Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 4 Episode 11 Review: Redcoat

The search for Julian Emery, aka Red Coat continues on Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 4 Episode 11, “Redcoat.” The ever elusive head of “the snake” as Mama Boone likes to call him, comes out of hiding in order to negotiate with Angus.

It’s a meeting that keeps us on edge from start to finish because we aren’t sure how its going to pan out and whether or not Emery is going to pull a fast one. Honestly, Christopher Meloni captures Stabler’s and our unease perfectly. 

Det. Stabler is Walking a Tight Rope

All through Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 4 Episode 11, “Redcoat,” Stabler is on edge because Angus Boone has tightened up security on the farm and forced “Hank” and Trisha to be with him almost exclusively. This makes it extremely hard for the two of them to communicate what they know to each other as well as the outside world.

So, when Stabler and Angus get back from meeting with Emery we hold our breath as Tyler and Angus come to collect both Trisha and “Hank.” As stated before, Meloni executes unease perfectly with Stabler’s shifty eyes and tense body language.

Trisha isn’t as good at hiding her unease with the whole situation and so naturally when Angus reveals that he knows Trisha is undercover ATF no one in Angus’ circle acts all that surprised. 

Honestly, when Emery handed Angus that envelope and stated he had a mole I was certain the file would be on Stabler. The fact that it ends up being Trisha is a nice twist we don’t expect, but enjoy nonetheless. 

It allows us to see Stabler pick his next move very carefully. If we know anything about him its that he will always defend and protect fellow cops. So, for Trisha to be revealed instead of Stabler the opportunity presents itself for Stabler to turn the tide.

Using his assumed relationship with Trisha to his advantage he gets Angus to stall for time. This allows Stabler to get his barings and find a subtle way to alert his team that they need to be pulled, and fast.

Tying Everything Together

Despite the show hanging in the balance each season regarding renewal, Law & Order: Organized Crime presents some of the strongest long form storytelling within the Dick Wolf franchise. This season has been especially great at giving little moments during each episode that tie together to create bigger reveals.

For example, ever since Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 4 Episode 5, “Missing Persons,” we’ve known that Joe Jr. has a new job selling wine for a mysterious, no name man. It’s not something we really give much thought to until Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 4 Episode 10, “Crossroads,” when Randall and the NYPD find evidence of Sam Bashir at Joe Jr.’s job.

Now, here we are at “Redcoat,” and we see Julian Emery drinking wine on his plane from a bottle that looks just like the ones Joe Jr. distributes. For those of us who have been paying attention all along the pieces all start clicking together.

We start to think that Emery has his hands in that business just as much as he does in Angus’ honey business/heroin smuggling. The truth ends up being the biggest shock of the whole episode.

Randall talks to Elliot about everything he’s discovered while Elliot was undercover as the camera cuts to Emery on his plane about to leave and right there next to him is Joe Jr. It’s hard to believe the youngest Stabler brother would be that close to a man as vile and cruel as Emery, so the fallout from that revelation is going to send ripple effects.

The Weakest Element of the Episode

I never thought I would say this, but the weakest part of this story, at this point, is the team themselves. I understand that Stabler is undercover and they have to monitor that, but beyond them recognizing Stabler’s 1013 SOS signal their presence served no purpose.

It’s a shame that the episode spent so much time focusing on them watching cameras because we would have been fine with just 5 minutes of them total. Yes, we love Jet and Reyes, but what do they actually add to this portion of the story? Nothing.

I could’ve cared less that the vehicle that took Angus and Stabler to their meeting with Emery had a camera scrambler. So to focus on that for so long it slows the episode down a little bit.

As we move forward and act on the information Angus willingly gave to the revealed Det. Stabler their role will definitely pick up. Which we are more than happy to see. But for now, this episode could’ve been all Stabler except for his extraction and the story would be all the stronger.

 

 

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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