For me, one of the best moments in the entire run of the SVU series was when the Stabler character bowed out. His obsessive, over-violent and uncontrolled behaviour was a drag on all the Benson character was trying to do. Additionally, he is really a hollow character, presented as having an Irish Catholic background. As I have pointed out elsewhere, there are two people in the Irish telephone directory named Stabler or Staebler: compare that with the thousands of Stablers, Staeblers and Stäblers in Switzerland, Germany and Austria, and decide from what background he is most likely to have come. Austrian Lutheran would be my guess. His best contribution to the series was in having Kathy as a wife, while she produced an amazing family of delightful intelligent children. Their characteristics certainly had nothing to do with him, even if he'd been around, and the loss of Kathy really is a tragedy. I will not be watching his spin-off.
Review of Return of the Prodigal Son
