Law & Order: Organized Crime 2×14 “…Wheatley Is To Stabler” closed the book on this season’s “Nemesis” arc. The episode had a lot of satisfying moments (Jalachi!!!), and the same kind of adrenaline rush we’ve come to expect from Organized Crime. But it still kind of…Well. Given recent news about the series changing show runners, and the fact that the incoming leader was around for this arc, it’s a little bit concerning.
To be clear, this wasn’t a bad episode—not by any stretch of the imagination. But Law & Order: Organized Crime 2×14 made some of the Wheatley-of-it-all’s best bits…meaningless? So, there’s a lot to unpack with that. If things start to go sideways from here on out, let this be considered where we started to see it coming. If not, just…we’re still hella confused.
But also satisfied?
But also…not???
Jalachi, Our Conquering Heroes
Law & Order: Organized Crime 2×14 saw Jalachi basically saving the entire universe. Sure, they were helped by Sebastian McClain, our social justice hacker king. But, overall, it was them.
They went to the abandoned power plant with the “ancient” technology—thank you for my AARP card—and managed to get it restarted. And, more importantly, they showed that it is possible for two people with insane chemistry to get together quickly, rather than waiting 23 years (and counting). Regardless of anything that has happened, or will happen, Law & Order: Organized Crime season 2 has been a huge success in the way it has simply let Jet Slootmaekers, and by extension Ainsley Seiger, absolutely flourish.
Jet is so much more than the “quirky” tech girl stereotype that often winds up on crime procedurals. And while we love those tech girls to death, Sloot’s just…more, ok? She’s better. She kicks a lot of ass and just generally gets us.
And yes, kicking that kind of ass, being a vital part of he team, can and should lend itself to being able to find happiness in other areas of her life. See also: There has been an insane, “we’re pretending to hate each other, but really we want to hook up” sort of chemistry between Jet and Malachi (Wesam Keesh) since the first time we saw them interact. It was Caskett with a twist of EO…without all the angst and waiting.
Honestly, if they’d had their first “moment,” with those looks reminiscent of the Elliot and Olivia of 23 years ago, Law & Order: Organized Crime 2×14 would have still fed Jalachi shippers. And fed us well. But unlike our favorite detectives who can detect everyfuckingthing except their own moments, and who are brave about everyfuckingthing except their own feelings, Malachi and Jet owned it.
“So, you felt it, right?”
Yes, yes we did. And so did she.
And then…honestly, Ainsley Seiger’s timing on that scene was utter perfection. The slight hesitation before Jet just grabbed that man…If Jalachi could please teach Baldy and the Captain how it’s done before I actually join AARP and take my floppy disk memories to the retirement home, that would be wonderful. And it’s totally weird how this didn’t turn the series into a telenovela, huh? Guess that’s none of my business, though.
So, let’s just live here. March 3, 2022. Law & Order: Organized Crime 2×14. The time and place when Jalachi entered their canon era.
…Wheatley Is To Stabler
Elliot, sweetie, you deserved better. More importantly, we, as viewers, deserved better, too.
Yes, “…Wheatley Is To Stabler” covered all the bases in terms of action, suspense, plot twists, and all of the really good content we’ve come to expect from Organized Crime. Performances? Off the charts, as always. There’s no debate there. But, some choices were made that were just…not good.
In the first place, there’s the extreme lack of continuity. And yes, “extreme” is needed there. What was the point of Wheatley’s “one true love of his life” speech if, in the end, nothing was going to come of it? At the end of Law & Order: Organized Crime season 1, there was even that face-to-face moment between Liv and Dick the nemesis. We could say it was all done to set up SVU‘s car crash/ankle injury thing, except that only happened because of a real-life injury.
So, what was the reason, in this parallel universe where the final showdown ignored all of that? Just bait after a decade of no Elliot Stabler at all? Something that was supposed to get payoff but can’t—won’t—now because of a staff change?
Thanks. Hate both options.
Then, there’s the whole, “let’s have our villain kidnap an elderly bipolar woman, who also has dementia, and make a comment about her needing her medication.” I mean, sure, villains do terrible things? But really? In 2022??? Ok.
The kidnapping definitely heightened the suspense and gave us more “soft Elliot with Mama” content. But we already know how this man loves his mother and how beautifully Chris Meloni and Ellen Burstyn make these mother-son moments. So, what did it teach us—about either or hero our his nemesis? Not a damned thing. I’m also not sure I needed to see Miles, another elderly person, get man-handled like that either.
While we’re at it, on what planet did we need a rehash of Detective Stabler’s past? Viewers have been shown, over and over—and over—that, while his fuse is still probably shorter than is healthy, Elliot Stabler is not the poster boy for rage anymore. He’s been working through grief, went undercover to escape it all, came back only to have the man who killed his wife walk free…and has been a much, well, stabler version of himself than he was, say, during the divorce arc. (Don’t get me started on how that divorce should’ve been permanent, and he should’ve put a baby in Liv, not the mean girl letter-writer…)
Why, then, was a decent chunk of Law & Order: Organized Crime 2×14 spent on Elliot’s “confession”? There were some really gorgeous shots of Meloni, surrounded by all those cell phone cameras and all…But the whole forced confession bit felt like a parallel to part of one of SVU‘s most traumatic arcs. And we get enough reminders of that over there.
Not to mention, with Elliot as our hero and discussing his on-the-job shootings while surrounded like that…It played a lot like the series was trying to talk about mob mentality around officer involved shootings, with our “poor Elliot” being bullied and victimized. That’s not a good look in 2022, regardless of how you want to analyze Detective Stabler’s sins.
Organized Crime usually stays away from that kind of negative approach to accountability in policing. It’s a shame that such a big episode, with that Jalachi moment and so much other worthwhile content, decided to fall back into old Law & Order patterns.
Again, as in the intro…Let’s just hope this isn’t a sign of what’s to come.
…Law & Order: Organized Crime 2×14 Is To Fangirl Thoughts
- The hat. The jeans. The vest. The black fleece. Thank you, Wardrobe. And thank you to Chris Meloni’s parents.
- Thank you to the shot from behind as this man
‘s asswatches that car sink into the river. - “Do you remember what I said about grief?” “Yeah. It gets better.” “I lied.” I hate that this is so on point.
- Truly, could they have kept Angela alive so we could see more of Tamara Taylor instead of leaving that one guy’s role open-ended???
- “You’re the pervert of my dreams.” Why is this the most romantic?
- “Before you send in the clowns…” He’s talking about us…
- Bell called Stabler her “colleague,” not her subordinate. Not her detective. This partnership.
- The way Meloni said “Mama.” Gut-wrenching, as always.
- “Sorry that the women who care for you men always end up being collateral damage.” Tea.
- The pride from Sergeant Bell and Baldy Stabler when the lights started coming back on. His face. The “she did it!” We will continue to stan the stanning.
- Bernie kissing Miles, who was working for the Wheatleys, proves Elliot gets the urge to hook up with criminals from Mama. Awww, I guess?
- All these references to El’s soul…and the only mention of her came at the very end, as a way to soft-intro the next arc. Ok!
- “How can I help?” This ain’t New Amsterdam, bestie. (But you can help by canceling my student debt.)
- “I want Elliot Stabler…to pay. For his transgressions.” Same? But those transgressions were against God (Olivia Benson), and he has (apparently) lost her phone number, email address, precinct address, and home address again.
- But seriously. City-wide blackout. The nemesis doing his worst in the dark. No mention of checking in on the Captain. Sure, Jan.
- Anyway. Jalachi. And (hopefully) good riddance to Wheatley forever.
Got your own thoughts on Law & Order: Organized Crime 2×14? Leave a comment!
Law & Order: Organized Crime airs Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC.
