WARNING! SPOILERS ahead for Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5, episode 8, "Fail Safe."

Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5, episode 8, "Fail Safe," offers an exciting blend of family and investigative storylines. However, it still doesn't make enough progress on its biggest season-long arc. Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 has taken advantage of the looser restrictions on streaming to tell grittier stories involving investigations into mob families and other violent criminal organizations. After spending the first half of the season on a case involving an old CI Staber rescued from a mob family in Italy, the procedural has moved on to a high-tech case involving AI and terrorism.

"Fail Safe" ends that investigation while also giving Stabler a meaty conflict. After his mother (Ellen Burstyn) is hospitalized following a heart-related collapse, he struggles to balance his need to be there for his family with his drive to solve this case and ensure that New York is safe. However, one member of the Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 cast is missing without explanation, and the episode continues to slow-walk its arc about Stabler's youngest brother, Joey, who has been missing since the season 4 finale.

Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5, Episode 8 Sets Up A Potentially Emotional Exit Story

Both Kathleen & Bernie Suggest Bernie Will Die

Bernie is one of Law & Order: Organized Crime's most endearing characters, but unfortunately, her time in the series may be coming to a heartbreaking end. After Randall finds her on the floor, struggling to breathe, she is itted to the hospital, where there are several well-done, if heavy-handed, references to her potential death. Stabler refuses to hear any discussion of his mother not making it, shutting Kathleen down when she suggests he read a book about dealing with end-of-life issues. This emotional scene is far from the only suggestion that Bernie's days are numbered.

When she needs heart ablation surgery, Randall reminds Stabler that their mother is 92 years old, so any surgery is risky, and Bernie herself tells the family at the end that if this had been her time, she would be at peace. These scenes seem to suggest that while Bernie's life was able to be saved this time, she is likely to have another medical emergency that doesn't end so happily. This would be a heartbreaking end to season 5, especially considering everything that Bernie has survived since she was first introduced in Law & Order: SVU season 10.

This story works especially well because it is paired with Stabler's struggle to balance his work and family needs. Additionally, Eli is not present at Bernie's bedside, and if she dies, both father and son may regret not spending time with her. Law & Order: Organized Crime also connected this storyline to the case well by having the villain bomb a hospital after his mother's tragic death.

Law & Order Organized Crime Season 5, Episode 8's Case Suffers Because Bell Is Missing

The Procedural Offers No Explanation For Her Absence

The Organized Crime Bureau's efforts to continue investigating the string of high-tech murders is exciting, but fall somewhat flat because the unit is so short-staffed. Stabler is the lead detective on the case and works with Vargas (Tate Ellington) and Detective Tanner, the cyber-crimes detective who arrested Vargas after discovering his code was used in the first attack. It's bizarre for these two to be working together after their initial adversarial relationship, but the worst aspect of this case is that Bell is not present.

Bell and Stabler's relationship often elevates cases above standard procedural fare, especially when Bell reluctantly lets Stabler remain on an undercover assignment or gets annoyed with him bending the rules. Her absence was especially pronounced since this is Vargas' first big case since Jet left and he was promoted.

It's hard enough adjusting to Vargas being the computer expert instead of Jet without Bell disappearing.

Additionally, Reyes was not there either, making the team seem tiny, and the storyline about Tanner being tricked by an AI message, abducted, and tied to a bomb felt like it would fit equally well on FBI rather than being the type of story that needs to be told on a gritty, violent series like Law & Order: Organized Crime.

The Joey Cliffhanger Was Strong, But Should Have Happened Sooner

It Shouldn't Have Taken Most Of The Season To Get To This Point

Bernie's ordeal left it ambiguous whether she'd really seen Joey or hallucinated until the end of the episode, which left off with Stabler getting a phone call from Joey, indicating that Joey was in danger and expecting to die soon. While this is one of Law & Order: Organized Crime's strongest cliffhangers, it should have happened several episodes ago rather than waiting until near the end of the shortened season. Leaving it until now makes the cliffhanger more annoying than intriguing.

Joey's disappearance has been a slow-burn story, which makes little sense considering that Law & Order: Organized Crime season 4 ended with him being handcuffed to a briefcase full of chemical weapons in the villain's plane as it took off.

This storyline should have been Law & Order: Organized Crime's biggest arc, yet the series jumped forward in time and focused on other stories, with only one or two scenes devoted to Joey's disappearance in each episode. However, the cliffhanger suggests that the procedural will finally address this story as the season comes to a close.

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