Stabler may have crossed a line even for him on Law & Order: Organized Crime.
Not only did Stabler’s attempt to get in good with the Kosta Organization lead to a brutal crime, but he also may have broken the unspoken code of the mob: never sleep with your boss’s wife.
Stabler is nearly a dead man walking
For A Few Leke More opened with Stabler bantering with the diner waitress, Rita, on The Count of Monte Cristo with its theme of a man posing as someone else for revenge. He joined Reggie at a poker game as Luca (Chris Mason) proposed an insurance fraud caper. Luca pressed on “Eddie’s” history just as Stabler cleaned him out at the game.
The next day, Stabler heard Rita was absent from the diner. When Luca chewed out another waitress for getting his order wrong, Stabler told him to calm down. It got heated with Luca questioning “Eddie’s” loyalty with Stabler slamming him on the counter and threatening to poke his eye out with a fork.
As they exited, Reggie broke it to Stabler that Luca just happened to be the fiance of Jon Kosta’s eldest daughter, with Stabler realizing he’d just made a huge mistake.
At the OC headquarters, Adam Mintock, aka Malachi (Wesam Keesh), was handcuffed and forced to help the team with a scheme to trick the KO into switching to a different kind of encrypted phone that would allow the cops to follow all messages from the mob.
Reggie warned Stabler he had to run, explaining that he’d seen his own father killed by Kosta over a mistake. Bell agreed with Reggie that going to Kosta was suicide, but Stabler had to do it.
He did take the time to see his son and even left a message on Benson’s phone to thank her for everything, but it cut off before he could say more about the “I love you” he’d given her last season.
With Bell and Brewster watching, Stabler went to see Kosta with mobsters openly calling him a “dead man walking.” Kosta was clearly upset, but Stabler’s wits managed to win him over. It helped that Albi was willing to back Stabler thanks to “Eddie” keeping Albi’s own secret.
Stabler gets a dangerous job
Fortunately for Elliot, Kosta didn’t like Luca much either, so willing to give “Eddie” another chance. That included taking Luca’s place in a planned robbery of a rival bar. Even Brewster was impressed at Stabler coming out alive.
The OC team busted the guy who had been supplying the Albanians with their phones, so they’d need a new supplier. Malachi could not stop hitting on Jet, who did her best to ignore him.
Albi told Stabler how a local boxer was a heavy favorite in an upcoming bout with a lot of money bet on him. Kosta was forcing the guy to take a dive, which would lead to him cleaning up over half a million dollars on bets. He would have his guys rob a bar to cover it up so the extra cash wouldn’t be missed.
Brewster, of course, wasn’t happy about allowing a robbery to take place and accused Stabler of getting too deep into his role. Thanks to Nova, word went out about Malachi’s phones with Jet amazed to realize the cops would be able to read the communications of nearly every criminal organization in New York City.
Flutura dropped by the gym to banter with Stabler and invited him over for drinks. Flutura made it clear her marriage to Albi was more for his money and position than any real love. Stabler drugged her drink so he could check the place out, finding passports for various young women in a safe. He slipped out just as Albi came home.
Stabler takes a dangerous shot
The squad watched the bar with undercover cop Maldonado (Michael Cannon) among the patrons watching the fight. Staber and his crew entered with masks and guns but, in horrible timing, a passerby saw them enter and called 911. Bell was forced to sideswipe a patrol car before they could mess it up.
The tension built with Reggie pulling up his mask so the bar owner could see his face. When a patron pulled a gun, Stabler acted on instinct to shoot him. Luckily, Maldonado recorded the whole thing to show it was self-defense as the victim (a member of a local gang) was still alive.
Stabler brought in the van used to get DNA and learned that the passports indicated a human trafficking ring, with Stabler thinking Rita was involved. Bell suggested they bring SVU into this.
Flutura dropped by Stabler’s Winnebago, brushing off his leaving after she “passed out drinking.” Once more, she put the moves on Stabler, only this time, Elliot responded by giving her a hot kiss and carrying her into his van.
Thus, Stabler is going even further into his undercover role and the question grows how far before he can pull himself out.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2 airs Thursdays on NBC.