Law & Order Organized Crime: Our Hopes For Season 3!
Jack Ori
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The grittiest Law & Order series is coming back for Round Three.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2 often felt more like a premium cable series than a member of the popular crime series franchise.
As much as we love it, a few things might make it easier for viewers to get into.
Unlike most other Law & Order series, Organized Crime doesn't focus on a crime of the week.
Instead, viewers follow Stabler through a weeks-long arc in which he gradually builds up evidence against the targets of his investigations.
This is realistic -- organized crime investigations can take years to complete -- but some viewers find it hard to sustain interest for that long.
One way out of this dilemma is to create subplots that the detectives can wrap up in an hour.
That way, viewers get the satisfaction of a resolution during each episode even though the big case is not solved for at least a couple of months.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2 did a good job establishing itself as an independent series despite being a spin-off of Law & Order: SVU.
It had more of an ensemble feel, with Bell, Jet, and other characters getting their own stories and Benson's crossovers becoming less frequent.
While Bensler shippers may be disappointed that Benson isn't in every episode, this has been good for the series. Law & Order: Organized Crime has to stand on its own.
We have eight items on our wish list for Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3.
Please scroll down to check them out!
Bell finds new love.
We're thrilled that Bell breaks the mold by being the first Black and lesbian head of a police unit in the Law & Order franchise, but she deserves better than Denise's treatment.
Bell broke safety protocols to warn Denise that Congressman Kilbride was the subject of an investigation, only for Denise to resent the suggestion that he could be dangerous and take off with their infant son.
That's not cool. Let's hope Bell gets her son back and moves on with someone who will take the relationship, and Bell herself, more seriously.
More Jet!
We love Jet. She's the perfect blend of sardonic wit and technological brilliance.
Her ability to catch elusive hacker Malachi and their subsequent attempt at a relationship were terrific additions to Season 2. It was heartbreaking when she sabotaged that relationship because of her insecurities.
Whether Jet gets back together with Malachi or not, let's hope there's more of her on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3.
Find a way to bring Nova back.
Nova's train trip strongly implied that she'd killed Preston Webb. It seemed like that was the end of her arc.
That was a shame. Her attempt to work with Bell despite distrusting her and her grief over her girlfriend's death on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 1 made her a compelling character. Fans were thrilled when she was upgraded to a series regular for Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2!
We hate to lose her. Let's hope there's some way to keep her on the series.
More trials of mob bosses.
Although Richard Wheatley slithered out of charges, ever since arcs seem to end with the bad guys dying instead of trials.
While that's realistic, the death trope is becoming overused, making it lack power.
Besides, this is supposed to be a Law & Order series. We need to spend time inside a courtroom more often!
Shorter arcs -- or at least, subplots that are resolved in each episode.
As mentioned above, the long arcs don't always hold viewers' interest.
We're not asking for Law & Order: Organized Crime to give up its multi-episode arcs. Those make the series realistic and unique in the Law & Order: universe.
But creating subplots for each week that were resolved within the hour would make it feel like the detectives were making progress and leave viewers satisfied.
Less undercover Stabler.
The undercover trope is way overplayed at this point.
It didn't seem realistic that Stabler could easily infiltrate the Albanian mob after his name was all over the news, thanks to the Wheatley trial!
And now he's been undercover twice. He should be on every mob boss' radar by now. So let's leave the undercover work to less recognizable cops.
More of Stabler's family drama.
Stabler's family problems were always a compelling aspect of his tenure on Law & Order: SVU. Now that his kids are grown and he's moved to the Organized Crime Unit, the family stories are still riveting drama.
Stabler's mother is a vibrant character, and Eli's problems are also interesting.
We want more of this! And is there ever going to be any fallout from Bernie's new love turning out to be a Wheatley plant?
Crossovers with other Dick Wolf shows (not just SVU!)
While we're thrilled that Law & Order: Organized Crime has moved past its attachment to SVU, it is still part of the Law & Order universe.
We'd love some big nights where all three Law & Order series involve the same case.
We wouldn't mind some crossovers with other Dick Wolf shows, either. There's been mob activity over at Chicago Med on more than one occasion, and organized crime cases are a natural crossover for the FBI franchise on CBS.
Over to you, Law & Order: Organized Crime fanatics.
Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us what you most want to see on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3.
Want to make the long hiatus feel shorter? Watch Law & Order: Organized Crime online right here on TV Fanatic.
Law & Order: Organized Crime is part of NBC's Thursday Law & Order block.
It will return with new episodes during the Fall of 2022.
Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on X.
