Heartbreaking Tragedy in Law & Order: SVU Season 21! Discover the Saddest Death! 

A blended image features Law & Order: SVU characters appearing shocked and upset

Law & Order: SVU is one of the longest-running crime drama series on television, and the saddest SVU episodes have stuck in the public consciousness long after they aired. With a whopping 24 seasons on the air, there have been many memorable storylines and crimes that left a big impact on audiences. While there are a lot of thrills to be had with the show, there are also heartbreaking episodes. The show centers around sexual crimes and special victims, meaning there have been some installments that are hard to get through.

The show gives audiences a riveting look into a brutal reality while also making them invested in the stories of its main characters. The series is now the longest-running in the franchise, even with the original returning to the air, and it is also the one that can be hardest to watch for many viewers. From the tragic stories of the victims to the cases that feel relatable to real-world issues to the impact some of these cases have on the SVU team, the saddest episode of Law & Order: SVU can be quite unforgettable.

When it comes to the saddest SVU episodes, not all of them feature tragedy after tragedy. Some of them simply reflect the sad state of society at the time in which they were filmed. That is the case in the season 5 episode “Mean,” which sees a popular teenage girl end up dead.

Over the course of the episode, the detectives investigate the victim’s boyfriend and a girl she bullied before discovering her own friends were responsible for torturing her, killing her, and stealing her belongings. There is petty bickering among the other teenage girls as they reveal their reasons for turning on her in the middle of court. It’s an extreme version of a school’s mean girls.

Beyond that, however, the teenage girl who was bullied by the victim and her friends becomes a killer herself, taking revenge against another bully after she’s targeted again. The episode is a truly sad commentary on social politics among teenage girls.