Last week’s “Law & Order: Organized Crime” episode ended on a nail-biting cliffhanger: Task force member Jet Slootmaeker (Ainsley Seiger) was violently abducted by her target Seamus O’Meara (Michael Malarkey) after blowing her cover. We last saw her unarmed and in the trunk of his car as her colleagues desperately tried to find her.
Her boss, Ayanna Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt), tried to tell Jet she was getting too close to Seamus, but Jet convinced her to let her back into the field, where it all went disastrously wrong.
Seiger spoke to TheWrap before the conclusion of the two-parter about why Jet blames herself and how much she loved filming the two episodes. “I had the time of my life getting thrown into that trunk. It was so much fun,” she said of getting to do her own stunts.
TheWrap: Did Jet actually did fall for Seamus?
Ainsley Seiger: 100%. Without a doubt.
She was really hoping he would come to the side of justice.
Yeah, there’s something that is really beautiful about these two characters lying to one another about virtually everything. But at the end of the day, despite the lies, they both actually see one another. It’s been really interesting to play Jet seeing the good in this person. It would be so much easier if Jet pretended she didn’t see any of that and that his was just another day at the office, another bad guy.
She is usually so jaded: When the squad was going to break up, she essentially shrugged it off.
Jet has always had a very morally black-and-white view of the world and the job. This is the first time someone has walked into her life now who is opening up a gray area that she has never realized existed. I’m excited to see people witness this. The audience will get to see that Jet and Seamus have actually gone deeper than we’ve seen on screen. There’s been more conversations and she knows [more] things about him. It’s been a nice chance to get in her head and to see her empathizing with someone. With Malachi (Wesam Keesh), she was not willing to make excuses for him. Now, we’re seeing a lot more of Jet pushing and advocating for someone. In the past she would not have done that.
Besides not fully acknowledging her feelings for Seamus, did Jet also get caught up in the rush of being undercover?
That’s what makes me so excited for this next episode. I won’t give anything away, but there’s a lot more exploration of the idea that none of this would have happened if Jet hadn’t tried to be so good at her job. There is this feeling that everything that has happened or that will happen — no spoilers — is her fault. That’s a lot to carry.
She’s now in a life or death situation and she has to try to negotiate with him. That’s a whole new set of skills she has to put into play.
Yeah, skills that previously she has not been that great at utilizing. The whole “feelings” thing is not Jet’s forte. It was really really fun to examine that in a way that is true to who she is, but also understanding that we’re breaking new ground. Nothing like this has ever happened to her before. What would being put in a position like that do to someone?
What else can we expect from tonight’s episode?
I’m excited for people to see just how deep the emotional well runs inside of Jet. It’s the culmination of two pretty intense episodes. And there’s still the aspect in play of, “Let me do my job. I can do my job.” Maybe doing my job isn the one thing thats she actually can do right now. It’s my one avenue of being able to convince this person that I’ve come to care about. And what is the fallout going to be?
Do you think ultimately it will make her a better cop?
I hope so. It will certainly bring a different approach to her job, for better or for worse. My hope is that we do see how this affects her.
Will she ever go undercover again? I can’t imagine that would happen any time soon.
Neither can I. I would love to actually see it. I don’t want this to be swept under the rug or forgotten about. It’s important to me as the actor and as the viewer, I would love to play that and I love to see that it hasn’t been easy for her.
Things get pretty physical in these two episodes: Seamus hits Jet and throws her on the ground and then he throws her in the trunk of his car.
I ended up doing a lot more [of the stunt work] than I thought I would get to do. I had the time of my life getting thrown into that trunk. It was so much fun. I got thrown onto a mat, because obviously they cannot just fling me onto the pavement. People were coming up to me like, “Are you okay?” And I was like, “Yeah, I’m good. Why?” And they say, “He literally picked you up and flung you.” And I said, “Hey, as long as it looks good. I’m fine.” It was fun to shoot that stuff.
When did you first learn about this big Jet arc?
Before the holiday break, I got a text message from one of our producers that said, “Big Jet episode coming up. Woo!” And I was like, “Okay, I’m on board.” I feel like I’ve been waiting for a moment to prove myself and Jet’s also trying to convince everyone that she is capable of doing her job..I couldn’t be happier with the episodes themselves and what I got to do and my work in the episodes. I’m incredibly self critical and for the first time I was like, “Wow! I’m really proud of myself.”
“Law & Order: Organized Crime” airs on NBC Thursdays at 10 p.m on both coasts (9 p.m. central time) and streams the next day on Peacock.
