‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ Star Reveals Who Angela Wheatly Is Playing Like a ‘Chess Piece’
On the Dec. 9 Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime crossover, Angela Wheatly leaves viewers with a shocking reveal. She’s not what she seems and is always one step ahead. And according to series star Tamara Taylor, Angela is focused on playing one particular person like a chess piece.
[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the Law & Order: Organized Crime, Season 2, Episode 9.]
Angela Wheatly is faking it on ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’
In Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 1, Angela (Tamara Taylor) is poisoned by her mafia boss husband, Richard Wheatly (Dylan McDermott). The poison leaves her with cognitive and physical disabilities.
In season 2, Angela agrees to testify against her ex in court. And in front of Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and the rest of the team, she appears to be physically and neurologically challenged.
But at the end of episode 9, when Stabler and Sargeant Ayanna Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt) leave Angela’s home, she appears to be completely healed. She successfully thwarts them from finding her daughter and pours a glass of wine, completely unphased by the new police inquiry.
‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ star Tamara Taylor says Angela is playing Richard
Angela may be lying to Stabler. But according to Taylor, the professor is just trying to protect herself.
“After the trial, after the verdict, what happens generally to people that have been protected is that they’re just left high and dry,” Taylor told TV Line. “So, Angela’s left with nothing, no protection against the man that tried to kill her twice.”
“So, what does one do?” she continued. “Appear to be a non-threat, perhaps appear to ally with him? Whatever you need to do to stay alive, and to keep your kid alive. There’s definitely a razor’s edge, man. She’s walking it.”
Taylor also suggested that Angela knows her ex very well. So being the math professor she is, Angela calculates her moves and plays a very strategic game.
“I think we established in the first season that it feels like she plays Richard,” Taylor said. “She’s five steps ahead of Richard. She’s smarter than him, she always has been, and she plays him like a chess piece.”
Tamara Taylor dishes on Angela’s feelings for Stabler
Angela and Stabler had a brief, grief-fueled romance in Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 1. While Stabler mourned the loss of his wife Kathy, he found a shoulder to cry on with Angela, who was just recovering from her son’s murder.
In her chat with TV Line, Taylor noted that Angela is often her genuine self with Stabler. And despite lying to him about her condition, Angela does have feelings for him.
“Stabler, I think, she’s disarmingly honest with,” Taylor explained. “He’s, unexpectedly, the one person she can let down her guard with, because she certainly can’t grieve with Richard. He’s a sociopath, a malignant narcissist. So, there is no doing that over there.”
“She can actually sort of be vulnerable with [Stabler],” she added. “So what she feels about their connection is real.”
New episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime air Thursdays on NBC.
