Organized Crime as a series did exactly what the Wheatleys did last night – start out on a high before driving right off a cliff.

And I’m done.

I realize one does not have to give a resignation to stop watching a show, but I want to put a period on the end of the sentence that is these reviews no one reads.

News broke last Friday night that Ilene Chaiken is out as Organized Crime‘s showrunner. There are only five episodes left to film and they will be overseen by new showrunner, Barry O’Brien.

I’ve been open about how much I’ve disliked this second Wheatley arc and when the news broke that Chaiken was out I was cautiously optimistic. She turned OC into the same narrative mess that drove me away from Empire. But as I watched last night I was like …this is not worth my time.

Chaiken has definitely given us some great stuff – the first seven episodes of Organized Crime season one, Bernie and Elliot reestablishing their relationship, Ayanna Bell and Jet Slootmachers. But she’s also given us a lot of crap – from Stabler getting romantically involved with the women he’s investigating (Stabler – a former sex crimes detective – can’t tell that a cop sleeping with women he’s actively investigating is bad? In 2022? Really?) to that weird “Eddie Wagner has a kid!” thing, to Eli being accused of a super complicated murder. The bad has outweighed the good for quite some time.

(I also didn’t trust Chaiken not to repeat the inappropriate romantic relationship thing. As soon as Jennifer Beals was cast as a regular for the last arc of season 2, I was pretty convinced we’d be watching Stabler sleep with his friend’s wife for shock value or whatever. Some people called it misogynistic to assume she’d be playing this role without knowing for sure that’s what she’s slated for. I’d agree with that if Chaiken hadn’t already done it…twice.)

A lot of people say that Chaiken really cared about the Elliot/Olivia relationship but I disagree. If she cared she would have had some sort of plan for the stupid fucking letter. She didn’t have a plan – she even said it in interviews. Christopher Meloni even said it. And then when she finally delivered, it wasn’t the “mature” conversation we were promised, it was more shock for shock’s sake. And at the end of the day, it didn’t mean a god damned thing for Elliot and Olivia’s relationship. We still don’t know why Stabler left without a word to Olivia in the first place! Two fucking seasons in and no one has answered one of the most important questions the fans have?

That’s what irritates me the most about all of this – they keep trotting Meloni and Hargitay out at press events where they are so excited to say things like “Olivia has been in love with [Elliot] for many a year” and talk about how this Real Adult Relationship Needs To Be EARNED…and then the shows give us nothing.

The only reason I came back to this franchise is because I like Elliot Stabler. I want to see Christopher Meloni on my TV every week and I want to see Stabler and Benson explore a romantic relationship. My guess is a very big chunk of the people who watch this show when it airs (when it airs! Who does that anymore?) want the same thing. But all we get is directors and showrunners telling us on Twitter that Elliot and Olivia just having a conversation about why he left would make the show a telenovela, but Carisi and Rollins talking about their relationship is a long time coming and totally ok and not soapy at all.

It’s pretty obvious that Law & Order and Wolf Entertainment as a whole view EO fans as people they can bait and bait and bait, but they don’t have to deliver because we’ll never leave. We just keep sitting by the gate waiting for crumbs. We’ll keep giving them views and ratings but they’ll never deliver on anything because they don’t have to. The audience is too loyal, too hopeful, too invested. After 23 years, who wants to say all that time was wasted? Who wants to admit that the thing you care about never gave a fuck about what you wanted, that they will lie to keep you tuned in and laugh at how fucking dumb you were to accept the crumbs they fed you over the years? No one wants to admit it, even if that exactly what’s happening.

Anyway. Chaiken left with five episodes left to film, so maybe the New Guy will have an opportunity to do something. I’m just not going to be there to see it.