Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3 Episode 19 Review: A Diplomatic Solution

When Stabler’s personal life becomes more hectic, he is pulled into a case that forces him to use his caring nature for a stranger instead of his mother. Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3 Episode 19, “A Diplomatic Solution,” finds new ways to stretch Stabler’s abilities as a detective and a son.

Often we criticize the show for how frequently it makes the episodes all about Stabler or Bell, but in the case of “A Diplomatic Solution,” it works in favor of the story. 

Without Stabler’s humanity coming forth in this episode, there is a chance the case might not have been solved. It takes his bond with the foreign diplomat to get her to agree.

Foreign Affairs

A diplomat from India needing beefed up security comes at the most inopportune time for both Stabler and Bell. One has a court case they can’t miss, and the other has a mom with dementia that needs supervision. 

Stabler’s growth this season has come out differently, depending on the situation. His covering Bell at the expense of his mom’s care is something Stabler would always do — help out a colleague — and not do in the past — care for his mom.

He takes the time away from his mom to focus on getting the Indian diplomat to trust her NYPD security over the security from her own country that she knows and loves. It takes Stabler to task on all he knows as a seasoned NYPD detective, but it works in their favor.

Sure, he lets her walk onto a plane headed back for her country, but not before she hands over the equipment she had been trying to smuggle in the first place. While it’s not complete justice, it’s enough to get the dangerous weapons out of India’s hands, and the police arrest her security, who was in on it too.

While this is going on, Stabler is worrying about his mom. It’s not something he voices, but seasoned viewers can tell from how he sets up a uni outside his apartment and sends Jet in to “watch” over her. 

It’s the little things that Stabler chooses to do which show us that Law & Order: Organized Crime is committed to ensuring his work on himself continues.

Stabler the Dutiful Son

What is most remarkable about the little hints this episode gives us about Stabler and his mom is that it’s happening in the first place. Since we first met Elliot Stabler all those years ago on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, he’s had an extremely volatile and complicated relationship with his mom.

However, since returning from his decade in Europe, Stabler has been slowly working to bridge the gap between them. He has been trying to show her that he’s the son she’s always hoped he’d be. 

The fact that she wants him to be happy, and he wants her to be happy, is a long time coming. This relationship proves Stabler is becoming a much better human outside his “uniform.” 

Had she been diagnosed with dementia even four years ago, he wouldn’t have hesitated to put her into the first assisted living facility he could find. As it is, he’s now willing to take the time to care for her and look for an option with her that ticks all her boxes — and his. 

Stabler shows that he’s committed to being there for his mom in all the ways he failed when he was much younger. Finding out the truth about his father last year probably also moved this relationship closer. 

It’s increasingly evident that Elliot’s mom doesn’t have that many more years in her, so it’ll be interesting to see how her decline continues to affect him. 

Stray Thoughts:

• I am giggling at Reyes having to wear a pair of Jamie’s jeans after their adventure in the sewers.
• Speaking of sewers, the underground society there is fascinating, and I’d love to see it come up again in future cases.
• I’m forever grateful that the writers didn’t try to push a romantic angle with Stabler and the diplomat.

 

What did you think of this episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Law & Order: Organized Crime airs Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC.

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