‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ 4×02 Review: “Deliver Us From Evil”

Law & Order: Organized Crime 4×02 “Deliver Us From Evil” manages the unthinkable. It tells a story about a hate crime against a Muslim group, which also involves Jews (and, of course, good ol’ Catholic boy Elliot Stabler) that neither feels like a caricature of any of the above nor paints any two groups as destined enemies fueled by mutual vengeance. That’s not to say that there aren’t moments that are extremely difficult to sit with or that, as the story unfolded, a part of us wasn’t like “OH, NOT THIS. NOT NOW. NO.” (Especially after premiere week’s 8:00 hour…) But there are just enough surprising, complicated story elements that it’s obvious the creatives involved approached this with care and without trying to erase anyone’s humanity.

And speaking of things that need to be handled with care…Elliot. Not only is he still trying to balance caring for Bernie, watching her slow decline, with all the other things he has on his plate…but we also meet his brother. On top of that reunion, the episode includes a real treat in the form a Stabler/Warner scene.

So, basically, what we’re saying here is we’ve got another hit on our hands.

“…based on nothing more than his feeling”

Before Law & Order: Organized Crime 4×02 even really gets into the case work, and before Detective Stabler and Officer Bashir even meet, the episode sets up just how much Elliot and Samir have in common. While Elliot helps is mother through her prayers (a heartbreaker), Sam’s wife Stacy is praying with her own community. And all of this happens as a dude in a hoodie is tagging the mosque with hate speech, just before it all (quite literally) blows up. Unlike Elliot, Samir doesn’t lose his own wife, but she certainly is way, way too close to the explosion. As in, just next door.

Then, Stabler and Bashir meet, and we learn they also have a shared military background…and a shared tendency toward “going out on limb, behind his CO’s back, risking his career.” Which, of course, Elliot calls “odd.” (And we call “Elliot, look in a mirror.”) The young officer is convinced this hate crime isn’t actually one, that someone was actually targeting his Imam — also his mentor and friend. He doesn’t have any evidence, but he just knows. It’s a gut thing.

Importantly — massive sigh of relief here — he also knows in his gut that the main suspect, Asher Klein, is not his enemy. That he is not a bomber. (Even if he…kinda is, in the most literal sense of the word.) And the more strength Officer Bashir shows in his convictions, the more Detective Stabler shows how impressed he is. Christopher Meloni makes Elliot’s mindset in all of this very clear. Something in his own gut tells him to go find out more, and as Samir shares his thoughts, Stabler goes on sort of a…silent mental journey. He’s intrigued, yet cautious, skeptical. Then, he builds a ton of respect for the younger cop…right up until he is all in.

Something, at some point, really clicks into place. And Meloni and Abubakr Ali just share this…really great moment of recognition just as Elliot starts to believe Sam’s story and declares he needs to go talk to Asher. We’d even argue that moment, paired with Stabler’s little hunt for a stray bullet later — he’s good at this ok — speaks to camaraderie. Just saying, if the task force needs another member…would love to see more of this. For a very long time, even.

As it turns out, Bashir was right — Asher wasn’t motivated by hate. Instead, he took a “pay-and-spray” job, figuring he could “minimize the damage” if he was the one to do it instead of the many other people who might have wanted it. Of course, that doesn’t excuse what he did at all. That phrase should not be repeated — or even thought — by anyone, ever. And we, as Jews, should know how much pain hate speech can cause. How it triggers old wounds and opens the door to creating new ones (Spoiler: Hate never stops at just speech.) Not to mention, WTF. Tikkun Olam is not “well, sure. I took money to spray paint an Islamophobic thing outside a mosque, but at least I didn’t aim for killing as many people as possible, or coming up with even more vile language, or whatever.” Full stop.

Like, my dude. Your mommy, who still cleans up after you, is your mommy. No way have you not heard about Jewish values over and over. Come on. A shanda. But anyway…next part comes with a warning. This is going to be far too watered down for the point, but we are kinda doing a review of a police procedural here…So, please bear with.

Even as we condemn Asher’s actions, though — which we can, should, and must do — what really stands out, and is vitally important to take away here is this: Not every story is what it appears to be. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions and use a senseless murder for our own purposes or propaganda. (See also: Synagogue president Samantha Woll, z’l, this past fall.) Additionally, anyone who tries to sell you a story about Muslims and Jews as natural enemies is not only lying to you but actively seeking to divide our communities, our two sides of the same coin — these are our cousins, our siblings. Argue with someone else — because they hate us both.

In Law & Order: Organized Crime 4×02, Officer Bashir is not the vengeful, misogynistic, genocidal “terrorist” type often portrayed in Western media. Similarly, the Kleins are not clownish stereotypes of one particular “brand” (if you will) of Jews. These things are crucial. Also a vital takeaway: When one of the two guys who hired Asher murders him, Stacy sits shiva with his grieving mother. No, this show of unity isn’t going to fix real-world, ongoing slaughter and decades (centuries or millennia, really) of a violent cycle. But a police procedural set in the U.S. has no business approaching that topic anyway.

Showing the human, individual level and lived experiences of so many of us who actively show up for each other, though? Yes. Do that. Tell that story. We need it, especially when every other message — in entertainment or otherwise — is extremist and toxic. Gotta start somewhere tiny, somewhere (probably when I go back and edit this incoherent mess) overly optimistic and simple. Eventually, ripples turn into massive waves, after all.

Eh. TL;DR: It’s just really, really nice not to see the usual, divisive storytelling. Here’s hoping this arc continues in this direction and doesn’t go the same, stale route by the end.

Back to your regularly-scheduled Stabler programming

Law & Order: Organized Crime 4x02 Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler — (Screenshot Courtesy of NBC/Peacock)

Wow, ok. So, Randall and Elliot. First off, Dean Norris is almost too good at being the asshole brother, pouring salt in the wound of every single one of El’s insecurities. This series has, for a very long time, worked at unpacking all Elliot’s fears around becoming like his father, about being an absent dad. So, with that groundwork in place, seeing Randall throw the “just like Dad” line at him, then one-up himself with all the talk of fishing with Eli, is infuriating. (Basically, what we’re saying here is Elliot Stabler Defense Squad, reporting for duty.)

Arguably, Norris and Meloni are so damned good at this, we could come into Law & Order: Organized Crime 4×02 with no context, whatsoever, and get everything we need to know out of the tone, the tension in that car, and all that hurt in El’s/Meloni’s eyes. But actually having context means we can see how Elliot is also just so very much not himself here. At least, he’s not the person we know. Usually, if you poke the big, bald bear, that bear gets angry. That’s not what Elliot does with his brother. At all. It’s not to say that he doesn’t bite back or get a little antagonistic in his own right, but even when he takes the bait a bit, it’s just different. Something is off. Detective Stabler is…subdued.

Watching Meloni sit there, working his jaw in that way Elliot usually does when he’s livid and trying to stop himself from hurting someone, yet with all that resignation and pain underneath…is, quite simply, a lot. Somehow, adding even more insult and injury to the rest of the interaction, Randall also implies Mr. Benson-Stabler is trying to get rid of Bernie or something. But, as we know — and as Elliot tells his brother, “she’s insisting.” And all of this is, as we also know, coming from someone who is not there and has not been for a very long time. (Every accusation is a confession. Prove me wrong.)

Randall gets a rude awakening from spending time with Bernie, though. First, her state of mind is glaringly bad and has to be particularly jarring to experience for someone who’s not watching the day-to-day decline. As part of that, she even mistakes Randall for his father…which seems to hurt him just as much as it would hurt Elliot, the very person he tossed his own daddy issues at on the car ride over. Second, there’s the whole “why would he say that” and laughing in his face over the “Elliot said you needed me” line. Norris’ performance during that interaction is so heartbreaking, we can almost take back our original “hey, why doesn’t Elliot just yeet his ass through the glass window” reaction to his nastiness. (Almost!)

But something interesting happens by the end of “Deliver Us From Evil.” Maybe it’s because Randall finally sees for himself how bad things are, or maybe it’s just brothers being brothers. Either way, there’s some kind of softening in that last scene. Sure, Randall’s still sorta…an ass about the whole “3:00 a.m.” thing and all. And yes, he shows his concern by joking, but there’s a very clear softening of tensions. Not to mention, he gets El to grin after an exhausting and terrible day — which is something he very much needs. Elliot goes full-on Softy McHeartEyes on Randall, and he even almost slips up and says he’s glad his brother is here. But, you know, manly men joke about such things instead of actually being softies together, so it still has to have an underlying funny to it.

Which, given what we know about how Joe raised these boys…that’s probably the best we, or they, can hope for. We’ll take it, and we can’t wait to see more.

“That Warner scene”

Law & Order: Organized Crime 4x01 Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler and Tamara Tunie as Melinda Warner — (Screenshots Courtesy of NBC/Peacock)

So, the other big reunion in Law & Order: Organized Crime 4×02 is, basically, impossible to watch without wanting to sob into a pillow (or something). Having Tamara Tunie appear on this series is a big enough deal on its own. We literally could’ve just seen Stabler and Warner interact in the usual, expected way with nothing else and would have been happy. But no, “Deliver Us From Evil” places these two together in a way that’s a love letter to fans who have followed Stabler since the SVU days.

Certainly, a lot of that “old” feeling is there, along with pure appreciation for the long history these two characters have. As Melinda puts it, El’s “intriguingly vague” about what he needs from her, and he seems to delight in that callout. As they work, it just feels…familiar and normal and like no time has passed at all — that goes for both the actors and their characters. But things start to take a turn. Elliot starts having flashbacks to what happened with Kathy, with Meloni playing every bit of frozen, haunted, trauma beautifully.

Honestly, the only thing about this scene that doesn’t work is the inserts — because we don’t need them. Meloni lets us know exactly where his character’s mind is without them, so they almost feel like a distraction. But anyway.

Even before Melinda says anything, Tunie makes it abundantly clear that not only has she caught on that something’s off — she is extremely concerned. This is someone she cares about because of that long history. ~~(Even if he’s a bastard who left us for a decade.)~~ And then, the huge shocker — which, again. Dare you to watch without crying — the sudden, urgent, need for El to embrace Melinda. And for her to be…completely taken aback by it all. The reaction is just shy of hilarious. Or, well, it actually is kind of funny in its own way…right up until Elliot apologies for not reaching out after Kathy died and gives Melinda some long overdue thanks for her call.

The way Tunie slowly changes her expression from “???” and an obvious sense of “does someone need to get this man evaluated,” to realization, sadness, and then leaning into the hug and just enjoying it…is so incredibly powerful to watch. And it really, really says a lot about who Elliot is now. He’s not that guy in the car with Randall — in either scene. And, in the middle of all this struggling, he gets this one bit of relief — this one chance to make something right with someone he cares about from the past.

Love, love, love it. Period.

‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ 4×02 Review: “Deliver Us From Evil”

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