There had to be a better way for Jet to handle her wig coming off.
I was ready to rant about Bell and her inability to understand what undercover work entails — AGAIN. But then Jet made a boneheaded move and got herself kidnapped.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3 Episode 13 was a high-adrenaline, action-packed episode with a cliffhanger that’ll keep us talking through a brief hiatus.
Bell annoyed me throughout most of the hour. This is far from the first time she’s decided a detective has gotten in over their head and tried to pull them when they were in too deep to disappear.
I get that she never got over Gina’s death, but she freaks out whenever anyone is undercover and makes irrational decisions about whether they belong on the case. It’s getting old, and it needs to stop.
Bell’s refusal to believe Jet was playing a part when she kissed Seamus was just as hypocritical as Jet said it was.
Stabler has seduced plenty of mobsters’ wives, aggravating Bensler shippers. Back on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 1, it happened so much that it seemed part of his job description!
As much as Bell ranted that those photos of Jet and Seamus kissing would tank the case, the only reason they existed was that Bell told Reyes to follow Jet and take them.
If she hadn’t done that, there would be no photos for a defense attorney to use against Jet when the case went to trial. So what exactly was her problem?
Bell decided that Jet had fallen in love with Seamus because Jet correctly intuited that Seamus didn’t want to be a gangster. Bell was listening in on Seamus telling Jet to run away to Santa Fe with him, so it should have been obvious where Jet was coming from with this.
Jet: He doesn’t want to do it.
Bell: What? The hit?
Jet: Any of what he’s doing. I know what you’re both thinking, but a good detective uses every tool at her disposal, and I’m telling you that what I feel about Seamus is right.
As usual, when it comes to undercover work, Bell’s judgment was compromised, not Jet’s.
I wasn’t a fan of the Jet kidnapping sequence. Revealing herself as a cop to Seamus while she was alone with no backup, then calling Bell before restraining him, made little sense and could only end badly.
Jet had to make a split-second decision when her wig came off, but she could have explained it without blowing her cover before she was ready to arrest Seamus.
Surely she could have made up a story about wearing the wig for work to look more like what the customers expected.
Now Seamus knows the truth, and Jet is in danger. To make matters worse, Bell somehow didn’t realize what was happening despite being on the phone with Jet when it all went down.
None of this had to happen this way, making it doubly frustrating.
The operation is likely blown now despite Stabler’s hard work to get Muprhy to trust him.
Murphy isn’t stupid; there’s no way he will think Jet was the only undercover.
He’ll soon realize he’s been played, and there will be hell to pay. Seamus may be near the top of his enemies list for bringing Jet into their world, but he’s got to realize that everyone associated with that bar is potentially tainted.
That means the trap Stabler and Teddy have been setting is useless; he’ll never set foot in the bar again. Murphy probably also has unpleasant plans for Stabler and Teddy and maybe for Reyes and Whelan.
The only thing that keeps him from killing all of them is that he can use Jet to torment them first.
This is not good, and it’s almost entirely because of a wig that didn’t stay in place. That detail should have been attended to so that something like this couldn’t happen.
While most of the hour was dedicated to the sting that went sideways, we got a few glimpses into other things.
Thurman told Bell he reported her to IAB. What on Earth could they be investigating her for?
Let me tell you something. I chose to keep my job because I love my team and I trust them more than I trust the politics in this office. And when it comes to solving the murder of my former partner, nothing is going to stop me.
Bell
Refusing to take a promotion isn’t a crime, and there’s no evidence Bell has done anything wrong with her team.
Thurman made the report as retaliation for Bell insisting on investigating Murphy’s involvement in her partner’s death or maybe to stop her from revealing that he fabricated huge parts of his resume.
Could Thurman’s motives be more sinister? Could he be involved with Murphy or some other gang?
It’s more likely that he’s acting to protect his position or for some other political reason, but that would be a great twist. Bell’s been betrayed so many times, and it would truly suck if her new boss were involved with organized crime somehow.
Similarly, we still don’t know what’s up with that new DA who wants to get Murphy.
She’s supposedly on the right side, but beyond sending in CIs to start a gang fight, we don’t know what she’s doing to help get Murphy. We don’t even know she’s who she claims to be!
What did you think, Organized Crime fanatics? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know.
Don’t forget you can watch Law & Order: Organized Crime online while waiting for the next episode to air.
Law & Order: Organized Crime airs on NBC on Thursdays at 10 PM EST / PST.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.