To kick off Season 21 of "Law & Order: SVU," Olivia Benson was promoted from sergeant to captain. Since her 2019 career change, she has done her best to lead, though some fans remain unconvinced that she has what it takes to do the job right. Benson is smart, capable, and experienced, but her impartiality and personal investment in cases is certainly a cause for concern. It doesn't help that she's following in the footsteps of Don Cragen (Dann Florek) either, who many fans consider the best captain the series has ever seen.
"Don Cragen was the epitome of a great fictional leader," wrote Reddit user waterisnotforever in a thread titled "Cragen Appreciation Post" — adding several points to lend credence to their claim. Although, they seemingly could've done without, seeing as numerous "SVU" fans chimed in and agreed with the original post. "I absolutely love Cragen. I miss him," said SunStarsSnow, with Cognac4Paws commenting, "I've liked him since he was on regular Law & Order. The earlier SVU episodes with him are among my favorites."
Redditor Pinchaser71 called Cragen "a straight up captain" and explained that his strength lied in the fact that he could do his job effectively despite rarely leaving the precinct. Jeannesque later cited Season 3's "Care" — where Cragen learned to play video games to connect with Glenn Rudd (Colin Fickes) and help him overcome his fear of his foster grandmother (Piper Laurie) — as one of the tenured captain's best episodes. Atlantiik did the same, singling out "Wildlife" from Season 10.
Captain Cragen wasn't perfect, nor is he everyone's favorite, but to a large portion of the "Law & Order: SVU" fandom, he'll always be the best.
