Spoilers ahead for Episode 19 of Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3, called “A Diplomatic Solution.”
The third season of Law & Order: Organized Crime is approaching its finale and crossover with Special Victims Unit in May, but the stakes were already plenty high in “A Diplomatic Solution” as OC’s first episode after a brief break. When a diplomat from India arrived in New York to deliver an important speech, the task force had to go all-out to try and protect her after an assassination attempt. Karen David of Fear the Walking Dead and Galavant fame guest-starred as Diya Laghari, the diplomat, whose actions resulted in a twist ending for Stabler and Co. David spoke with CinemaBlend about the episode!
Initially, Diya’s concerns seemed to extend only as far as protecting and delivering the speech, checking on her assistant after the car explosion, and keeping the peace between Stabler and those in the Indian consulate who weren’t thrilled to have him around. The twist came at the end, when Stabler realized that she was participating in a plot to smuggle stolen technology out of the country and back to India.
The reveal happened after most of the episode featured a pretty solid dynamic between Diya and Stabler, and Stabler ultimately didn’t turn her in for the attempted theft, but instead gave her the opportunity to save escape prosecution in the U.S… while also handing over the technology before she boarded her plane back to India. Stabler still believes that she’ll face some repercussions back in India, and named his choice as “the diplomatic solution.”
It was a complicated end to what Diya originally seemed to think was a straightforward assignment. Karen David opened up about the situation that pushed Diya to make the decision that she did, saying:
Diya didn’t have a lot of options by the end of “A Diplomatic Solution,” and nobody she could confide in to talk her “sticky” situation out. There was no way she could have guessed that an assassination attempt would only be the beginning of her troubles when she arrived in NYC! This conundrum is part of what drew the actress to the role, as David continued:
Well, she was ultimately able to save face, but only because Stabler decided not to turn her in and came up with a third option. Whether she’ll be able to save face when she gets back to India is an entirely different question. All things considered, Karen David was certainly playing a different kind of character than she did on the late, great Galavant!
The actress had nothing but good things to say about working with Chris Meloni as Stabler, and went on to share her thoughts on whether or not Diya’s earlier interactions with Stabler had been sincere:
Organized Crime didn’t paint Diya as villainous or weak-willed, but stuck in a very uncomfortable situation with no easy way out. She didn’t sign on to smuggle stolen goods out of the country, and it wasn’t too surprising that Stabler caught on that something was off with her being so protective of her luggage. Karen David continued, and made special note of Stabler’s comment about “a diplomatic solution” right at the close of the case:
Trust Elliot Stabler to find a way to be cheeky in the aftermath of a case that almost went spectacularly wrong! Stabler’s dynamic with Diya was such that it would be fun to see them on screen together again (and Organized Crime was recently renewed), but the odds of her returning to the U.S. as a diplomat don’t seem great after what happened. Karen David shared why Diya was such an interesting character for her to play:
“A Diplomatic Solution” didn’t exactly come to a happy ending for Diya, even if it could have been worse, but Stabler may be on the road to pursuing happiness after a sweet conversation with his mom. She just wants him to be happy, and if everything that we’ve seen from him in the 2022-2023 TV season has accumulated to this point… well, the crossover with SVU and reunion with Benson could be game-changing. Even though the last on-screen reunion was more than a little complicated!
For now, you can look forward to new episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, and check out a list of questions that fans should be asking after the renewals of the nine Law & Order, One Chicago, and FBI shows. You’ll also be able to revisit Karen David’s episode of Organized Crime streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription!