February 22 is a big night for NBC's Law & Order primetime lineup with the departure of Sam Waterston early on, and a new exclusive clip (seen above) from Law & Order: Organized Crime shows Stabler both making the most of his suspension and showing his roots as a former Special Victims Unit detective. Being booted from the NYPD – even temporarily – won't stop Elliot Stabler from investigating a missing girl and possible abuse of underage of multiple girls. He may pay the price of overstepping while suspended, though!
This new episode of Organized Crime is called "Missing Persons," so it'll be interesting to see if Stabler ends up searching for more than one person or the plural in the title refers to an entirely different situation. As the above clip shows, Stabler will investigate the disappearance of a formerly rescued victim despite his suspension, and didn't seem thrilled to hear that girls are known as "broads" in that household. He may end up behind bars because of doing it without a badge, and I'm definitely curious about how these other cops are involved.
While a lot of time has passed since Christopher Meloni was on Law & Order: SVU as more than a guest star teaming Stabler up with Olivia Benson, I definitely found myself flashing back to the character's SVU days in his efforts to protect girls who may be taken advantage of... to put it nicely. That said, his search definitely has its roots in earlier episodes of Organized Crime, and not just because it picks up where the previous episode left off with Stabler suspended from the NYPD amidst family drama.
The girl he's searching for is Rita Lasku, who debuted on OC back in Season 2 (available streaming via Peacock Premium subscription) as part of the Albanian mob arc. They bonded a bit, with her giving him a nickname and him trying to protect her, to the point that Benson did actually come onto the case for an OC/SVU crossover when it looked like human trafficking might be in play. Then, in the Season 4 premiere, Rita left a voicemail for Stabler, prompting him to call his former SVU partner, although he also said that he wanted to hear Benson's voice.
Elsewhere in "Missing Persons," the rest of the task force may have their hands too full to bend the rules and pitch in, as Bell will still be recovering from her gunshot wound while the other detectives – including Bashir – face questions from IAB. (The nicest member of IAB recently joined SVU.) Joe Jr. will also show his career path, just one week after his brothers made it clear that they didn't believe the story he was spinning about his dishonorable discharge from the army.
Tune in to NBC on February 22 at 10 p.m. ET for the "Missing Persons" episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime and the full context for the above clip and Rita's disappearance. As always, OC ends the night of Law & Order action on the network, which starts with the original series at 8 p.m. ET before moving on to SVU at 9 p.m. ET, all on NBC in the 2024 TV schedule.
