The following contains spoilers for Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3, Episode 12, "Partners In Crime," which debuted Thursday, Jan. 26 on NBC. This article also contains descriptions of assault and violence.
Things are heavy on Law & Order: Organized Crime. Detective Elliot Stabler meets Sgt. Ayanna Bell as the killer of her former partner and close friend Detective Jennings is up for parole. She and Stabler muse over how close they can become to their partners, i.e. the golden Benson and Stabler years. She reads her recommendation to keep Octavio Montenero locked up, but this time Montenero says he was forced to confess by Eamon Murphy. He didn't commit the murder; Murphy did. Bell's shaken. Why after 10 years is he changing his story now? And why does she believe him? Something's never sat right with her and she's ready to follow her gut.
Bell visits her old precinct and talks with the officer who investigated Jennings' murder. The bullet he pulled all those years ago was inconclusive, she tells him. Why was he so sure that was the murder weapon if the evidence wasn't certain? She also says he never interviewed Eamon Murphy. He gets flustered and angry and storms off at the unspoken accusation. Bell has a crime tech run another ballistic test and, again, it can't match the bullets. Uh-oh.
Bell visits Montenero in jail. He maintains his innocence and that Murphy is the one responsible. He says he saw Murphy kill Jennings with his own eyes. He only confessed because he was a junkie at the time and Murphy said he would send his wife and kid money if he took the rap. He thought it was his chance at redemption. but now Murphy's stopped caring for his family so he's telling the truth. He alleges that Eamon used his own pen gun to kill Jennings and then, when Jennings was dead, stole Jennings' police academy ring.
In a church, Murphy goes to make an intimidatingly unsettling confession -- that he's recently thought about killing a priest, accusing the priest himself of stealing from the offerings. The priest denies it but Murphy threatens him. After all, the priest is stealing from hardworking families. Murphy's got a bloodstained heart of gold, huh? After the confession, Murphy meets with an associate who reports that Montenero accused Murphy of Jennings' killing. With all their new product coming in, though, they don't need that kind of attention. Back at the task force headquarters, Bell is obsessing over catching Jennings' real murderer with Montenero's help but Stabler has more bad news to deliver: Montenero was murdered inside the jail. How convenient.
Deputy Inspector Thurman, with his own sketchy backstory, tells Bell that investigating Murphy is a non-starter. The guy's untouchable and he's not using resources to go after him again. Bell snidely comments on his fake football career and unprescribed pills. She's playing with fire. Good for her.
Stabler and Bell get creative again as they brief the task force on Murphy's decades of drug operations and his hierarchy, including his right-hand man Seamus O’Meara. The plan is to lure him out and want to meet with them. Time to reach out to their frenemy Teddy Silas. They want to use his bar as a cover -- and they can get him briefly off house arrest with supervision. Teddy just has to send Murphy an attractive enough invitation to meet at the bar. If he cooperates enough, the District Attorney will take time off his sentence. The team uses Teddy's sharp criminal mind to tap into the psychology of pacing obvious versus hidden camera and lulling their mark into a false sense of security. He shows them a secret back room: this will be where they set up their sting operation casino. Plus, Jet Slootmaekers has experience as a casino dealer.
Detectives Bobby Reyes and Jamie Whelan break off from the group to talk to Reyes' wife's aunt. He needs her help to make an introduction to a particular crime gang. Reyes' wife doesn't know he's here asking for this favor, but he really needs the old-school gang hookup. She wants nothing in return, either; after all, they're family. Except, of course, to finally meet his kids. Again, family.
As Mia Montenero enters her home, Murphy is waiting for her with a knife and a vicious dog as he poetically tells her that her husband is dead while threatening her with more violence. If anyone comes asking about him, she better not say anything. Between this and Law & Order: SVU, it's been a long stretch of ruthless gang leaders threatening women. O’Meara comes in to report that the Silases are reopening their fancy criminal establishment, so the two of them might as well check it out and pay tribute.
At his apartment, Stabler opens his phone, his thumb just about to press Benson's number in another fakeout when he gets a front door notification instead. It's D.A. Rika Harold, who wants to talk with Stabler about Murphy off the record. She says he's been able to skate away for 30 years, so she suspects he's got inside protection help. Harold says Benson speaks very highly of him, so she knows she can trust him. "You know Benson?" Stabler asks softly. That sells him in on trusting her in return. Before she leaves, she warns him to be careful of Murphy's dog.
Jennings' wife Marjorie visits Bell at the task force HQ. Bell tells her that new evidence shows that another man, not Montenero, is likely responsible for Jennings' death. Marjorie says she's already made her peace and doesn't want to be dragged into it. This is just about Bell's guilt, she accuses, and storms out. So much for women supporting women.
Reyes and Jet arrive to escort Teddy to his sting bar opening. He wants to bring his gun but they very forcefully won't let him. So he tries to warn them about how dangerous Murphy is while Jet finds a bag of cash and Teddy's passport. He's not trying to run, but Teddy is afraid that whenever Murphy is around, nothing is safe.
Whelan is in his element undercover as a bartender as O’Meara enters. Reyes greets him as Teddy takes over to escort O’Meara to the secret back room, where Stabler is waiting. O’Meara sits down at Jet's table as she expertly flirts him into feeling at ease -- and deals him winning hand after winning hand. (How does Stabler still keep getting away with being undercover, considering Stabler's face has been all over the news as a famous cop at least three times in the past three years?) Overjoyed, O’Meara asks Jet out after her shift. He makes his way to the front of the bar, well-satisfied with his winnings and his potential dalliance with Jet. As O’Meara heads out, Reyes tails him and his crew.
They head to a parking lot to make a large cocaine sale. They joke with the buyer to be careful with the car and drive off as Whelan and Reyes arrive on the scene to arrest the buyer. Back at the Silas bar, Bell is depressed and obsessed over having missed Jennings' true murderer all these years. Stabler, being the good friend he is, assures her she did the best she could with the information she had.
As Jet heads home, she finds O’Meara waiting for her. He asks where she wants to go to dinner, either now or one day later. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Aw, he's kind of sweet actually. Jet says French just before Eamon Murphy walks up, happy to be introduced to O’Meara's new lady friend. Jet keeps her undercover smile on, inviting Eamon to personally come play cards with her sometime.
And as Stabler drives home, he debriefs Harold over the phone. She has some bad news, though: they're ruling Montenero's obvious murder as a suicide. Murphy's influence makes the NYPD's interference into Organized Crime look quaint. Be careful, Detective Stabler. For once -- be careful.
Law & Order: Organized Crime airs Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. on NBC and streams on Peacock.