Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3 Episode 17 Review: Blood Ties
Jack Ori
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Talk about intense!
On Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3 Episode 17, Stabler had no choice but to work with a hotheaded father desperate to get his son back. Every mistake Wen made could have derailed the operation and gotten himself and others killed.
It all worked out in the end -- but it was almost too easy.
Stabler's efforts to get Wen to follow directions were ironic. How many times has Bell complained about Stabler going rogue?
He got a taste of his own medicine while dealing with Wen, who consistently did the opposite of what Stabler told him and forced the cops to reveal themselves earlier than they wanted during every step of the operation.
Unsurprisingly, he and Stabler bonded over their desire to protect their children. Stabler is all about family, so he was the perfect cop to work with Wen.
Stabler: If you lose your temper we might never get Bhau back.
Wen: It's just when I think of him being locked in a cage I get upset.
Stabler: I understand, believe me. You're a teacher, right? What do you teach?
Wen: Secondary school biology.
Stabler: So you work with teenagers. You need to be patient with them. You don't go after them with a baseball bat, right?
He finally got through to Wen about the importance of staying calm by reminding him that he doesn't lose his temper with his adolescent students. But it didn't do a lot of good.
Wen couldn't help himself. Any time he thought someone was interfering with him getting his son back, he went off on them without any thought of the risk to himself or the operation.
Luckily, the sting operation at the auction went as smoothly as it did. Although Wen didn't lose his temper for once, he was so blatant about communicating with the cops. The bouncers and traffickers ought to have noticed him saying aloud that he was in, and he kept talking loudly into his wrist.
No wonder Quan realized there was a problem!
Despite that major hiccup, Quan was quickly caught and arrested along with the rest of the traffickers. Did anyone else spend the last ten minutes of the hour holding their breath and waiting for the other shoe to drop?
Quan said he had friends at 1PP who wouldn't like this, and Thurman was terrified of what his bosses would think about Bell going forward with this operation. Something more has to happen with this than Quan being arrested and going to jail.
Stabler said as much; he won't believe this is over until Quan is convicted and does time. But will we get to trial before Quan gets out of the charges?
A powerful man with equally powerful friends can't be disposed of in an hour, so he will undoubtedly be back later to cause more trouble!
Bell's conflict with higher-ups petered out into nothing. How disappointing!
I expected more than one scene where Quan held a press conference.
Thurman warned her he couldn't keep protecting the department from Quan's anger. Quan was arrested, proving Bell right, without any further interference from anybody.
What will happen to Captain Lin now? He allied himself with Quan and was likely on his payroll. Will he disappear now that the case is over, or will Bell try to prove he's dirty?
THAT would ruffle more than a few feathers at 1PP, plus it might give Bell and Chang another case together.
I had no idea Chang was into Bell until the last scene between them, but I like their vibe. Hopefully, Chang'll take Bell's offer to spend time together seriously even if they don't work together anymore.
Bell and Chang fit the enemies-to-lovers trope well, with Chang initially being a thorn in Bell's side before the two began working together on the case.
They have decent chemistry and understand the demands of the job, so they won't have the issues that Bell had with Denise.
We also finally got a glimpse of Stabler's family again, or at least his son!
The last five minutes of the hour were a pleasant surprise. While the shorter cases are an improvement upon previous seasons, Law & Order: Organized Crime has been missing something since the Stabler family was all written out in one fell swoop.
Stabler's scene with Eli underscored that point.
His conversation with Eli was appropriately awkward. The two have had a rocky relationship since Organized Crime began, and transitioning into an adult relationship with a college-age kid is never easy.
Eli was as reluctant as ever to tell his father about his personal life. Let's hope that this new girlfriend doesn't turn out to be involved with criminals!
I also hope Eli sticks around for more than these five minutes, and we get to join in on the reunion dinner with the rest of the family! Eli mentioned that Stabler's mother was supposed to visit; I especially want to catch up with her.
Bernie's original appearance on Law & Order: SVU Season 10 Episode 3 was an impressive one-off appearance. The fully-developed version of her character became an endearing part of Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2.
She's been MIA too long; she needs a guest appearance ASAP!
What did you think, Organized Crime fanatics? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and let us know. And don't forget you can watch Law & Order: Organized Crime online whenever you'd like.
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 X.
