Let’s Talk Television: #ReinstateOrganizedCrime

I watch terrible television so you don’t have to.

A Note About Renewals

NBC renewed all three Chicagos, Law&Order, and Law&Order: SVU, but not Law&Order: Organized Crime. This is egregious.

1. OC is the best of not only all the Laws and Orders but also of all the Wolf Universe series and frankly all crime procedurals everywhere. No contest. 2. Chris Meloni is the best actor in the Law & Order franchise and frankly all of television. No contest. 3. I have been fixated on Elliot Stabler as my comfort character for about six months so the universe hates me I GUESS.

Anyway, #RenewOrganizedCrime, #RenewOC, #RenewLawAndOrderOC, #RenewLawAndOrderOrganizedCrime, make a lot of noise. Do it for me. Please.

New This Week

CSI: Vegas (Monday, Paramount+)

Josh (Matt Lauria) starts back on the job just in time for Allie (Mandeep Dhillon) to get stuck underground with a serial killer. In case you needed another reason to distrust the ‘wellness’ industrial complex the villain of the week is a cannibal who snags victims from an annual Health and Wellness conference. A chemical explosion knocks Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) to the ground and traps Allie. She continues to work the scene while Catherine and Beau (Lex Medlin) investigate from the lab. Max (Paula Newsome) assigns Josh to stay on scene with Allie and keep her calm.

As per always, the case is the backdrop for the characters and relationships. This week, Allie and Josh support each other as their relationship continues to be the beating heart of the show. But the ongoing tensions between Josh and Max, Josh and Serena (Ariana Guerra), and Catherine and Beau are somewhat more interesting. I expect the Josh and Max friction to boil under the surface until he re-proves himself to her and I hope I’m right because that’s the kind of arc I love. I wasn’t invested in Josh and Serena when they were together but now that they’ve broken up they’re more interesting. In series a month has gone by since the breakup and we see Josh look like he wants to tell her something. But when he says to “Forget it” she responds “I’m trying” and that is savage, I’m in.

As for Catherine and Beau, again, they don’t work and Allie should admit it and move on. But I really want Catherine paired up with Josh so I’m biased, I guess.

FBI (Wednesday, Paramount+)

We finally get a spotlight on Maggie (Missy Peregrym) and in true Wolf Universe fashion it’s a hostage situation. The episode also once again centers ‘migrant rights’ by showcasing an immigrant with a very relatable crisis. . . become a criminal who takes things too far. Within the last three months this was already a plot on Chicago PD, FBI: Most Wanted, Law & Order, and this here show FBI. Dick Wolf appears to be on a quest to collect as many You Tried stars as he can.

Anyway, Hector Ramirez (Nick Gomez) kidnaps the director of a Brooklyn migrant center, Matthew Sawyer (Christian Conn), because he thinks Sawyer is responsible for the disappearance of his daughter, Maria (Isabella Martinez). Hector holds Sawyer and his pregnant wife (Natalie Smith) hostage in their home and demands the FBI find his daughter. The wife’s pregnancy is high risk and the stress of the situation could kill both mom and baby so Maggie convinces Hector to trade them for her. tldr; Maria is found and Maggie saves Hector from FBI snipers.

But not, of course, from FBI custody because no matter how sympathetic the immigrant’s story they end up in prison by the end of the episode. I just, I want to have a sit down with Dick Wolf. I want to understand the thinking behind all these stories. I want to believe it’s more than sensationalizing the headlines. But it’s hard.

In other news, Maggie wants a baby. Her friend, Jessica (Charlotte Sullivan), introduced last week, is a single mom by choice, and looks like Maggie is considering that route. Maggie was introduced as a grieving widow and this feels a little like a continuation of/return to that storyline. Career Woman Has No Time For Relationship But Wants Baby is a bit tired, but I’ll wait and see.

FBI: Most Wanted (Wednesday, Paramount+)

Another abduction: four kids and their teacher are kidnapped from a private school field trip. Remy (Dylan McDermott) and Nina (Shantel VanSanten) have to deal with their super-rich parents, one of whom turns out to be working with the criminals. The team tracks the kids to an abandoned mine and they are briefly trapped underground but are able to get out before it collapses. The bad guys are killed and their bodies buried, as well as the teacher. When Remy had to pull his wife over to tell her I legit cried.

The plot was nothing special but I enjoyed the (inadvertent?) dark humor of the private school scenes and Nina got to use her car skills again. The story was about family, which I know because they referenced it four hundred times. The parents fought over how to best leverage their wealth and power for their family. The kids clung to each other in hopes to see their family again. Again, the wife turned widow was poignant. And then the agents had a whole conversation about it and decided that ‘family’s who you need in a tough time’. Ray (Edwin Hodge) called his father his ‘compass’ which Remy references in the next scene with his nephew.

The scenes with Corey (JD Marks) frame the episode— he’s evicted for not paying rent so Remy invites him to move in. This infuriates Corey’s mom (Caroline Duncan), who, correctly, thinks Remy is trying to parent her child. Now, Corey is an adult but as it turns out he also dropped out of med school so he may need some parenting, or guidance, or at least space to figure out his life. And Remy is very eager to provide it.

Corey explicitly tells Remy “you don’t have to play dad” but Remy wants to. It’s part of his main drive: his failure to save his kid brother led to his career and now that he knows he has a nephew, he’s determined to save him, too, to make up for that original sin. I don’t know if they meant to parallel Maggie wanting to be a mom with Remy needing to be a dad but there’s something there.

We get no follow-up on Barnes (Roxy Sternberg) and her marital problems. But this is another thing I’d ask Mr. Wolf: why are you breaking up another marriage between queer Black women?

Chicago Med (Thursday, Peacock)

In medical cases, we have Ripley (Luke Mitchel) and Charles (Oliver Platt) helping an OCD patient, Hannah (Jessy Schram) and Dean (Steven Weber) removing a birth control implant that traveled into the patient’s lungs, and Crockett (Dominick Rains) accusing Sharon (S Epatha Merkerson) of siding with her boyfriend over best practices with regards to a cancer patient he wants to operate on. The patient ends up in surgery after her health deteriorates and Crockett apologizes so that doesn’t really go anywhere. If Zola were around this week I’d think she and Crockett did something to push the verdict his way but she was not.

In relationships dramaz, Sean (Luigi Sottile) is one year sober and while they celebrate with shuffleboard and cupcakes Hannah notices that Margo (Beth Lacke) is flirting with Dean. Later in the ER Dean notices that Hannah is interested in Ripley. They proceed to needle each other about dating and I love them so much. (Dean also tells their patient that his son is the best thing that ever happened to him and I love them so much, too.) By the end of the episode Dean’s asked out Margo and Hannah’s picked Ripley up and invited him home. Meanwhile, Charles and Liliana (Alet Taylor) are still going strong and Sharon and Dr. Washington (John Earl Elkes) survive Crockett’s barbs. Love is in the air over at Med.

Alert Missing Persons Unit (Wednesday, Hulu)

A pregnant woman (Alexa Rowan) giving the baby up for adoption goes missing one day before her scheduled c-section. They suspect both the adoptive dad (Antonio Cayonne) and the alleged bio-dad (Synto D. Misati) but it’s the actual bio-dad, Dante (RJ Fetherstonhaugh). Dante was supposed to throw a fight but instead put his opponent in the hospital so he kidnaps Gemma to get ransom money from the adoptive parents. That’s all a bit convoluted but Dante has been hit on the head many times.

Jay (Scott Caan) enlists Wayne (Alisha-Marie Ahamed) to track down Gemma while they set up Dante at the arena. Gemma is, of course, in labor so Dante promises to call 9-1-1 once he has the money but instead, the team finds him, he takes the adoptive mom (Rachel Nichols) captive and ends up shot by a patrol officer. Luckily, Wayne is able to use VIN data from his car to track where it’s been and Kemi (Adeola Role) realizes Gemma is being held in the comatose boxer’s apartment. They arrive just in time to deliver the baby. Whew!

SO. Mike (Ryan Broussard) and Nik (Dania Ramirez) sent out their wedding invites and even discussed discussing having (adopting, Sydney was also adopted) a kid of their own. And Jay and Wayne are very flirty throughout, Wayne especially. But Nik is also still jealous of Wayne and Jay is also still protective of Nik.

Finally, the car bomb in the premiere is still being investigated and Jay did successfully get the file and does eventually hand it over to Wayne BUT when they try to read it the file deletes itself. They determine that the Inspector doesn’t want him to see it.

Law & Order (Friday, Peacock)

Oof. So this was ripped from the headlines with regards to manslaughter on a subway. A ballerina is spooked and a Black man ends up dead. Audio of the incident is recorded and shows that the attacker continued to choke out the victim for three minutes after he fell unconscious. And their suspect tried to destroy the recording so he knew it was bad. Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) says that this is clearly murder in the second degree so Nolan (Hugh Dancy) goes to trial.

The ballerina shows up as a witness for the defense and praises the defendant for saving her, but mentions him saying something about ‘blood and dirt’. Sam suspects this is a white supremacist dog whistle (misrememberd) and tracks down a corroborating witness (Lucas Kerr). Unfortunately, he is an undercover cop so he can’t testify. Baxter tells them to make him appear racist at the trial and Nolan tries but racism doesn’t work that way. The jury believes the white defendant and the white ballerina and find him not guilty. An upset Nolan blames the lack of testimony from the UC. If this was any other show I would think this is set up for an ongoing plot-line.

Speaking of continuity, last week there was a lot of tension between Nick and Nolan but this week Nick straight up calls Nolan ‘a very good lawyer’ and is generally supportive. Then Nick is annoyed by the whole UC thing though he also buys into it. So he plays politics but doesn’t like it as much as we first thought? FWIW Nolan does also play politics, he just whines about it more. TBQH I don’t know what I am supposed to think. At least Sam (Odelya Helevi) got to figure something out, instead of hitting her head against the brick wall that is Nolan Price’s convictions for the 8th week in a row.

Law & Order: SVU (Friday, Peacock)

Two young immigrants, Javier (Martin Martinez) and Matteo (Sebastian Barba) are attacked for being gay though they are actually cousins. Teo runs away but Javier is beaten nearly to death and loses a testicle. The crime is witnessed by Anne (Caitlin Houlahan), an agoraphobic young woman in a nearby apartment. The team tracks down three haters from New Jersey but neither Javier nor Matteo can pick them out of a line-up. We all see where this is going.

Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) handled Anne’s first interview, in the apartment that she hadn’t left in 5 years or so. Fin (Ice-T) accompanied her to the building but stayed outside because Anne is afraid of men. When they fail to get an ID from the victim, his cousin, or the homeless man who was also on the scene, Liv returns to Anne’s apartment to ask her to come into the precinct. She tells Anne she’ll make the squad room as safe and cozy as possible and stay with her the whole time. Anne agrees, makes the ID, all three suspects make a deal and the combatants go to prison.

This is a perfectly acceptable episode. It’s nothing special but it’s fine. It also has a lot of weird moments that I would like to understand better. One, Anne’s apartment is gorgeous. She’s an artist and she’s decorated a wall with flowers and butterflies and sparkles and beauty. Olivia is impressed (I am impressed). It’s later suggested that Anne should make art out of all her fear. Two, Bruno (Kevin Kane) loses it in interrogation and I love him even more but Liv just brushes it off like it’s fine and like, former IAB Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) is literally in her squad room right now. And she is under a microscope with Commissioner Pettis (Robert Newman). Three, Olivia calls the squad room her home and I would like to unpack that. Four, Olivia successfully makes the squad room quiet and zen with low light and candles and very few people. Anne compliments Olivia’s office just like Olivia complimented Anne’s apartment, which is nice, but makes me think the wall really is meant to signal something (but what?). And then Anne asks about an item and Olivia says it is a challenge coin and then we move on (context?). Five, Anne IDs the three suspects immediately with no hesitation and at the end of it has an almost giddy sense of accomplishment which is probably supposed to be about her conquering her demons but comes across as a little unhinged, like being a part of this excites her. Finally, six, after he’s beaten Javier has a vision of white light in the shape of a queer man who he’d seen singing in a club earlier (Javi doesn’t recognize it as the same person but I think we are meant to). This angel stayed with him until the police arrived. But Anne says there was no man. Bruno describes this as “Third Man Syndrome”, the mistaken belief that someone is with you in times of crisis. This is also the title of the episode.

All of these put together, again, make me feel like they are building to something else, something more. That there could be more to Anne’s story— why is she so afraid of men? Why does she have that moment of excitement? Maybe she takes Olivia’s advice and makes her a mural of the squad room, that is her home, that they both feel safe in, and it includes the challenge coin. Maybe Bruno and/or Olivia will get in trouble for excessive force because it’s unchecked and there is certainly history at SVU. Or she will snap out of her current I’m a Badass Bitch level of captaining and reign him in but probably not. Will anyone ever mention third man syndrome again? With regards to past, present, or future crisis? Why does any of that sequence exist if not?

But again-again, OG and SVU don’t do clues and build up and arcs and continuity. I feel like I am losing my mind!

Law & Order: Organized Crime (Friday, Peacock)

I love everyone in this bar and I do not understand how you can look at this season of this show and think, ‘yeah, now’s the time to let it go’. I already said Meloni is firing on all cylinders at all times, but so is Danielle Moné Truitt. So is Ainsley Seiger. So is Dean Norris. This week’s guest cast hit it out of the park to a person (Keith Carradine my gods). ELLEN BURSTYN is on this show what are you doing NBC????

Note: content warning for suicide.

Anyway, the Chief Bonner (Jennifer Ehle) arc comes to a satisfying end. There is an underlying real estate scam with lucrative private prisons and much judicial corruption and Daddy Bonner (Keith Carradine) is at the center of it. He killed his wife and they posit Eric witnessed it which led to his life of depravity and murder. Now it’s all coming apart thanks to Meredith and Elliot (Christopher Meloni) and his goon squad want to off her but his daughter is apparently the only thing he loves in this life (or maybe his children since he tried to save Eric, too). She stops the judge from killing himself (in front of her, because that’s totally an act of love, dad), arrests him, and pledges to right his wrongs and hers.

I really like Meredith and her story and this is a great ending. The whole episode I was worried that her dad or Elliot was going to end up intervening to save her but no, she saved herself. AND her father which is so important after not being able to save her brother. Elliot was at her side the whole time, fully ready to protect her, but he hung back and let her be in charge and I L-O-V-E LOVE it. There’s a scene at her precinct where we see posters that declare ‘legacy’ and ‘fearless’ and ‘tradition’ and her whole story was about being fearless enough to move past tradition and legacy and I want to cry this show is so good.

In other news, Elliot is reinstated after Ayanna (Danielle Moné Truitt) confronts Warren (Malcom Goodwin) about his vendetta. Joe Jr. (Michael Trotter) is confirmed to be an addict. Bernie (Ellen Burstyn) is going to move in with Randall (Dean Norris) because it turns out he doesn’t like the idea of her moving into assisted living any more than Elliot does. And Elliot learns that his father killed himself, he was found in the garage with the engine running. I find the passivity of that method very interesting.

There are some great great great lines in the episode: Meredith tells her dad, “It wasn’t enough for her to just die, you had to break her.”, in a way that proves he didn’t break Meredith (truly ilu Meredith). Cragen (Dann Florek) shows up to give Elliot a kick in the ass about not taking his suspension seriously: “Warren is one man, you have an entire army. Everyone is fighting for you except you.” (The Elliot Stabler Story) Ayanna’s whole scene with Warren is aces but especially “The only dog I have in this fight is the one on my team. And I am not about to let him go down for some dead man’s grudge.” Finally, “Caring is not one of my problems.” says Elliot and I love a self-aware king.

Captain Shah (Nicole Shalhoub) showing up a completely empty OCCB office is hilarious. And parallels SVU; Jet (Ainsley Seiger) has a blue butterfly on her wall which also parallels SVU. Just saying (shh, let me have this). Vargas (Tate Elliongton) wearing the jacket that Elliot gave him because Elliot gave it to him is delightful. Bernie’s quilts got me in the feels and the Elliot one at the end really, truly destroyed my heart, they owe me for therapy.

The show is good because all those little things matter. They add up to something more, something meaningful. L&O and SVU have me tearing my hair out trying to understand if I am meant to care or not. I don’t have to wonder with OC. Caring is not one of my problems.

tldr; RENEW ORGANIZED CRIME YOU COWARDS.

9-1-1 (Friday, Hulu)

We return to the cruise turned hostage situation turned evacuation during a hurricane…. It’s a lot, it literally always is on this show, but the point is Bobby (Peter Krause) and Athena (Angela Bassett) are in love. And they are everything I want from a fictional relationship. They are a team. They are solid. They are good at communicating. Bobby’s weary acceptance of his wife’s heroics is adorable. Bobby appearing behind Athena to help her open the bilge door is swoon-worthy. Bobby and Athena using their potential last minutes to tell each other how much they love each other with Athena’s bonus realization/admission that she was scared to slow down and be alone with him without all the noise of their jobs and all the constant chaos and crisis it brings because what would they even have to talk about it was such GREAT characterization, I love this power couple. This show is absurd, full stop. Yes they are first responders but the stuff they deal with is so over the top to be laughable and yet I eat it up because it births character growth and I love it.

Also: Athena solves the mystery, uncovers the smuggling ring and an affair, tracks down the escaped bad guy, saves the captain, saves the ship, and saves her and Bobby from drowning through the strength of her personality (she inspires the bad guy to risk his life to save them). Athena is mother and a goddamn superhero.

Meanwhile, Hen and team arrive on an accident scene and diagnose one driver as drunk and belligerent and choose not to pursue treatment at his request BUT he’s the son of a councilwoman and he dies so she’s briefly suspended before being proven right that he was very drunk and also on drugs and it’s most likely nothing they might have tried would have worked anyway. HOWEVER, while briefly suspended she started to fixate on figuring out what happened to Bobby and Athena’s cruise ship cuz it went missing and there’s now a hurricane. We, of course, know that her intuition is right on the money but only Maddie is willing to listen. So, presumably, next week Hen goes rogue to find Bobby and Athena missing at sea.

Also Watching

Nothing! I don’t have time! But the Laws and Orders are on hiatus for three weeks now (everyone should take this opportunity to watch or rewatch Organized Crime on Peacock).

Mental Illness Sidebar

We see Athena’s terrible therapist in a flashback that reveals Bobby also saw him but I was so annoyed I don’t even know what they talked about.

Note: content warning for suicide

Police officers and firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty, according to research. They are at higher risk for post-traumatic stress, substance abuse, divorce, heart attack, and depression. These issues compound and can lead to incidents of domestic violence, sexual assault, and excessive use of force.

Ship of the Week

Athena and Bobby.

Song of the Week

Show of the Week

Organized Crime. No contest.

What are YOU watching?