The Daily Beast
How ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ Dealing with Elliot Stabler’s Problem with Police Cruelty
NBCO a week after Law & Order: Organized Crime kicks off with a massive SVU crossover event, Dick Wolf, showrunner Ilene Chaiken and star Christopher Meloni are finally ready to tell a little more about NBC’s latest big procedure . During months, details of organized crime are largely kept under surveillance. But during a press conference on Wednesday, the trio answered reporters’ questions about what kind of policeman Elliot Stabler will be in 2021 – and what it was like to finally reunite with his longtime partner, Mariska Hargitay, Olivia Benson. This past summer, as Black Lives Matter protests spread across the country following the death of George Floyd, and talks on police procedures began to shift. For years, data has shown that these programs can promote harmful ideas about policing by, among other things, appreciating fake policemen – and by 2020, reality has become impossible to ignore. Did ‘Law & Order’ just open the door for Benson and Stabler to finally join? While contestants came to light with statements on the issue, some viewers wondered how Elliot Stabler’s upcoming stand-alone series would handle this new dynamic, given the detective’s status as perhaps TV’s most famous hothead cop. Dick Wolf told reporters on Wednesday: ‘We spent a lot of time talking about police behavior. I want to put it to you, probably more time than any other non-law enforcement in the country. Because that’s what we do every day. ‘Wolf refers back to a statement he made last year when he said he and his colleagues listened to the talks at the time, adding that the crew of the program read’ virtually everything ‘on the subject of both sides of the political spectrum – “from far left to far right.” (The boss of Law & Order did not elaborate on what specific resources or groups the team could have consulted.) “Of course we’re about what’s going on,” Wolf continued, “but it’s never in a knee-jerk way.” He described ‘the paradigm episode’ of Law & Order as a conversation between all the regular series, in which each is on a different side of the same question and ‘each of them is right – because life is not black and white, these are shades of gray. “Finally he said, ‘What I said in the spring is still true: the shows will speak for themselves. ‘When Elliot Stabler re-entered the world of Law & Order during the crossover premiere last week, he had questions from several colleagues about his style of policing. Many of the detective’s older colleagues, such as Olivia Benson of Hargitay and Finn Tutuola of Ice-T, agreed to new colleagues, who were more skeptical. Meanwhile, Stabler himself appeared frustrated by the constant hand-wringing, even though he admitted that, yes, the world of policing is changing. But beyond the newfound questions about Stabler’s character, organized crime will also be different from the other law and order characteristics in his storytelling. As Wolf recently revealed, the show’s premiere season will include three bows of eight episodes, which he compared to The Godfather, American Gangster, and finally Scarface. “All you have to do is look at the cast in the first episode and realize, you know, it’s not an episodic cast,” Wolf said, referring to an episode that includes Dylan McDermott as our first big bad, the emerging mafioso Richard Wheatley. . ‘We shoot for bigger matches [with Organized Crime], “Wolf said,” and I think it’s going to be endlessly interesting, and the character … has evolved in subtle ways that are given much more than lip service. “Perhaps the premiere of Organized Crime included a major tragedy. The series begins with the death of Elliot Stabler’s wife, Kathy Stabler – an occasional presence at SVU years before Meloni’s departure. On the question of what he would says to anyone who was dissatisfied that the program chose to kick off by using a dead woman to motivate its male central character, Wolf was blunt: “You can not please all the time. That’s not what we do not; the only thing we can do is tell stories. ”Chaiken said the plot was already established when she came on board as a forerunner, but added that she thinks it’s a good place is to start. ‘ “I was immediately drawn in,” Chaiken said. “When you tell a story of a beloved character who has been gone for many years, the first question you ask yourself is, ‘Why now?’ And that, as narrator- catalyst, is one of the best ‘Why now I can think of.’ The silver lining of this tragedy, however, was obvious to many from the start: could Benson and Stabler finally become an item? (Once, of course, they healed all the pain Stabler caused when he left power without saying goodbye) says.) The answer to the question has yet to be seen – but Meloni confirmed that he and Hargitay were covered by the fans’ answers to their on-air reunion. years-old co-star said. “Because I think … she was in the Law & Order stew … I was not prepared.” “It’s overwhelming, and it’s great, and it’s much appreciated,” Meloni continued. “And I think this time I do not know that the pressure is off. I feel less pressure than when Dick first commissioned me to be Elliot Stabler. So I’m a little freer to appreciate everything. It is.” have a nice trip. “Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily membership of the beast: Beast Inside goes deeper into the stories that matter to you. Learn more.