Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 4 Delivered An Emotional Punch During An Unstoppable Mob War

No one does trauma like the Law & Order franchise.

I know some people are in it for Benson/Stabler content, in which case, you’re probably extremely disappointed with Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 4.

However, I’m here for gritty, disturbing stories about mob families, and this episode more than delivered.

Stabler Was Caught In The Middle Between His CI And Her Mobster Grandson

The Spezzano family storyline continues to be one of the most fascinating storylines in Law & Order: Organized Crime history because of Stabler’s relationship with Isabella.

He got her out of the mob in Italy and wants to believe she took advantage of her second chance in America.

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They’re friends, or were before Roman decided to restart mob life in his new country to make up for his grandmother’s “mistake” of cleaning up her act, and Stabler wants to believe the best of her but has to treat her like any other suspect.

That scene on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 4 where Isabella wanted to know why she had been arrested was heartbreaking because Stabler knows she’s not the bad apple — her grandson is — but was forced to put pressure on her so she could pressure Roman to cut it out.

Plus, despite their friendship, it’s personal now because someone in Roman’s crew tried to kill Stabler and his family.

Talk about a meaty conflict! Stabler has divided loyalties all over the place, and Eli’s behavior at the crime scene just made it a thousand times worse.

No, Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 4 Didn’t Pick Up Where It Left Off, But Did It Have To?

On most shows, when we end with a cliffhanger involving someone shooting at a main character and his family, we pick up the next episode right afterward.

But Law & Order: Organized Crime is not most shows, and avoiding the usual tropes made the story more powerful.

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Since everyone survived, we didn’t need a body count, and the more interesting story is the one about everybody’s mental health after the incident, especially Stabler’s.

It’s not the first time he’s been shot at nor the first time he’s had to undergo a psych evaluation in order to keep working — no wonder he thinks they’re BS!

This is a man who almost lost his job all the way back on Law & Order: SVU Season 1 Episode 22 because he admitted he fantasized about murdering pedophiles instead of arresting them.

25 years after being exonerated from that thought crime, he has to prove that getting shot at doesn’t make him unfit for duty.

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If I were in his position, I’d be annoyed enough to want to go through the motions, doing the bare minimum to get that box ticked.

Stabler vs. The Priest Was One Of The Best Parts Of Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 4

Stabler confronted a priest in the confessional and later brought him into the interrogation room — did the guy realize that was his parishioner who was now questioning him?

It isn’t a detail that really matters, but it came to mind when the priest popped up again in the interrogation room on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 4.

That confession scene was one of the most powerful so far on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5.

Scenes like that confessional scene are the stuff I live for when it comes to this series.

Stabler questioning his faith while secretly interrogating a priest elevates this far beyond the usual police procedural.

He wasn’t just saying things to get proof of wrongdoing, either. He fully meant every word of what he said to that priest — it’s been a central conflict for him for years.

Stabler: Children are dying in the streets of this parish. They’re becoming killers. If that’s part of God’s plan, it’s not one I want to be part of.

Priest: The Holy Father has a plan for each of us. When things like this happen, it is hard to understand they are by design.

Stabler: And I will stop Him. So I guess we can add prideful defiance to my list of sins.

This was a beautiful bit of character development that hammered home the oft-repeated point about “How can God let this happen?” in a strong, resonant way. Well done!

I Didn’t Fully Understand What Was Going On With Reyes And The Gang On Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 4

If Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 4 had a weak point, it was the Reyes subplot.

I understood the general idea. Reyes was undercover in the Los Santos gang, trying to prove that Roman was starting a war with them and was behind Carlos’ murder.

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The specifics were a little more murky. I didn’t get why the gang beat Reyes up — I guess it was an initiation, though.

Nor did the whole Nico thing make much sense, beyond understanding he was an enemy of the gang that everyone was supposed to beat up (and that Reyes got away with not doing it for some reason.)

I was also confused as to when Roman started openly hating Stabler, since he told his Nonna to invite Stabler to dinner the week before, and Pietro was a kid who wanted to play soccer with Stabler, who had suddenly turned into a wannabe gang member.

I’m not complaining. These things were necessary for the plot and led to a fantastic cliffhanger.

However, this demonstrated the one serious problem I have with Organized Crime: trying to keep all the bad guys straight from week to week!

Let’s Talk About That Cliffhanger

I feel like I should have seen the plot twist coming on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 4. In retrospect, Eli being the one to fatally shoot one of Isabella’s grandchildren was inevitable.

It’s the perfect mob storyline. Eli killing Pietro means the gang will want revenge.

Of course, Stabler could argue that if Roman hadn’t tried to shoot Eli in the first place, Eli wouldn’t have shot Pietro. It’s BS — Eli had no idea who he was shooting when he fired that gun — but Stabler knows how to talk mob language, so he could try it.

Either way, this is an explosive development, especially when coupled with the growing personal rift between Stabler and Eli.

Over To You, Law & Order: Organized Crime Fanatics

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Law & Order: Organized Crime streams on Peacock. New episodes drop on Thursday mornings at 6/5c

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