Law & Order Organized Crime “Streets Is Watching” Recap, Review, Discussion

There was plenty of action in Law & Order Organized Crime “Streets Is Watching”, setting thing up for the season finale. This series does a great job with action sequences, and the chase scene with Stabler and the hit woman Natalie Dumont had Stabler dodging all kinds of obstacles.  He didn’t get the hit woman that time, but manages to subdue her in his apartment in another high octane fight scene which trashes his apartment in the process.  (This usually means time for either redecorating for next season OR moving into a new place.)  After what is probably coming down for Preston Webb and/or Frank Donnelly, Stabler better find a new place that is very secure. 

Stabler confronts Donnelly about the theft of $2 million from Ulrich and Donnelly thinks that Stabler is buying his BS about it.  Clearly Stabler won’t back down where Donnelly is concerned. Donnelly plans to take that money and flee, and he tells the Brotherhood that he is stepping down and puts Stabler in charge.   The Brotherhood is upset about the change in leadership - they don't know Donnelly stole that money -  and I suspect this will be trouble for either Donnelly or Stabler himself.  Donnelly’s wife Bridget is less than thrilled that they are getting new identities and leaving family.  My guess is she won’t have to worry as I suspect Donnelly will never make it to his new location. 

Nova was close to being exposed when her brother Derrick comes face to face with Webb with the intent to shoot him for killing his – and Nova’s – father.   She forced herself to shoot Derrick to keep her cover and to prevent him from being killed by Webb.  Despite this,  Webb likely now has some serious doubts about Nova and hopefully she’ll get out of this mess unscathed. 

The only unknown issue – Congressman Kilbride.  Will this get resolved in the season finale, or will this story continue in the next season? Stay tuned!

Here is the recap:

Ilya Efremov arrives at a hotel, a reporter trying to get a comment from him.  He and his security guard get to his hotel room and the security guard checks it for threats. He tells him that it is all clear, despite the fact someone opens a door into the room right after the guard has cleared it.   When the guard leaves the room, someone quickly shoots Efremov dead. 

At the Organized Crime task force office, Stabler gives Jet the 40-year-old slug he pulled out of the tree – which was preserved by the bark wrapping around it.  He asks her to use  a friend she has in ballistics to find the gun that fired it.  Bell enters and says Nova has something. 

They meet Nova in a area filled with containers and Nova explains that Webb ordered a hit on Stabler.

Meanwhile, at the Donnelly household,  Donnelly is digging in his yard at 5:30 AM and his wife asks him about it. He says he’s been telling her he’s been saving for a rainy day, and it’s raining. 

At the Stabler household, Stabler ships his mom and Eli off to Kathleen’s and has to explain it’s happening because there is a threat and it will pass.  They are less than thrilled. 

Stabler gets back to the task force and Bell explains she is putting a car at Kathleen’s and that Stabler will have a rotating detail on him 24/7;  Cho and Maldonado are up first.   Jet hugs Stabler and says she feels weird.    They discuss this and Stabler thinks if Webb doesn’t get his money back he is going to get his street cred back and someone will pay for it.  Stabler wonders who allowed Raymond Moss to gain access to the Ulrich mansion and walk out with the cash. 

Bell speaks with Ulrich’s security guard and Bell shows him photos of Stabler and Donnelly. He  points out Donnelly as the man. 

At the 3-7 precinct, Stabler speaks with Donnelly and confronts him about Donnelly taking the money and he admits he bribed Ulrich’s head of security in advance.  Stabler gets upset and Donnelly called it a test that Stabler could get the safe cracked.  Stabler asked why he used his credit card to use the van and Donnelly blames it on Moss, saying he had to find a fall guy and he didn’t know it would be him.  Stabler checks with Jet and finds the last charge was at the bar, so maybe Moss lifted the credit card info there.  Donnelly thinks he and Stabler are good. 

Later, Stabler gets a call from Eli saying Stabler’s mom is having an episode. Bernadette seems upset.  Stabler, now outside of his car,  tells Eli she is out of her element and asks Eli to put Kathleen on.  But Bernadette grabs the phone and as she does so, a shot rings out right at Stabler and he falls to the ground. Cho and Maldonado come out right away to check on him as they crouch behind a car.  Bernadette is calling out from the phone if he is alright, and Cho and Maldonado cannot see a shooter.  Stabler picks up the phone and tells his mother he is alright. 

The next day,  Nova and Hugo are with Preston Webb and Webb gives Nova an envelope to give to Kilbride.  There is a knock at the door and it is Stabler.  One of the guards touches Stabler and Stabler pulls away saying  if he touches him again he will shoot him.  Webb tells  them to step outside, Nova stays in the room.  Stabler tells him he knows he thinks he took his money and tells Webb to call it off, saying he has a lead of who stole the money.  Nova takes one of Webb’s phones without him seeing.  Webb says he will have repayment in the currency of his choosing. He tells Stabler he is out of time.  Stabler tells him if he kills a cop, everything he built will go down the toilet. Webb says he was born knee-high in a sewer and tells Stabler to get his ass out of his office.  Stabler leaves. 

Later,  Stabler tells Bell that Cho and Maldonado were across the street and by his side, they swept the area and there was no sign of the shooter.  He insists he is fine and Bell thinks they need to move on him. But Stabler says they can’t charge him on hearsay evidence from an undercover whose identity they can’t reveal for her own protection.  Bell says she will talk to Nova; they need something concrete ASAP.  Jet rushes in and says she got a hit. Crime techs pulled out a slug from a dumpster near Stabler’s apartment. Striations were intact and the bullet was traced back to a gun used in a high profile killing a few nights ago: Ilya Efremov, a  global venture capitalist, the latest victim in a pattern of similar kills of am arms dealer, drug lord, and a trafficker, and hedge fund fraudster.   All killed by an unknown assassin in the last nine months.  Stabler realizes Webb has outsourced a hit man and if you want to whack a cop you maintain some distance.  Stabler gets a message: Donnelly has called a meeting of the Brotherhood.  Bell doesn’t want Stabler to answer but Stabler says he has to – he is now second in command. 

Stabler goes to the meeting and Donnelly announces that he’s had a kid and doesn’t want to screw it up this time and he is stepping back. The team is shocked as he says he is stepping down as leader and Stabler is in charge.  He says "this thing of ours" was passed down to him and now he's passing it down to them and to Stabler. The team argues back and even Stabler is reluctant.  But Donnelly tells him he is the new leader and not to screw it up.  Stabler follows him out and says he is not ready for this and neither is the team.  Stabler says they hate it but he tells Stabler he will love it, being the boss of the brotherhood is the closest he will ever get to playing god. 

Elsewhere, Pastor Derrick Riley prays for strength to take the burden from his hands. He looks at the gun. 

At the task force,  Jet has a street cam footage  of the shooter and will try facial rec.  Bell gets a call from Stabler and he explains Donnelly stepping down and Stabler is getting the reins. They wonder about what is Donnelly’s play, and Bell suggests he come in to help figure it out.   

Jet calls Stabler and says they have his assassin – he is a she. His hit man is a woman. 

Later, Jet explains to Stabler and Bell the hit woman is Natalie Dumont, and goes by the name Belladonna.  She is 34, lived 10 years in Puglia Italy.  Jet goes through her  military history and she went AWOL and connected to   mercenaries.  Nova walks in and says she has a burner phone that Webb bought yesterday and the call log only shows one number and Jet says she can get it down to one square mile and then Stabler will have to scan it with a stingray unit she gives him. If he is close enough they can get it down to a few feet. 

Stabler drives near the area with the stingray unit as Jet gives him directions.  She tells him to wait for ESU and gives him the address and says she put the security app on his phone.  He stops the car, goes inside the building, and using the app, unlocks the door and goes inside the apartment.  He calls out he is NYPD and calls out for Natalie Dumont. He sees she has photos of his family out. He sees her fleeing outside, going over a fence, and he chases her through the busy streets but loses her.  He gets a call and tells Bell that Dumont is chasing his entire family, not just him as she had his personal file including his misconduct file and photos of his family.  Bell says she is doubling security on Kathleen. Jet sees Dumont on a street cam and gives Stabler directions to some show going on there.  He goes inside the building and chases her through the crowd inside.  She runs onto a roof and Stabler follows and she jumps onto the top of a passing truck and moves off. Stabler points his gun at her but does not shoot. 

At Webb’s office, Nova’s  brother  Pastor Derrick enters his office with Hugo and Webb instructs Hugo to leave.  Derrick is angry and pulls out a gun and says Webb can tell him why he murdered his father.  Webb insists he doesn’t know his father.  Nova rushes in and asks what is he doing. Webb says her brother is confused.  Derrick says his head is clear and Webb stands up with a gun and tells Nova to keep talking sense to him because she knows how this ends.  Nova tries to diffuse the situation and says she doesn’t know what he’s talking about.   Webb asks Nova if she thinks he killed her father too, asking if that is why she ingratiated herself to  him? She denies this and says Derrick is not thinking straight.  Derrick yells back that Webb will  have to answer to God and before Webb can shoot him, Nova shoots Derrick in the leg.  He goes down in pain.  She tells him to stay down. Hugo walks in and Webb tells him everything is under control and tells  Nova to get him to his doctor and this never happened. 

Meanwhile, at Kathleen’s, Bernadette is clearly agitated and wonders where he husband Joe is at. She is confused. 

Stabler arrives home and sees police are watching.  He enters the building and when he gets to his apartment he approaches cautiously, then kicks open the door.   Dumont is there and a violent fight ensues, his apartment getting trashed as this happens. He eventually disables Dumont when he throws her into a glass wall. 

Later, Dumont is in interrogation and Stabler tries to get her to talk.  He mentions all the Feds outside who want to talk to her about a string  of murders and the fact she tried to orphan his kids.   She says she is an orphan and you learn how to survive. He states he is there to help her because she has something he needs.   He tells her to cooperate and her future will look better than it does right now. He brings up Preston Webb.

Later, Bell tells the group that “Belladonna’s” confession along with what Jet got from the burner phone gives them everything they need to close the book on Webb.  Stabler asks if she wants to move on him tonight, and she says no better time than the present. She comments that Stabler took down a professional hit woman and Nova’s compiled evidence they will be able to sweep the Marcy Killer organization.  Stabler comments the only thing left is the dirty cop who set him up.  Bell says they will get Donnelly, and tells him to take care of his face, 

Meanwhile, Derrick is in a hospital bed and tells Nova she should have let him kill Webb. They discuss that he is a pastor and she is in the same pain and this is why she put on the badge, She admits she told him about Webb but Webb is not his business,  he is hers. She gives him a bus ticket to Chicago and tells him he is going home. 

Meanwhile, at the Donnelly residence,  Donnelly is packing up bags of money and Bridget asks how much is there. He says 2 mil, give or take, and that she knew this day was coming and they have to go.  He has new passports and identities . She argues with him that they were supposed to build a life here and he promised.  Donnelly says it is not forever and she presses when and he seems makes a  promised about coming back for Christmas.  She asked what is their new name, it better be a good one. 

 

Stabler gets to Kathleen and she sees his injuries and he thanks her for taking the family in. He says he loves her and is sorry he scared her.  Eli asks what happened and he says he got in a scuffle and there is a hole in his bedroom wall.  He enters the room where his mom is laying in bed:

Stabler: Mama. 

Bernadette: Elliot, what are you doing here at this hour? 

Stabler: Couldn't let the day end without seeing my best girl, could I? 

Bernadette: You really think that's gonna work for you, huh? 

Stabler: It used to.

Bernadette [seeing his injuries]: What's that? 

Stabler:  Mm, it's nothing. It looks worse than it is.

Bernadette:  It looks pretty bad. Elliot, I just want us to be home, where we belong. 

Stabler: I know. I know. 

Bernadette: Can we have that? 

Stabler: Soon. Get some beauty sleep... not that you need it. 

Afterwards, Jet arrives at Stabler’s  and when she enters she sees the damage in his apartment, saying he knows how to party.   She gives him the ballistics on the slug he found in the tree and it matches the slug they pulled out of your father's leg in that shooting 40 years ago. Stabler says they came from  the same gun  that was owned by his father's partner, Gus Hanson. Jet questions that his dad was shot by his partner, and Stabler explains it was to cover up a dirty shooting.  Jet says she is sorry but he says it’s okay, and thanks her for the information.  Jet says she is still sorry. She asks if he wants help cleaning up, but Stabler says he’s got it. Jet doesn’t think he does, but thanks him for letting her  off the hook.  She moves to leave.  As she exits, he tells her goodnight and as he looks around the damaged apartment, we cut to black.