Spoilers ahead for the winter premiere of Law & Order: Organized Crime, called “Trap.”
Law & Order: Organized Crime wrapped up the case against the Serrano family in the fall finale back in December, and wasted no time into diving into the next arc in the winter premiere. After Bell found a way to avoid disbanding the task force, an informant reached out to Stabler with news that a gang had kidnapped his wife. The Cuban gang out of Miami also needed daring drivers for their criminal enterprise, which meant Det. Jamie Whelan going undercover for his first big solo job. Actor Brent Antonello spoke with CinemaBlend to break down Jamie’s state of mind in “Trap,” and what Stabler’s gesture meant to his character.
While Jamie is a confident cop who proved that he could hold his own on the task force despite being a newcomer in the first portion of Season 3, he hasn’t proved that he has undercover chops on par with Stabler. He does have street car racing experience, however, which meant he was heading into danger all on his own rather than hanging out in the surveillance van with Jet or partnering up with one of his Organized Crime Control Bureau colleagues.
He got his big chance to prove his worth when he wired up and walked right into a building controlled by the gang, but the mission went sideways when he spotted the kidnapped woman. After taking one last moment to alert the team about Sherie, he rushed to remove and hide his wire before joining the group of bad guys. When I spoke with Brent Antonello, I asked if Jamie rushing to ditch the wire in a bathroom was a sign a of the detective panicking in “the big leagues” of his first solo undercover op or being smart, and the actor broke it down:
To me, it was him doing what he had to do: going into that bathroom immediately and taking the wire off because they were going to find it. I think that's his experience kicking in. But at the same time, when Stabler confronts him and stuff like that, there is regret of doing it. But I would say, yeah, that's him knowing the situation, the pressure of it and doing what needed to be done in that bathroom to proceed with the operation.
Jamie may have looked a bit frantic as he tried to hide the wire with the gang member just seconds away from getting to him, but Brent Antonello believes that he did it because it was best for the operation and not because he panicked. Of course, considering that he may well have been killed if they’d caught him with the wire on, his rush to ditch the tech may have saved Sherie’s life as well as his own. In fact, the actor went on to share the moment that meant Jamie had to take action:
When he sees Sherie there, it's game on. He can't get caught. This is it. So I would say that it wasn't the pressure, but the need to get the job done with no outside voices, meaning Bell, or Stabler. Just trying to prove to himself that he can do this by himself.
It was clear that the cop wasn’t expecting to see the kidnapped woman just out in the semi-open, and he had to think fast to get as many gang members away as possible for Stabler and Bell to make the rescue. He couldn’t very well do that if he was caught with a wire! He’s still in serious danger and may not have the full trust of the Cuban gang, although how he shook Reyes and Jet's tail seemed to go a long way in convincing them.
So, can Jamie truly prove that he can pull the op off by himself, or will he end up in even more trouble as he gets in deeper? He doesn’t have quite as much experience as Stabler did before he went undercover with the Albanian mob in Season 2. He was technically only sent in because he had the street racing experience as a way in with the criminals.
Still, Stabler and Bell put a lot of trust in him, and Stabler’s support was especially important for Jamie. Brent Antonello weighed in on the show of faith with Stabler and Bell supporting him:
I think it's huge. I think from the very first time you see Jamie walk in and make eye contact with Stabler, especially in the moment where he sees him and asks for Stabler and Stabler turns away, and then comes back and he says 'I know who you are.' Even that little spark meant a lot to him. From that moment on, he looks up to Stabler. Stabler's his guy. He's the guy he's been looking up to and he wanted to be in his crew.
Stabler has seemed impressed enough with Jamie’s work, but isn’t exactly the most effusive when it comes to praise for his coworkers, so the younger detective doesn’t get shows of faith from him too often. In fact, Bell called him out for not opening up in this very episode! This undercover operation means that Jamie can show off his skills behind the wheel and – if all goes well – prove why he belongs alongside the NYPD's best in the Organized Crime Control Bureau. Antonello went on to say:
He wants acceptance. He wants to show them that he can do this, and that's what really motivates him. He wants to show the crew that he can do this. We haven't really seen him have that shot, but when he gets that shot, that means the world. He wakes up every day for a moment like that, and then it's all about how he handles that. So we'll see.
He definitely has a shot now and made some very bold moves while trying to get into the gang, but he’s now on the road with a car full of criminals, nobody watching his back, and the rest of the team is cut off from him without the wire. Will he rise to the occasion, prove himself, and get the acceptance that he craves? Or will he need a rescue?
Find out with new episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, following new episodes of Law & Order: SVU at 9 p.m. SVU is actually veering into OC territory after Benson was targeted by BX9, and she has joined forces with Captain Duarte of the Bronx gangs unit in the wake of an attack. For more TV options in the new year, be sure to check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule.
