WARNING! SPOILERS ahead for Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5, episode 3, "Paranza Dei Bambini."Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 has had three episodes so far, two of which involved an unrelated undercover mission.

Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5, episode 3, titled "Paranza Dei Bambini," reaches into Stabler's (Christopher Meloni) past to help him solve the murder of a mob boss in the courtroom. Stabler must rely on a CI who he helped escape from mob life in Italy six years ago to understand the killer's pattern. This story was interesting but did little to make progress on one of the most memorable stories from Law & Order: Organized Crime season 4.

Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 Is Gradually Resolving Joey's Cliffhanger

The Procedural Is Offering One Or Two Scenes Per Episode About This Story

While his story left off at the end of Law & Order: Organized Crime season 4 with Joey being handcuffed to a briefcase full of chemical weapons, the new season has made the surprising decision not to pick up where it left off. Instead, Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 takes place months later and offers breadcrumbs in every episode that are meant to lead to the discovery of Joey's location and the amount of trouble he's in.

The Joey storyline almost got lost in the focus on Stabler's romance with Law & Order: SVU's Benson (Mariska Hargitay) during the season premiere. This episode featured only a short conversation in which Stabler's mother, Bernie (Ellen Burnstyn) insisted she had been speaking with Joey regularly. During "Parzana Dei Bambinos," Law & Order: Organized Crime follows up on this incident by having Randall tell Stabler about it. Later, Randall attempts to answer his mother's phone, but the person hangs up on him, suggesting that someone is using Joey to target Bernie.

Why Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 May Be Running Out Of Time To Solve The Joey Mystery

Season 5 Only Has 10 Episodes

If Law & Order: Organized Crime had a full 22 to 24 episodes to tell its story, there would be plenty of room for suspenseful scenes such as Randall answering the phone to find nobody there. However, with only 10 episodes in season 5 and no guarantee that Law & Order: Organized Crime season 6 will happen, the writers do not have time to move so slowly with this story, especially since other plots are also unfolding.

The Peacock procedural will have to step up the pace in order to bring the Joey disappearance story to an exciting climax before the season ends.

Law & Order: Organized Crime has already finished airing three of its 10 episodes without much movement toward solving the Joey mystery. This is a serious problem, considering that it is now already approximately a third of the way through its season. The Peacock procedural will have to step up the pace in order to bring the Joey disappearance story to an exciting climax before the season ends. If this story does not begin to move more quickly, it risks an unsatisfying, tacked-on ending — or worse, no ending at all before the season wraps up.

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