What? Richard Wheatley and his family are in jail with another episode to go before the end of the season?
I did not see that one coming.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 1 Episode 7 focused mostly on the operation to get Wheatley and his associates, but I expected him to get away again.
Wheatley is crafty, determined, and conscienceless, so even his arrest is unlikely to be the end of his illegal activities.
Mob bosses are notorious for managing to conduct their business behind bars — including ordering hits on their enemies. And Wheatley has already proven he will kill anyone who gets in his way.
So Silvano and anyone else he even suspects of having a role in turning him in had better watch their backs!
The whole subway sequence leading to Wheatley’s arrest was one of the most exciting sets of scenes so far, though.
The writers did a good job of raising the stakes to the max, between the cops that were supposed to be helping to take off, Stabler and Bell not knowing that their informants were dead, and Wheatley literally going underground at the last second.
I held my breath when Jet ran downstairs to give the undercover a new microphone, sure she was going to get caught, and again when Washburn pretended to be drunk to get Silvano the coded message to move forward.
That subway station was conveniently empty except for all the bad guys, though. New York City subway terminals rarely are, so meeting down there seemed like a risky plan.
But considering Wheatley’s cunning and influence, he could have easily ensured the station was empty.
It was unsurprising that he slid onto the oncoming train to escape, though you’d think the transit cops would have alerted the conductors not to stop at that station until further notice.
That’s pretty standard practice when there’s any sort of police activity at an NYC subway station, so the passengers likely wouldn’t have suspected anything out of the ordinary. And the cops should have expected that Wheatley wasn’t going down without a fight and anticipated him trying to get on a subway.
Of course, the most logical thing to have done would have been to let him go for now and catch up with him later while his kids sat in holding cells.
The cops had the tape so they could have arrested Wheatley later, and letting Richie and Dana think their father had abandoned them as soon as they were arrested might have helped secure their cooperation.
But that wouldn’t have been as exciting as Stabler running between cars and on and off the train in an attempt to catch Wheatley, so I can’t complain.
Go ahead. Shoot me. That’s what you do. You shoot people. How many have you killed? Seven? Eight?
Wheatley
Wheatley’s mind games after he was cornered and afterward added an extra layer to this episode.
I cracked up at his response to Bell reading him his rights.
But more seriously, it’s a credit to the work Stabler has done on himself lately that he didn’t get his buttons pushed by Wheatley, insinuating that he shoots and kills people all the time.
The last scene between Wheatley, Angela, and Stabler is sure to have thrilled Stabler/Benson shippers, too.
We all know who Wheatley was implying was the true love of Stabler’s life, and it’s easy to conclude that if Wheatley picked up on it, that there must be something to it.
Of course, that was also a veiled threat against Benson. Stabler’s been pushing her away for a while partly because he doesn’t want to put a target on her back, but it looks like that happened anyway.
If there was one thing that was disappointing about the hour, it was that Gina’s death was real.
I had hoped that Izak had helped her fake her death so that she could go into Witness Protection like Alex Cabot did on Law & Order: SVU Season 5 Episode 4.
I guess there was no real reason for that other than her character being likable, but it seemed logical, and when Charlotte Sullivan’s name appeared in the credits, it gave me extra hope that Gina would be revealed to be alive.
Her death yielded some great dramatic scenes for Bell, though.
The notification ruined the group’s celebration over having finally arrested Wheatley, and Bell had a hard time controlling herself in front of Richie.
Gina was more than an undercover officer to her — she was a friend. And Bell’s response to Richie’s denials led to an interesting role reversal, as Stabler had to be the one to hold her back instead of the other way around.
Bell has to be doubly careful right now, too, since the brass is not happy with her family’s lawsuit filing against the NYPD.
Boss: Why did Chambliss pull out?
Bell: He had other warrants and he didn’t think Silvano would make contact.
Stabler: Because he’s a bigoted scumbag.
Bell: That’s not helpful right now.
As it is, she had a hard time getting backup for this mission, and she had to be careful to toe the line and not piss off her boss any more than she already had, not that Stabler was making that any too easy.
That lawsuit is sure to cause more professional trouble for her as it proceeds. Denise can’t keep her name out of it no matter how hard she tries, not when Bell is well known as the head of a major NYPD department.
And if it turns out any of Bell’s officers are on Wheatley’s payroll, 1PP will be thrilled to use that against Bell, too. Maybe that’s how that dropped storyline about Wheatley having an NYPD mole will tie into things.
Your turn, Organized Crime fanatics!
What did you think of Wheatley’s arrest? How do you think he will weasel out of this? Are you expecting a hit on Benson?
Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know!
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Law & Order: Organized Crime airs on NBC on Thursdays at 10 PM EST/PST. The season finale will air on June 3, 2021.
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.