WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2, Episode 2, “New World Order,” which premiered Thursday on NBC.
As the episode opens a Law & Order: Organized Crime flashback recaps Detective Elliot Stabler’s undercover work with the Albanian gang and against the Marcy Killers, as well as Congressman Kilbride’s peace offer to Sgt. Ayanna Bell and her wife Denise over the police brutality case involving Denise’s nephew. In the present day, Stabler is sneaking around at night, meeting with Albi Briscu, the Albanian gang leader, in a parked RV. Elsewhere, Albi’s nephew Reggie rolls up on a member of the Italian gang and bites his ear off before executing another man. Albi, snorting cocaine, takes an undercover Stabler for a drive, as he is highly suspicious of him. Stabler plays along, assuring him he’s never been a rat and never cheated on a partner. Albi and Stabler arrive at the warehouse where Reggie and his crew are. Reggie’s guys begin cutting off fingers and pulling the teeth of dead bodies to send messages to their gangs. They direct Stabler to burn the bodies and the rest of the warehouse. Deep undercover, Stabler does.
Stabler sneakily returns to the Organized Crime Headquarters and meets with Sgt. Brewster and Jet “Sloot” Slootmaekers. He relays to them that the KO gang, the Albanians, murdered the rival gang members and confirms the new KO and Marcy Killers alliance to Sgt. Bell. Stabler mentions Nova, a girl in the KO, that they might be able to flip. Brewster is afraid she’s too smart and too stubborn to convince, but Bell wants to go ahead, as that would allow them to play the long game.
Meanwhile, Nova shows her girlfriend the nail salon she bought to surprise her, thanks to her new position within the KO gang. While with Stabler, Reggie shares a sweet moment on the phone with his mom while at a diner. He asks Stabler about his own mom, and Stabler, in his undercover persona, says his mom died while he was locked up. They get a call from Albi and show up at a burnt-out bagel shop. Albi is suspicious that the owner started the fire himself for a payout and says it’s no coincidence that the place just happens to burn down the week they take over the insurance payments from the Italians. Stabler says he’ll look around to determine if it was arson or a real accident, but Albi has no patience and shoots the owner in the head.
Upset, Stabler visits a church and goes to a confessional booth, feeling guilty that he couldn’t stop Albi from killing the owner. On the other side is his boss, Sgt. Bell, who lets him be upset but reminds him they sometimes need to “lose a few to save a lot” and what he’s doing is making a difference. She offers to pull him out, but he wants to stick out his mission. He asks her, though, to make sure the cops don’t rule that fire an arson so that the owner’s family gets the insurance payment.
Bell goes to talk to the daughter of the bagel shop owner and she tells Bell the Albanians took over and raised the premiums by 30% – and that Reggie is crazy. Bell and Brewster debrief: murders left on display and buildings set on fire left and right. Sloot comes in and confirms the identities of the two murdered gang members: high-ranking Italians. Bell says the KO gang is on a spree.
Bernadette Stabler, Elliot’s mom, is at a duck pond with a little boy she seems to think is her own young grandson Elliot. She becomes distraught and slaps the kid, leading to her arrest. She is taken to jail, visibly upset and shouting for her son, Elliot Stabler. Sgt. Bell comes to her rescue and takes her out, telling her she’s going to get Elliot for her. Later that day, Elliot shows up to see her and for a moment she doesn’t recognize him. It’s been a long time and his facial hair is different, plus her memory is failing her, on top of everything. For a minute she forgets that Elliot had been living in Rome for the past few years and she doesn’t remember that he and the family came back to visit a few times, either. Suddenly, she remembers that Kathy, Elliot’s wife, was murdered. She says she changed her pills because she thought she was fine, but she keeps forgetting things.
Elliot, alongside kids Eli and Kathleen, take his mom home and discover she’s basically hoarding cats. Kathleen asks her grandmom where her caretaker, Rosa, went and Bernadette says she fired her because she didn’t like being told what to do. Elliot wants to take his mom back to the hospital but she refuses to go. She starts crying, frustrated that every time she thinks she’s OK, she loses more memories and more and more of the ability to function. Kathleen and Eli offer for her to come back and stay with them all. Elliot says he really wants her to and that he’ll try to be there for her over the weekend.
Bell tells Denise that all the Congressman offered was $150K and no apology to make their case against the NYPD go away. Denise says it’s a bad offer, but Bell says it’s better than what they usually offer — and that it will get ugly in court, they will make her nephew out to be a criminal. Meanwhile, Nova and her girlfriend are driving to go see Hamilton on Broadway. Reggie and Stabler return to their regular diner, and Reggie continues to make the young waitress uncomfortable with his advances. He says they’re waiting on Nova. However, another man enters the diner first and claims to know Stabler. He approaches him, about to blow Stabler’s cover, when a drive-by shooting breaks out (the Italians,) shattering the diner windows and killing Nova’s girlfriend.
The next day, Bell is staking out Nova. She approaches her on the street with Sloot and they talk to her in the car. Bell offers her condolences for losing someone she cared about and says she wants to find the person who killed her girlfriend. Nova says Bell doesn’t care about her — just catching another criminal. She says she’s not a snitch, but Bell gives her her card and tells her to call if she changes her mind. Nova crumples it up and throws it back at her. At the Organized Crime offices, Brewster confronts Stabler and says he should have anticipated the hit. Stabler says he knows when the KO will make a move but not the Marcy Killers. Just then, Nova shows up at the offices and the big twist is revealed: Nova is, herself, an undercover agent working for Brewster. Bell is furious he didn’t share her cover status with the team. She says she can’t work with someone she can’t trust.
Albi, Reggie and the Albanians are discussing a retaliation against the Italians. Albi says they should refrain from violence at first and just discuss how things should be run from now on. At Organized Crime, the factions agree they need better communication. Sloot gets an alert the Albanians are on the move and Stabler heads out. At a gas station, the Albanians and Italians meet up, with Costa of the KO gang taunting the Italians about taking over their former operation. Reggie and his crew show up as backup and an undercover Stabler appears with a bazooka, threatening to blow the Italians and everyone else up too if they don’t leave right now. They, like any sane people put in that situation, choose to leave.
Stabler, a new hero, is celebrated for his KO gang heroism back at an Albanian restaurant. He partakes in the offered celebratory alcohol and kisses a woman who sits on his lap, but soon it’s apparent he has been drugged. His vision blurs and he quickly slips into vertigo, stumbling through the restaurant. Costa asks him to sit down and tells him he knows who he is — but luckily, he doesn’t appear to actually know Stabler’s real identity. Instead, he says he though Stabler (Eddie Wagner to the Albanians) may not be Albanian by blood. He then gives Stabler a new phone to use and says it’s free of bugs. They notice he’s acting a little off and they all have a laugh.
Stabler leaves the restaurant, still heavily drugged, and stumbles down the street. He wanders into a building and barely makes it in the elevator going up. He gets to a door and knocks saying: “It’s me. Open up.” The door opens and it’s Liv. “I need you,” Elliot says, as the episode ends.
New episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime air Thursdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
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