Please tell me I’m reading too much into Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 8’s emotional storyline.
Stabler spent most of the hour trying to divide his time between the hospital and the need to stop some high-tech terrorists, and ultimately everything worked out all right.
Still, I can’t help thinking that Law & Order: Organized Crime was foreshadowing a particularly devastating exit story for Bernie.
I’ll Be Heartbroken If Bernie Dies At The End Of The Season, But It May Be Coming
I’ve loved Bernie Stabler since she was a one-off character on Law & Order: SVU Season 10 Episode 5, and I’ll be forever grateful to Organized Crime for bringing her back and giving her strong storylines.
Her bipolar disorder seems to have faded into the background, but the challenges of taking care of a parent with dementia have been ever-present since Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2, when she was first brought back, and her illness led to Randall’s introduction to the series.
These are all secondary characters, of course — this is supposed to be Stabler’s journey — but the show has been stronger for their presence.
But now, it seems like they’re setting up for a heartbreaking, though not unexpected, death for Bernie, and I hate that thought.
It’s realistic — as they kept mentioning, Bernie is 92 years old and not in the best of health, and it’s possible Ellen Burstyn is ready to retire — but it will be depressing if and when it happens.
I hate it when characters I love die. It’s like losing another family member and it sucks.
I’ve had more than enough of that thanks to Days of Our Lives recently, not that that’s Organized Crime’s fault.
That’s why I’m desperately hoping that I’m misreading the signs.
But it seems like the series was telegraphing very loudly that Bernie’s days are numbered, especially after Stabler’s refusal to consider the possibility and Bernie herself saying she’d be at peace if it was her time to go.
Of course, this could all be drama meant to enhance Stabler’s conflict between being at work and being with his family despite his estrangement from them and difficulty letting his guard down enough to let them in.
Stabler: If you hadn’t been there when Mom fell…
Randall: Don’t start getting all schmaltzy on me.
I especially liked him telling Randall he appreciated him being there. That’s been a long time coming and the moment was totally earned.
I Have Several Bones To Pick With The Case On Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 8
Law & Order: Organized Crime is supposed to be gritty and violent to the point that it’s hard to watch.
It was on the right track with the Spezanno family case, but after Isabella was implied to have faked her death after a gruesome scene where she was tortured and her fingers removed, the case evaporated and was replaced by this much more standard police procedural fare.
There was little difference between this story about a group of high-tech terrorists who used AI and other technology to remotely detonate bombs in protest of “corporate greed” and a standard episode of FBI.
In fact, I vaguely remember a similar scenario on that show once when Elise was tied to a bomb in a bank.
There’s nothing wrong with those kind of stories. This one was interesting, and the climax was exciting (though I doubted Tanner would die).
But I don’t expect Organized Crime to feature stories that could be on any procedural. It has a specific, gritty brand, and this case was far beneath its standards.
Plus, Where The Heck Was Bell?
The absurdly quick resolution of the case wasn’t helped by how small the team was.
Bell and Reyes were missing, so the team consisted of Stabler leading two people — one of whom had recently arrested the other.
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This made no sense, and Bell’s absence was especially glaring.
Even with only 10 episodes, I guess Organized Crime had to do cast rotation to save money like the other Law & Order shows, but we at least deserved an explanation of what happened to Bell!
It felt as if Stabler had suddenly been left in charge of the team, which worked for his meaty conflict about how much time to spend at the hospital, but was confusing because Bell is usually right there directing things.
Reyes wasn’t there either, but somehow that didn’t matter as much.
Half of the fun of this show is the push-and-pull when Bell wants Stabler to act like a professional, seasoned cop and Stabler insists on doing his best imitation of Chicago PD‘s Hank Voight.
Without that, the case was just a case, which wasn’t nearly as entertaining.
It didn’t help that this was Vargas’ first big case. I will forever protest Jet leaving on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 2.
Sorry, but Vargas isn’t nearly as compelling a character. He’s dull. He does his job and that’s about it.
Plus, Jet had the woman-in-STEM thing going on and several stories about failed relationships and fear of intimacy.
What exactly does Vargas have, compared to that?
Even his story about being arrested when someone used his code for nefarious purposes was done better on The Irrational.
It’s About Time Joey’s Story Heated Up
I have mixed feelings about the way the Joey cliffhanger was handled.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 8 finally gave us something concrete that moves his story forward.
But honestly, they had no choice.
There are only two episodes left in the season, and there’s no word yet about renewal or cancelation.
So Law & Order: Organized Crime has to finish this story NOW.
As a mystery and suspense writer, I completely understood the choice not to reveal immediately whether Joey was real or a figment of Bernie’s imagination.
But this story has gotten the short end of the stick all season, so it was annoying that it was stretched out yet again before finally revealing that Joey was in trouble.
This problem is exacerbated by the fact that Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 4 ended with a brilliant Joey cliffhanger that was mostly ignored.
The series should have picked up again from that point instead of jumping in time and telling stories that had nothing to do with Joey, while we were left to wonder if he’d really contacted Bernie for 80% of the season.
Over To You, Organized Crime Fanatics
Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
Hit the comments with your thoughts about Bernie’s potential exit, the lackluster (to me, anyway) case, and Bell’s absence. Then send this article to a friend so they can join the conversation.
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Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 streams exclusively on Peacock. New episodes drop on Thursday mornings at 6/5c.
Watch Law & Order: Organized Crime Online
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