Investigating a brutal murder, Stabler is almost killed by a man (Rhea) he put away many years ago. Later, on trial for the attempted murder of a police officer, the man claims years spent in solitary confinement caused him to lash out at Stabler. So Stabler puts himself in the hole for three days to see what it feels like, and comes away with a new view of the case. The liberal scriptwriters have Stabler acting completely out of character as he comes to sympathize with the guy. Even if it was an attempt to give Chris Meloni a shot at an Emmy, it is a weak episode. And Olivia takes a back seat here. Of course, there was the episode where Olivia went undercover in prison. Then, we saw little of Stabler.
