LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME Post-Mortem: Tate Ellington on Vargas’ Hero Moment and the ‘Covert Op’ to Come

May 2, 2024 by Marisa Roffman

Photo credit: NBC/screencap

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Thursday, May 2 episode of LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME.]

Vargas (Tate Ellington) missed a key clue during surveillance on the Thursday, May 2 episode of LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME—but he later spotted it and helped save the day.

In the hour, “REDCOAT,” Elliot (Christopher Meloni) tried to deliver a 10-13 (AKA a message an officer needs assistance) via Morse code, thanks to some handy outdoor lights…but Vargas didn’t see it while he was watching the feed.

But when ATF told OCCB that one of its agents, Trisha (Rivera Reese), missed a check-in, the team looked back at their feed and Vargas saw the message and the group mobilized to help Elliot ASAP.

And though it was delayed (and Elliot had to blow his cover to save Trisha from certain assassination), OCCB was able to get to the farm and take everyone in safely.

Getting to play Vargas’ hero moment, “it was one of those [things] where even getting to do the scene, I was so excited when I read it,” Ellington tells Give Me My Remote. “For the Morse code, personally, and also just for Vargas—he came up with the answer. This was something where everybody else was stumped, and then he got it, fortunately, through his geeky nerd stuff—I am also one, so I can relate to [that]. But I think also just shooting that scene was so exciting because I get to run over [to] figure it out, grab the whiteboard.”

The actor had previous experience doing whiteboard writing on a film…albeit that attempt didn’t go as well. “That was the most takes we ever did on the entire film. I couldn’t draw a question mark,” he recalls with a laugh.

This go-round, it went better, though there was still laughing. “It was absolutely a delight and we were all cracking up afterwards, [at] just how panicky, nervous it was,” Ellington recalls.

LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME — “Missing Persons” Episode 405 — Pictured: (l-r) Tate Ellington as Dr. Vargas, Ainsley Seiger as Det. Jet Slootmaekers — (Photo by: Virginia Sherwood/NBC)

But things won’t be light for long. With the final two episodes of the season approaching—and official confirmation that Elliot’s brother Joe Jr. (Michael Trotter) is working with Julian Emery (Tom Payne), AKA Redcoat—Jet (Ainsley Seiger) and Vargas try to cut off Emery’s smuggling routes in the next episode.

“I love the relationship between Jet and Vargas—I think they play off each other very well,” Ellington says. “I think Vargas has a real admiration for Jet, because he knows she’s amazing at what she does…she’s probably a lot better at it than he is, so he admires that.”

“Moving forward, they just keep coming up with different ways [to help],” he continues. “And then there’s a little bit of me having to get out in the field for a little covert op coming up, which was an absolute blast to shoot. And so they’re having to figure out different ways to move around because…some stuff goes down with Vargas’ [equipment] and some freaking out there. They have to come up with a big solution to fix it to help Stabler.”

LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME, Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC

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Filed under Law & Order: Organized Crime

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LAW & ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME Post-Mortem: Tate Ellington on Vargas’ Hero Moment and the ‘Covert Op’ to Come

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