Gordon and Stabler in “Unfinished Business”

Night again. Looks like you and me are going to say goodbye pretty soon. Messed with my chair, huh? Screwed with the lights. Cranked up the heat. ... did I miss anything?

Stabler

[hands him a chair foot] Here, fix the chair if you want. The food. Get you to eat or drink so you have to ask to use the john. We try to get you to need something from us - food, sleep, whatever. You didn't need anything. You are your own man. And you know what else? You're smarter. At the end of the day, that's something I'm pretty sure of. You don't know how much it pains me to have say that. And it's weird because, back then, with Dana, I thought I knew it all. It didn't matter that we couldn't find the place where you murdered her. It didn't matter that we couldn't prove how you dumped the body. I knew you were guilty. I thought that was enough, but we both know how that turned out. See, back then I thought you were a pedophile. In their own sick way, pedophiles think they love children. They build a relationship with them. They believe that they have an emotional connection to the child. You know how you get a pedophile to confess? You offer them the opportunity. Some of them just feel so guilty about it, they're dying to tell you. But that's not you, is it, Gordon? I was all wrong. Working at SVU, I've learned the difference between a pedophile and a man who rapes children. You don't care about the kids — you hate the kids. It's not about attraction or power or dominance — it's about annihilation. You defile and destroy her because she has what you'll never have: hope, trust, potential.

[smirks] Is that why I do it?

Stabler

That's part of it. The other part, the part I've been trying to get at all night, is the rage. You're very good at hiding it — it's unbelievable — but I know it's there. I can see it even when you're sitting still, like now. Gordon, you're kidding yourself if you think you're controlling it. It's controlling you. Every lie you tell to cover your inadequacies… every perceived insult you think you're getting… just feeds it.

You're lecturing me about rage? Are you kidding?

Stabler

I'm not.

What do you know about controlling anything?

Stabler

I don't murder people.

Give it time. You say you see something in me. Well, I see something in you, too. You think you control? You can't. You're controlled. By your boss, by your job, by your wife, your kids… What would you be if all those controls went away?

Stabler

[quietly] I'd be you.