Organized Crime’ Was Chris Meloni’s Idea

After a strong start to the new and long-awaited Season 5, Law & Order: Organized Crime fans are still reeling from the episode featuring Mariska Hargitay‘s Captain Olivia Benson. The second episode of the season, “Dante’s Inferno,” picks up after “Lost Highway,” where Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) is hit by an 18-wheeler and rushed to the hospital. There, fans see Olivia Benson at his bedside, along with the rest of his family. That includes his older brother, Randall Stabler, played by Dean Norris. Ahead of the new season, Norris spoke with Collider’s Taylor Gates. During the interview, Norris broke down working with Hargitay in the second episode, which Meloni wrote, as well as how the dynamic has evolved between Elliot and Randall.

In addition to explaining how the brisket joke came out — “I have a restaurant in California, Temecula, called the Swing Inn Cafe. We’re a barbecue place, so I’m always talking about how great my brisket is in real life, and Meloni always jokes with me about, “Hey, the brisket king’s on set.” — Norris also said that evolved to what fans eventually end up seeing: Randall flirting with Olivia over Elliot’s comatose body. He told Collider:

“And sure enough, I get handed the script — because he texted me and said, ‘I got a great scene for you.’ And Benson comes in, and Randall — who doesn’t have a lot of couth, he’s not a smooth guy — but boy, he sees her, and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna shoot my shot.’ And what is his pickup line? ‘Hey, baby — you want some brisket? You want to try my brisket? I make the best brisket.’ I just thought it was funny — and doing it literally over the comatose body of his brother.”

In something that fans may have only expected to happen in fanfiction, it seems that it’s that flirting that wakes Elliot from the coma, never mind the fact that his family (Olivia included) were just told it would be another 24 to 48 hours before it would be possible for him to wake up. As Norris explains, Randall does seem to have an inclination to the Elliot and Olivia of it all, “I think he [Randall] said something like, ‘Yeah, I think he told me something about you.‘ So he knows there’s something there, but I just think the fact that he’s willing to try to pick her up when he first meets her,” Norris says. He adds that when it comes to his and Hargitay’s offscreen dynamic, “She’s so great—such a legend to work with. We’ve become a little bit of friends off set as well now, so I sure hope I get to see her a lot around the set in the Dick Wolf stages there.”

Elliot’s Coma Helps Randall Bare His Feelings in ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’

Whether or not Randall was signing his own death warrant by flirting with Olivia over Elliot’s close-to-death comatose body, the scene also allowed Randall to bare his feelings to Elliot while he was still unconscious. Randall scolds Elliot for being so reckless, especially at this age. He says that even though, at first, he only came back because of their mother, Bernadette “Bernie” Stabler (Ellen Burstyn), things have changed between the two brothers, for the better. He told Gates:

“I thought, again, that’s such a great scene because then that segues into the Benson part. They’re struggling to find their relationship, Elliot and Randall, because it’s been 18 years since they’ve been together. There’s been all these lies, and things have been kept secret — all this different stuff. It’s a very dysfunctional family, although they love each other. I think Randall’s just hurting and really wants to let out all that he’s been pushing under. That moment, I think maybe — in the back of his mind — he hopes that somehow seeps into his brain. The fact that he’s comatose allows him to say what he really feels and what he’s really been holding back, and he definitely wouldn’t have done that if he were awake.”

The first two episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 are available to stream now. Catch new episodes weekly on Peacock. Stay with Collider for the latest updates. Check out Gates’ full interview with Norris now.

Law and Order: Organized Crime

Release Date

April 1, 2021

Network

NBC, Peacock

Showrunner

Bryan Goluboff

Directors

John Polson, Jean de Segonzac, Jon Cassar, Stephen Surjik, Sharon Lewis, Simón Brand, Bethany Rooney, Jonathan Brown, Milena Govich, Ken Girotti, Gonzalo Amat, Tess Malone, Alex Hall, Anna Dokoza, Brenna Malloy, Monica Raymund, Sarah Boyd, Nelson McCormick, Leslie Hope, Rob J. Greenlea, Oz Scott, Michael Slovis, Alex Zakrzewski, Kate Woods

Writers

Amy Berg, John Shiban, Liz Sagal, Nichole Beattie, Will Pascoe, Emmy Higgins, Candice Sanchez McFarlane, Katrina Cabrera Ortega, Bridget Tyler, Davon Briggs, Alec Wells, Michael Konyves, Josh Fagin, Sean Jablonski, Gwen Sigan, David Graziano, Daniel Beaty, Katie Letien, Rick Eid, Nick Culbertson, Jean Kyoung Frazier, Christina Piña