I know this is beating a very dead horse at this point, but why the heck did Law & Order: Organized Crime handle the Joe Jr. story this way?
Joe’s disappearance feels like the biggest dropped story thread ever.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 7 continued the trend of little to no movement in Joe’s story while also continuing to ignore another major story, dampening my excitement about a solid, scary new threat.
Joe’s Appearance Followed A Scary Sci-Fi Story That Indulged All Our Worst AI Fears
Joe Jr.’s appearance was clearly an afterthought, and we don’t even know if it was real or a dream.
That fits the theme of this strange episode, I guess.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 7 featured a scary, cult-like leader who was able to wreak havoc with electronic equipment.
Cleaning robots exploded, electric cars suddenly drove themselves, and a woman was trapped in a burning building because the electronic door locks all failed.
Every attack included the creepiest version of My Darling Clementine in the history of TV, too. I’ll never think of that song the same way again!
As scary as it was, this story annoyed me.
For one thing, I’m still not clear on why these guys were using tech to kill people in creepy ways.
It had something to do with protesting against corporate greed, but I’m not understanding what.
It seemed like the main guy was a sadist who enjoyed killing people with technology, which I guess is a good enough motivation, though this felt more like technological terrorism than anything else.
Take away the creepy sci-fi aspects and you’ve got a run-of-the-mill episode of any of the FBI shows. (Too bad Remy Scott retired from Most Wanted and can’t show up to help, totally confusing Stabler by looking and sounding exactly like Richard Wheatley!)
The problem is, the sci-fi aspects were the point. This was yet another “AI is scary and dangerous” story that hit creepy tropes but seemed far removed from reality.
If anything, people shouldn’t be overly reliant on hackable technology.
Systems such as self-driving cars and automatic door locks should have manual overrides so that people don’t get killed if there’s a tech failure.
Instead, the crises all hit after Vargas gave a talk about how AI is safe, complete with the usual false claims about generative AI stealing creativity.
That’s a rant for another day. For now, we had to have a silly story suggesting that non-generative AI is also dangerous.
Vargas’ Quickly Evaporating Legal Troubles Didn’t Make Much Sense
On paper, the idea of Vargas being accused of a cybercrime was interesting.
It was also a great opportunity for Jet to make a cameo appearance as an FBI agent investigating Vargas’ involvement, but sadly, that didn’t happen.
Anyway, what could have been a great story devolved into a convoluted mess with little point.
Vargas was accused of writing the code that caused the first cyberhacking disaster because it was based on code stolen from something he created 10 years ago.
However, after two minutes, the detective admitted to Stabler that she knew Vargas was innocent but had arrested him because he was “all they had.”
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Um, that’s not how it’s supposed to work, Points for being honest about your lack of adherence to proper arrest procedures, but yikes.
She then redeemed herself by dropping the charges while stubbornly insisting Vargas was a person of interest, something else that seemed to be dropped by the end of the hour.
You know what was missing from all of that mess, for the most part?
Vargas’ emotional reactions.
He was annoyed and upset during his interrogation, but that was about it.
He was soon released and went back to business as usual, even participating in a humorous scene where Randall was caught red-handed discussing Joe Jr with him instead of involving Stabler.
Vargas’ arrest served no purpose, plot or character-wise. It just ate up screen time while giving an explanation for why Stabler agreed to work with the cyber crimes detective to find the real bad guys.
The Family Stuff Continued To Be The Best Part On Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 7
Since Blue Bloods is gone and Boston Blue hasn’t started yet, Law & Order: Organized Crime is the closest thing to a family drama on TV.
The best parts of this show, week after week, are the side stories about Stabler’s family (though I have a bone to pick with Randall only being a voice on the phone during Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 7.
Stabler’s conflicts with Randall and Eli felt real and relatable. I had no use for Randall during Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 4, but now he’s one of my favorite characters.
He has that protective brother vibe that drives Elliot up the wall, but it comes from a good place.
That’s the real reason I’m so disappointed that Joe Jr’s story has been back-burnered throughout Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5.
Joe’s disappearance should be a big deal, especially since Elliot knows he was taken by a drug kingpin who had access to dangerous chemical weapons.
It’s bad enough that the Spezzano family story disappeared after Isabella faked her death.
When a family member being kidnapped goes into a black hole, that’s almost unforgivable.
To add insult to injury, it was impossible to tell if Joe Jr.’s visit was real or a dream.
What do you think, Law & Order: Organized Crime Fanatics?
Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
Say something about Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Episode 7 in the comments and share with a friend who loves the show too. Independent voices need readers like you.
I’d especially love to hear your thoughts on the continued Joe Jr debacle, though if you want to debate the pros and cons of AI, generative or otherwise, I’m up for that too.
Vote in our poll to rank the episode.
Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 streams exclusively on Peacock. New episodes drop on Thursdays at 6/5c.
Watch Law & Order: Organized Crime Online
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