Warning: spoilers ahead for the Season 24 finale of Law & Order: SVU and Season 3 finale of Law & Order: Organized Crime.
The finale crossover between Law & Order: Organized Crime and Law & Order: SVU ended in tragedy. Just when the OC team was on the verge of catching Kyle – the man behind the site that had caused so much harm – Jamie Whelan was shot in the neck. Rather than receive treatment himself, he heroically sent a medic to save Kyle as the only man who could take down Shadowërk. While the detective initially survived the wound, the bullet went through his spine and left him paralyzed. Jamie died, shortly after a love confession from Jet. Actor Brent Antonello spoke with CinemaBlend back in happier times for Whelan earlier this season, including about his character’s feelings for Jet.
In the Season 3 finale (available streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription), Jet told Jamie that she loved him over the phone, when Reyes was by his partner’s side in the hospital. It wasn’t entirely clear if she meant it in a romantic, platonic, or familial way, but Jamie’s lack of reaction may have been the first clue that he didn’t intend to live much longer. After Reyes refused Jamie's request to stop the device that was keeping him alive after his almost complete paralysis, it was implied (although not confirmed) that the wounded detective’s father agreed to do what Reyes wouldn't and that’s why Jamie died.
When I spoke with Brent Antonello earlier this year, there was no way of knowing that his character would be dead before the end of the season. At the time, he shared that he’d gotten some pointers from Chris Meloni when he came to Organized Crime after quitting showbiz, and broke down some of his character’s risky actions when he went undercover solo. I asked him about Jamie’s feelings for Jet, after she’d given him a fairly frosty welcome and wasn’t opening up in a hurry, and Antonello weighed in on whether his character still wanted to bond with her:
I think there's still a drive. I think he actually understands the whole space thing now, giving her space. If she ever needs him, he's there. If she ever needs help – I mean, there's little things you've seen in the episodes where it's kind of like a big brother vibe now. When she got shot at, he's the first one to scream for her and make sure she's okay. Not just going after the guy, but stopping and making sure she's alright, because you're seeing a lot of her in the field, unlike the previous seasons. So yeah, I would say that he's not giving up, but just giving her space, and we'll see what happens. Time will tell.
Time did ultimately tell, as Antonello suggested back in January, as Jet and Jamie began to team up and pose as a couple undercover more than once. The whole unit began to feel closer when that tension died down. Fans can only speculate about if and when he stopped feeling a “big brother vibe” and whether Jet’s love confession in the Season 3 finale was romantic, but it certainly felt genuine no matter how she meant it. Even though there wasn’t a whole lot of time left in the episode to linger on reactions, his death emotionally shattered the rest of his unit, including Jet.
Law & Order: Organized Crime also may not show much of their reactions when the series returns for Season 4, due to what will probably be a sizable time jump from the spring finale. NBC is holding OC for a midseason premiere, even while SVU and Law & Order will be back in the fall as per usual (assuming the WGA writers strike doesn’t push them back). Benson and Stabler’s final moment together (after the crossover nailed their relationship) in the finale established a big case that will presumably keep the OC team busy off-screen in the aftermath of Jamie’s death up until the show’s return in 2024.
Even though fans are in for a long wait, it should be interesting to see if the show brings in a new character to replace Jamie, and what kind of welcome they’d get after how the team lost him. It’s not unusual for the show to cycle through characters and cast members, as Chris Meloni, Danielle Moné Truitt, and Ainsley Seiger are the only stars who have been on board from the beginning. Brent Antonello and Rick Gonzalez were newcomers in Season 3. For now, we can just think back on the good times of Jamie Whelan rather than reflect too much on how he died.
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