Crime Dynamic Duos: Benson / Barba (Law & Order: SVU) vs. Aram / Samar (The Blacklist)

The Blacklist logo any season

What makes a great Crime Dynamic Duo? The best way we describe it in this tournament is a pair of characters who fight hard for their cause, while supporting each other and those around them. They’re imperfect, but their imperfections are part of the fun. It also doesn’t matter what the relationship between them is, whether it be professional, romantic, or both.

In today’s feature, it just so happens that we’re focusing on one pair in Aram / Samar from The Blacklist that are seemingly together as a couple, squaring off against another in Benson / Barba from Law & Order: SVU who many people want to see together in that way. Both are super-compelling to watch, so we’re interested in seeing who the readers choose as the winner this time.

Who moves on to the next round? That’s totally up to you! Check out the poll at the bottom of the article.

Voting Rules – You may vote however much you want within the specified voting window. (The image above explains everything in terms of start and stop dates.) Note that if you are struggling to cast repeat votes, you may need to clear your cache or use a different browser or device. If you are on mobile and you cannot view the poll, scroll to the bottom and click to view the non-AMP version of the page.

Still with us? Let’s dive into this battle…

Benson and Barba, Law & Order: SVU (#2 seed) – What we love about watching the two of them is how they often want the same thing, but have completely different ways of getting to that end. Neither one of them is always right, and the writers do a great job of showing them as real people caught up in super-difficult situations. They’re both passionate, and we think that is what people respond to very much alongside the natural friendship that the each have. Benson and Barba both realize that it’s okay to disagree sometimes so long as you’re able to find common ground in the end. We just wish that there were more connections between officers and prosecutors on other crime shows that were somewhere near this interesting or complex.

Aram and Samar, The Blacklist (#7 seed) – What’s so intriguing here is that you once again have a relationship between two people who go about their job in very different ways — even if they’re coming into it with some of the same goals in the end. With Aram, you have someone who spends most of his time as an analyst, whereas Samar is often out there in the field putting herself in dangerous situations. The two compliment each other extremely well, and one of the reasons why it may have taken these two so long to officially get together is because they had to realize the extent of it. They introduce new perspectives and respect each other enough to listen. A perfect balance.

Photo: NBC

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