When Wheatley decides to seek revenge, he goes all out.
Holding all of New York hostage by taking over its power grid was extreme, though, especially since it seemed he did it all to mess with Stabler.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 2 Episode 14 ended with Wheatley’s apparent death when Angela threw their car off a bridge, but his body is conveniently missing. Talk about going out with a bang!
This whole plan was over the top, even for Wheatley.
When he was first introduced on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 1 Episode 1, Wheatley was an intelligent, calculating mob boss who was careful not to get his hands dirty.
But now, he didn’t seem to have any other plan besides causing chaos while forcing Stabler to say he was a dirty cop.
Wheatley’s desire to get Stabler back for arresting him seemed to have driven him out of his mind. He could have gotten safely out of the country months ago if he hadn’t become obsessed with Stabler.
It’s a shame because his latest escapades started strong. He was pretending to work for the good guys now and was quietly turning the governor against Stabler.
But then he tipped his hand too early and got involved in some truly crazy stuff.
It seems that in the end, Wheatley was Ahab rather than the White Whale, and it proved fatal. Maybe, anyway.
With Wheatley becoming a larger-than-life supervillain, it’s possible he survived the unsurvivable and will pop up again sometime.
Not anytime soon, though, since Dylan McDermott is slated to join FBI: Most Wanted.
Anyway, I hope Wheatley’s final act made sense to him because a lot of it felt like chaos for its own sake to me.
Wheatley is violent and has no loyalty to anyone, so it’s not surprising he killed Richie. After all, he killed his father too.
But Wheatley had reasons for killing Sinatra. Richie’s death was unnecessary and random; its only purpose seemed to be to motivate Angela to commit suicide.
Beyond that, it made little sense. Why insist Richie be released from jail so that he could murder his son in cold blood?
Wheatley: I want my son, Richard Jr, released from prison and brought to me.
Bell: And I want my undercover back that you murdered.
Maybe it was Richie’s karma since he killed Gina in a similar manner, though Wheatley was behind that too, so even that doesn’t quite work.
Angela’s death was sadder than either Richie’s or his father’s (assuming Richard Sr actually died.)
She chose to go along with Wheatley’s schemes time and again even though he’d already tried to kill her at least once.
Her suicide was an impulsive decision, or so it seemed. But it felt like she died at her abusive spouse’s hands even though he didn’t literally kill her.
Of course, what looked like suicide might have been pre-meditated. Wheatley and Angela might have come up with this whole bizarre plan to fake their deaths and pin them on Stabler.
In that case, it’s strange that they found Angela’s body and not Wheatley’s.
You’d think that if it were all phony, he’d have taken the time to plant a body that looked like his too.
Still, when it comes to the Wheatleys, nothing is what it seems, and not even Angela’s suicide can be taken at face value.
That whole walk of shame Wheatley made Stabler participate in was also on the bizarre side.
First of all, it felt like it was mocking people’s real concerns about police brutality. Even though they were coerced, Stabler got booed by people who believed his “confessions.”
And where did those people come from, anyway? Real protesters likely wouldn’t have let Stabler disappear without trying to follow and continue to pressure him.
When Wheatley said he had the most important woman in Stabler’s life, did anyone else expect it to be Benson?
I knew that Bernie was in trouble because the goons had broken into her house, but still. Usually, when Wheatley says things like that, he’s referring to Benson.
Thank God Bernie’s kidnapping was short-lived, though. She was so terrified, and Wheatley’s smirking that she didn’t have her lithium was one of the most despicable things he ever did.
He must have known that Stabler would find his mother quickly. He couldn’t possibly have expected that situation to last for more than a few hours.
Wheatley may have been arrogant and narcissistic, but did he really think that kidnapping Bernie would give him enough time to get out of the country?
I felt bad for Bernie when Stabler not only demanded that her boyfriend be arrested but handed her over to a cop so he could chase Wheatley himself.
After the ordeal she’d been through, she wanted her son, and Stabler couldn’t be there for her just then.
I hope that Miles’ interrogation is on-screen, though. He seemed genuinely remorseful and might have fallen for Bernie for real.
Either way, I wanted to know why he decided to throw his lot in with Wheatley and whether he knew that kidnapping Bernie was part of the plan.
Finally, Jett and Malachi kissed!
That’s been a long time coming. At first, I wasn’t on board this ship, but the sexual tension’s been building, and Jett seemed genuinely happy.
I’m willing to give this pairing a chance and see where it goes.
What about you, Organized Crime fanatics? Hit the big, blue SHOW COMMENTS button and tell us whether you ship Jett/Malachi, whether you think Wheatley is dead, and whether Wheatley’s final plan made sense.
You can watch Law & Order: Organized Crime online right here on TV Fanatic if you missed the episode.
Law & Order: Organized Crime airs 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.