Chris Meloni Explains Why Benson & Stabler Didn’t Hook Up

Rachel and Ross got together. Jim and Pam hooked up and got married. Benson and Stabler...well...never did a damn thing. Though Chris Meloni no longer stars on Law & Order: SVU, fans are still wondering why he and Mariska Hargitay's Olivia Benson never used those handcuffs on one another (wink, wink). Sure, Stabler was married, but he and Kathy's separation would have made an office romance possible (and it did, though unfortunately with a different detective). Benson, meanwhile, had her own dating life and a schedule jam-packed with, you know, kicking ass. Still, couldn't they have snuck in one little make-out session? Meloni shed some light on why a hookup never happened during his appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, airing tonight on Bravo. "I think they [the producers] always knew [a romance] would be the death knell of that relationship," he said. "I think they needed to keep that line taut and very clear… Keep the tension, never cross it." Ugh, fine. We can still ship, though, right?