Spoilers ahead for Season 5, Episode 9 of Law & Order: Organized Crime (“Off the Books”)
The latest episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime ended in tragedy.
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Season 5’s penultimate episode was the last episode for one member of the Stabler family.
After Season 4 ended on Elliot’s (Christopher Meloni) brother, Joe Jr. (Michael Trotter) was seen siding with crime boss Julian Emery (Tom Payne), he had been off the grid. However, recent episodes revealed that he was actually back in New York, as Emery is back in the States for a new drug. After Joe Jr. gets in touch with his brother, he becomes Elliot’s CI and tells him that Emery is closing a deal and he’s watching.
Although Joe Jr. remained loyal to Emery and told Elliot a different location, Emery ultimately realizes that the necklace Joe Jr. was wearing was a tracker. Once the raid goes down, Joe is shot, and his brother finds him bleeding out. Unfortunately, he dies before help can arrive. It was a heartbreaking moment, especially since it seemed like Joe Jr. was close to finally getting out. The storyline won’t end there, as the episode ended with Elliot seemingly out for revenge, and there is no telling what will happen.
It’s no secret that when Elliot loses someone close to him, he can tend to go off the rails, which is what happened when he lost his wife. Now that he’s lost his brother, after nearly getting him back, and knowing that he was so close to saving him, Elliot is going to need all the support from family and friends that he can get because there’s a good chance he might do something he’ll regret.
There will be a lot to look forward to when Law & Order: Organized Crime’s fifth season finale airs next Thursday, June 12 on Peacock. This very well could change the trajectory of the series depending on how Elliot reacts to Joe Jr.’s death. Whatever the case may be, it’s going to be an emotional and intense finale, and it will be an episode that fans won’t want to miss out on. For now, all episodes of Organized Crime are streaming on Peacock. As of now, the series has not been renewed for Season 6, so one can only hope that there’s no cliffhanger, just in case.