Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for the last episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime.
The world of Law & Order: Organized Crime is about to get even deadlier.
When Season 2 picks up in January, there’s a new dynamic as Stabler has to contend with an old enemy in a surprising way while a deadly new threat rises.
It promises to kick the season into a bold new direction with plenty of thrills to come.
The Wheatley trial shocker
The big crossover of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Organized Crime featured the trial of Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott) for the murder of Kathy Stabler.
Despite the prosecution’s best efforts, the jury was deadlocked, forcing a mistrial. In the aftermath, the D.A.’s office decided that it wasn’t worth trying again and dropped all charges, allowing Wheatley to walk a free man.
Meanwhile, Stabler (Christopher Meloni) had a problem as his son Eli (Nicky Torchia) was framed for murdering a woman. The killer claimed to have been paid in secret from an account linked to Wheatley’s daughter, Dana (Christina Karis).
Stabler and Bell went to see Dana’s mother, Angela (Tamara Taylor), suffering from the after-effects of being poisoned by her ex-husband Richard. As soon as the cops left, the audience discovered Angela was faking her symptoms and perfectly fine while telling Dana to get out of town.
It’s unclear if Angela is truly working with Richard or if she’s simply protecting her kids, but it’s obvious she’s conning the cops, especially Stabler, to get her own way.
Talking to Give Me My Remote, Law & Order: Organized Crime showrunner Ilene Chaiken teased that Dana and Angela’s roles in this will drive the next “pod” of storylines.
“Dana is out in the world and definitely up for grabs, in terms of whether she goes towards the light or the darkness. That will be a big part of our story as well. And Angela’s role in all of it will be mysterious, and I hope that you’ll be engaged by figuring out, really, whose side she’s on and what she’s up to and what her game is.”
This is more important given the next story “pod” promises to be a dramatic one.
Law & Order meets The Blacklist?
When the series returns on January 6, a jailbreak will lead to several dangerous criminals loose on the streets. Among them is Sebastian McClane, aka “Constantine”, an infamous hacker. He’ll be played by Robin Lord Taylor, best known for his role as the Penguin on Fox’s Gotham series.
To stop Constantine and the others, Brewster (Guillermo Diaz) will take a page from the NBC series The Blacklist and recruit Wheatley himself to find these escapees. This means Stabler is going to be working with the man responsible for his wife’s murder.
“This next group of episodes, which we call ‘Nemesis,’ is really about Stabler and Wheatley—it’s about Stabler versus Wheatley, in that most classic way. But there are other characters [in play]. And there’s a new character, who is, in a sense, in between them…who you’ll meet in episode 10, which is the first official episode of the so-called Wheatley pod.”
Given Stabler is more “old-school,” he’ll need the aid of hacker Jet (Ainsley Seiger) to take him on.
According to Chaiken, Jet is “going to be prominent in this next arc. Because our world is technology. And that’s where she comes in. Some of the things that we’ve most enjoyed seeing her do, she’ll get to do more of in interesting ways in this arc—including maybe sparring with certain individuals that she sparred with before.”
What else is coming in Season 2 of Law & Order: Organized Crime?
As if the Stabler-Wheatley “partnership” isn’t enough, there are still several plots the series is juggling.
During the Kosta Organization arc, rising politician Teddy Garcia (Elliot Villar) targeted the mob. They retaliated by killing his wife. While the Kostas are now behind bars, Chaiken confirms Garcia “will be back in our story as well.”
It’s likely the murder of his wife has given Garcia a sympathy push in the polls that he uses for his run for Governor of New York.
Meanwhile, Bell is struggling with the knowledge that Congressman Kilbride (Ron Cephas Jones) is tied in with the Marcy Killers gang and their leader Preston Webb (Mykelti Williamson).
According to undercover cop Nova (Nona Parker-Johnson), all of Kilbride’s help for Bell has been trying to turn her into an asset. While that won’t be prominent in the upcoming arc, it’s still a concern.
With so many storylines and twists to come, it’s likely that 2022 is going to be the most exciting year yet for the Law & Order: Organized Crime crew.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2 returns Thursday January 6, 2022 at 10/9c on NBC.