Yikes! Wheatley managed to manipulate Sebastian into doing his dirty work and get one over on Stabler, and now all of New York City’s lost electricity.
Stabler did great work getting to the truth about the other five bombs, but should he have realized it was too easy?
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2 Episode 13 raised the stakes and set the stage for the final showdown between Stabler and Wheatley, but was Wheatley’s power move inevitable?
No one manipulates people like Richard Wheatley. He seems to be a genius at knowing what makes people tick and pushing the right buttons to get what he wants.
And after at least a year of cat-and-mouse games, no one should know that better than Stabler.
If Organized Crime knew about the bomb threats and easily got info about where the bombs were planted, that should have been a sign that Wheatley was up to something else.
Nothing gets leaked about his operations unless he wants it to be revealed, and by now, Stabler should know this.
Still, though, Wheatley’s real plan was hard to predict.
He always goes big, so Organized Crime should have thought about the city’s vulnerabilities and taken action to make sure he didn’t exploit them. But since they were dealing with limited resources, that might have been difficult, if not impossible.
Dealing with the five bombs took most of the NYPD resources, and even then, the Bomb Squad wasn’t always available, so there was no room for checking out extra places just in case.
So while Stabler should have realized something was up, it might have been hard for him to do anything about it.
The most compelling part of this story was Stabler’s undercover assignment, especially Bell’s resistance.
Bell: I’m not having you go back undercover.
Stabler: It’s not going undercover. It’s one meeting.
Bell: One meeting turns into two, then three, then I’m running a skeleton crew and worrying about whether you’re going to come out of this alive and what lines you’ve crossed.
Bell wasn’t wrong in anything she said. Stabler crossed about si hundred lines while masquerading as Eddie Wagner, and Bell wasn’t the only one to suggest that part of him enjoyed being a gangster who could kill and maim without consequences.
Stabler’s been on the run from himself since Kathy’s death, and the few therapy sessions he had before going undercover with the Albanian mob didn’t change that.
That said, Stabler wasn’t wrong, either. Bell’s plan of listening in from the outside was unlikely to get anywhere. The only way to find out anything useful was to have a man on the inside.
I wasn’t surprised that a bunch of goons were suspicious, though. Stabler was constantly talking under his breath to Bell throughout the mission, which was sure to draw unwanted attention.
Hey baldie, don’t embarrass me again in front of my brothers or I’ll dox your entire family. [to Jett] He’s gonna kick my ass for that, isn’t he?
Malachai
It was lucky for him that they were more concerned about him flirting with Anna than with his constant communications with Bell out in the open!
Malachi’s communications with Stabler provided some much-needed comic relief in an otherwise intense hour, though. His ad-lib and deadpan comment to Jett afterward cracked me up.
As for Anna, I can’t help wondering if she’ll pop up again. It seemed random that she befriended Stabler, got cold feet when she learned the revolution included violence against innocent people and ran away on his orders.
Nothing on Organized Crime is EVER random, so what was that all about?
Meanwhile, we’re no closer to understanding what’s going on with Angela than we have been all season long.
She and Wheatley seemed to be working together to manipulate Sebastian, and she had no qualms about leaving him there with a bomb set to go off while she and Wheatley exited holding hands.
But we all know she’d do anything for her kids, so there may be more to the story than this. It remains to be seen whether Angela will double-cross Wheatley again or if she’s been playing the cops this whole time.
Sebastian: Go ahead! Shoot me! Put me out of my misery. I’m done playing your stupid games!
Wheatley: You’re done when I tell you you’re done.
Sebastian’s willingness to sacrifice his own life rather than go along with Wheatley’s was interesting. Too bad he couldn’t stick to his principles once Wheatley pretended to threaten Angela.
As usual, Wheatley’s behavior brings up more questions than answers.
What would Wheatley have done if Sebastian called his bluff? It probably doesn’t matter since he deliberately pushed the right buttons to get the response he wanted from Sebastian.
But still, I can’t help but be curious about what his Plan B was if anything.
Also, did Wheatley plant that bomb expecting that Sebastian would be rescued, or did he intend to kill him?
The biggest question, of course, is what’s going to happen next.
If all of New York has lost power, that means a ton of panicked residents, a power company that is overwhelmed trying to fix this, and plenty of opportunities for Wheatley to do something even bigger and more problematic while everyone is preoccupied with getting the power grid back online.
Wheatley’s arc is drawing to a close, but it’s anyone’s guess how it will end. Despite Dylan McDermott moving over to FBI: Most Wanted soon, the resolution of this story will likely leave the door open a crack for a third battle between Stabler and Wheatley someday.
Wheatley’s still a popular villain. He and Stabler are like Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty, so it’s unlikely that either one of these characters will have a final victory here.
Your turn, Organized Crime fanatics! Hit that big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know what you think.
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Law & Order: Organized Crime airs on NBC on Thursdays at 10 PM EST/PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.