WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Law & Order: Organized Crime, Season 1, Episode 8, “Forget It, Jake; It’s Chinatown,” which premiered Thursday on NBC.
The season 1 finale of Law & Order: Organized Crime opens with a flashback of the Wheatley family’s capture in last week’s sting and Sergeant Ayanna Bell’s wife’s discrimination lawsuit against the NYPD. Then Stabler determinedly marches into court, his children following him. It’s The People v. The Wheatleys for corruption, money laundering, drug dealing for all three of them (Richard, Richie and Dana) and also murder in the second degree against Richard Wheatley, specifically for the murder of his father, Manfredi Sinatra and Elliot’s wife, Kathy Stabler. Richard flippantly talks back, claiming racial discrimination against his black kids. They all plead not guilty. But because of the severity of the charges, they’re all remanded without bail. As the Wheatleys’ lawyer leaves, she confirms to the press that they are innocent and accuses the Organized Crime unit of having a conflict of interest due to Kathy’s murder.
In Angela Wheatley’s hotel room, she watches press coverage of the trial disparaging her. The councilor visits her and undergoes a security detail by Freddie Washburn. She says there are several plainclothes police protecting her, but she knows that won’t stop Richard. She’s worried about her son, Richie, and his pending charges. She refuses to believe he was involved in Gina’s death. Before the councilor leaves, she asks him if he’s learned anything about “that woman” mentioned by Richard last week as Stabler’s one true love. He tells her he’s pretty sure it’s his former partner, Olivia Benson.
In lockup, Richard Wheatley talks with his lawyer, frustrated by what sounds to be a long process ahead of him. She tells him that if he’s going to play his card, now is the time. In the squad room, Stabler and his team dive through Gina Cappelletti’s personal belongings and mention that her family didn’t even know she was a cop. Detective Morales mentions it’s the same way with him and his own history, as he comes from a family of criminals. ADA Anne Frasier tells them that Wheatley is trying to make a huge deal to get out of jail and has a meeting with the DA’s office tomorrow. Frasier, Bell and Stabler talk to District Attorney Baldi to plead with him not to give Wheatley a lenient deal. He says he’ll keep it in mind, but he has to take the meeting with Wheatley and, if he has good enough information, he’ll have to consider it.
Stabler is on the phone at night, talking to his therapist as he has a mini panic attack. He says he’ll choose someone he trusts and call them. He calls his boss, Sergeant Bell, who shows up to help him. She understands his stress and strain and is happy he’s talking to a therapist. The scene shifts, and Richie is looking mighty unhappy in lockup. He seems to have made no friends yet, with the other inmates intimidating him. Richie approaches a gang and mentions a Congressman, but they almost beat him up to keep his mouth shut. He insists, though, that he’s willing to make a deal to betray his dad. They say they thought Wheatleys never went against the family, but Richie says his dad killed his grandfather, so he feels no loyalty. He is, though, clearly still troubled over Gina’s killing.
Washburn meets with Morales to watch over Angela Wheatley at the hotel — she’s been quiet. She turns on the shower, crying. Her counselor friend comes in with Washburn, and they hear a thud from the bathroom. Angela is seizing on the floor, foaming at the mouth. They call for a medic for possible poisoning as she loses consciousness.
Stabler is at his therapist’s office talking through his anxiety and feelings of hopelessness. These are big steps for the traditionally bottled up yet physically explosive Stabler. He says that he keeps working to help his mind. He feels out of control now that Kathy’s killer has been found, and it’s up to the lawyers to deliver justice. In previous sessions, he’s expressed concern over making bad decisions, and he’s still worried those lapses in judgment will affect justice prevailing. His phone rings with news of Angela’s poisoning. She is still alive but barely. She had Novichok in her blood which tracks with Wheatley’s new men being Russian. Tox screens confirm nothing in the food, so they suspect the outside shampoo and soap that Washburn picked up for Angela via curbside pickup. Jet “Sloot” Slootmaekers runs a quick diagnostic and confirms it was hacked by Wheatley’s men, meaning the poisons were definitely in the bath products.
Stabler and Bell get Wheatley from his cell for the DA meeting, though he puts on a pretentious show of finishing reading a page in his book. They give him to transport and warn them how dangerous and how much of a flight risk he is. Stabler tells them they need more security, but they don’t listen. He and Bell tail them with the DA. In the jail, the gang Richie dealt with makes a call to report that Richard Wheatley is on the move. As Stabler and Bell follow Wheatley, a produce truck blocks them off. Shooters hop out and gun down the transport drivers — and attempt to shoot Wheatley before running away. Stabler and Bell secure the scene as Stabler begrudgingly rescues Wheatley and guards him. As they weave their way through farmer’s market stalls, shots are fired, and Stabler is forced to protect his greatest enemy.
They make their way through a restaurant, but Wheatley is bleeding out badly. Stabler makes him a makeshift tourniquet, not tying it off with much delicacy, as Wheatley says the shooters were not his guys. Stabler muses that perhaps his kids turned on him in prison, but Wheatley scoffs at that. Bell calls for backup. The trio comes face to face with the shooters who demand Wheatley. Stabler asks “how much” to buy time. As he and Bell pretend to consider handing over Wheatley, they see their backup arriving. Police enter the building and arrest the shooters. They transport Wheatley out of the building and, against Bell’s better judgment, they ride with him in the ambulance but deliver him to the US Attorneys’ office from there and skip the hospital.
Stabler arrives at the District Attorney’s Office to find a whole police squadron outside. Olivia Benson is there, saying a threat was started on social media, so they are here to stand in solidarity with Elliot. Upon hearing the name “Liv,” Wheatley lights up. He tells Stabler he gets it now, that she’s a knockout. “Poor Angela, though, eh?” he muses. As they lead him away, he wears a cat-with-the-canary grin. He now has a face to the name of the woman he knows Elliot loves most, so Wheatley can hurt him where it counts now.
Inside, Wheatley is singing, giving up names left and right of higher-up government officials to the District Attorney and promising easy access to arresting them. He offers to tell them how his former associates around the world are monetizing the COVID-19 pandemic. DA Baldi excuses himself to talk to Stabler. Elliot tells Baldi that he knows the murder of his wife doesn’t mean anything to his case, but that Baldi should know there are tens of thousands of police backing him who view the world through the prism of family. He says they risked their lives to deliver Wheatley to him and begs him not to use the murder of a police officer’s wife as a bargaining chip. Bell says Baldi can give him a full deal for all other charges as long as they can still charge him for Kathy Stabler’s murder.
As Wheatley gets in the car, he condescendingly says he hopes Angie is okay as he heard she had a little tummyache. Wheatley is remanded to prison in a solitary cell. He immediately searches under his cot and finds a cell phone waiting for him. He calls his wife and directs her to bring up his messaging launchpad and send out a text exactly as he dictates to her: “O, I’m in trouble. Can you please come meet me?”
Stabler and Bell arrive at the hospital to meet with Susan Johnson (their registered code name for Angela Wheatley.) Liv is already there, though. She calls Elliot to tell him she just saw one of his detectives at the hospital dressed as an orderly. Elliot is confused as Liv tells him she got his text telling her to meet at the hospital. However, it was actually the message Wheatley had his wife send out, meaning not only has he hacked Liv and Elliot’s communication, but he is indeed involving Liv in his effort to hurt Elliot. Olivia then hears noises of a struggle from another room and finds the real orderly naked, bound on the floor.
The shady detective Liv saw is Morales wheeling a seizing Angela away, delivering on the foreshadowing in the episode’s beginning. He says he messed up bad and he took two million dollars from Wheatley. He’s distraught and threatens to shoot himself in the head. Bell tries to talk him down, but he turns to fire at her. They shoot first, killing him and saving Bell. Liv, Elliot and Ayanna Bell rush to Angela’s side, coaxing her to stay alive, though the episode ends with her fate unknown. Elliott screams into the hallway in a solid double meaning: “I need help!” setting up season 2 with a bonafide cliffhanger.
Law & Order: Organized Crime stars Christopher Meloni, Dylan McDermott, Danielle Moné Truitt, Ainsley Seiger and Tamara Taylor. New episodes air Thursdays at 10 p.m. on NBC.
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