapon. After heading into the hallway, Benson ran into a sleepy-eyed Noah, assuring her son that everything was OK and for him to stay in his room. With a brief glimpse into her front door’s peephole, Benson breathed a sigh of relief, opening the door to a paranoid Velasco.
“How did you get past my doorman?” Benson asked.
“You should have the super check the door on the roof,” Velasco shrugged, quickly entering Benson’s apartment to avoid any witnesses.
“Hey, Joe,” Noah said, clearly not listening to his mother’s request to stay in his room.
“Hey, kid,” Joe said, giving Noah a nervous smile.
“It’s OK, honey,” Benson said. “Go back to bed, we’re good.”
“I don’t have to worry about Noah ratting me out, do I?” Velasco asked, clearly growing increasingly concerned about his precarious position as a mole within a gang.
“Well, I don’t know, he’s hit quite a rebellious streak,” Benson shrugged, sounding like every mother of a teenager.
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It’s always a delight to see the rare moment at home between Benson and her son, who has matured tremendously in recent seasons. After growing up on the NBC nail-biter, SVU star Ryan Buggle couldn’t be happier to be a part of the Law & Order family.
“[The] Law & Order [cast] is basically my family because I’ve been on there for half of my life,” Buggle told Parade in 2023, adding that his TV mom Hargitay is “basically like my second mom.”
Buggle echoed the warm and fuzzy sentiments toward his SVU role in a 2024 interview with PIX 11. “I’m hoping I can do the show until I’m 25,” Buggle said. “It’s crazy, I’ve been on [SVU] for almost half my life now. I love that place.”