'Law & Order: Organized Crime' Reveals Stabler's New Look During Dangerous Assignment
The Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2 premiere, "The Man With No Identity," introduced a new storyline, as well as a new look for Det. Elliot Stabler. After doing plenty of undercover work during his days at Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Stabler (Christopher Meloni) was called on to do so again, but he's not trying to solve a sex crime. This time, the work involves cracking New York City's cocaine trade.
Now that the Organized Crime Control Bureau thinks it can move on from the Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott) case that dominated Season 1, Sgt. Ayanna Bell (Danielle Mone Truitt) and her team began focusing on an Albanian gang responsible for bringing cocaine to the Big Apple. Stabler is embedded as the muscle for Reggie Bogdani (Dash Mihok), a ranking member of the gang led by Albi Briscu (Vinnie Jones). At the start of the episode, the gang gets busted while trying to bring drugs in, even though they were convinced the cops at the dock were all paid off.
Those cops were ordered to bust the sale by Sgt. Bill Brewster (Guillermo Diaz), who is always at odds with Bell and was unaware of Stabler's involvement. After that situation is ironed out, Stabler learns of a drug war brewing between the Albanians and a rival gang led by Preston Webb (Mykelti Williamson). While Webb and Costa, another member of the Albanian gang get perilously close to starting a bloody conflict, Webb proposes they work together to control the drug trade. Costa accepts, and it looks like Stabler is in the middle of a storm he could never have predicted. Meanwhile, Bell and Diaz are ordered to work together as well to lead a joint task force.
Wheatley appeared briefly at the beginning of the episode, as he managed to get out of facing federal charges because he cooperated with the feds. He still faces charges for the murder of Kathy Stabler though. Wheatley's ex-wife Angela (Tamara Taylor) is being kept at a safe location so she can testify. She is still recovering from the injuries she suffered in the Season 1 finale.
Anyone expecting to see Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) make an appearance was disappointed as she was not in the episode. Stabler did have a very brief appearance in SVU in Benson's hallucination after her car accident, though. The next new OC episode airs Thursday, Sept. 30 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.