This article contains mentions of murder and sexual assault.
After more than two decades on television, the original Law and Order There are many high quality episodes, but some stand out more than others. When the long process began, the idea of splitting the show down the middle between the police and judicial aspects of each case was new and exciting. The series was so popular that it was brought back for a 21st season, 10 years after its cancellation, and the series is still going strong.
Law and Order is known for focusing on the case of the week rather than the characters' personal lives. However, many of its most powerful episodes involve police officers and prosecutors grappling with personal issues, including character deaths. One of its most memorable episodes includes the death of Law and OrderIt's Claire Kincaid, an assistant district attorney who is later revealed to have had a romantic relationship with the iconic Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston). The series also offered many powerful stories based on real-life cases.making it difficult to narrow down its extensive list of episodes to the best of all time.
20
“Indifference”
Season 1, Episode 9
ONE girl collapses at school and dies, and this causes Max Greevey and Mike Logan to investigate the girl's parents. They discover that the parents, considered a normal middle-class family, are a mother who is addicted to cocaine and abused by her drug-addicted psychiatrist husband. Like many of the best Law & Order episodes of the franchise, was based on a real-life murder case. In 1987, six-year-old Lisa Steinberg was murdered and her father was convicted of manslaughter for her death.
Although this is the type of episode normally saved for Law and Order: SVUbringing him to the main show featured one of the most disturbing cases of the first season, with detectives uncovering horrific evidence surrounding the death of a young, innocent child. The acting was fantastic, and this was not only a highlight of the first season, but an episode that remains difficult to revisit because of the horror of a child's death and the parents' guilt over the tragedy.
19
“American Dream”
Season 4, Episode 8
The fourth season episode, “American Dream,” is a Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty)-centric episode where an old case comes back to haunt the ADA. This was Moriarty's last season on Law and Orderand he's been through some tough times this season, including what happened in this episode. When skeletal remains are found at a construction site on Roosevelt Island, calls into question the evidence that Stone used to put former Wall Street junk bond trader Philip Swan in prison. This means a new trial has been granted.
What makes this episode interesting is that Swan became a prison lawyer during his years in prison and chooses to represent himself in the new case. Želko Ivanek was fantastic in his role as Swan, who chooses to use the law to work in his favor when he finally gets a second chance. Swan spends the entire episode destroying Stone, but the big twist at the end when Stone turns the tables shows why he remains one of the best ADAs in Law and Order history.
18
“Criminal Law”
Season 16, Episode 9
That Law and Order season 16 episode shows the detectives finding a list of names targeted by a serial killer and one of the names on the list is ADA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston). This connects the seemingly unrelated murders and sets the team on a race to find out who the killer is before he gets to Jack. When they discover that many of the names on the list are witnesses against a serial killer he previously prosecuted, everything begins to come together into a simple plot that turns into a complex case.
The original case was a mass shooting in 1996, and the alleged killer here is a professional, putting all detectives and the ADA on high alert. The plot is clever, with the mass shooter getting a new trial and all the witnesses who helped arrest him before he was targeted, although there is no evidence that he is linked to the new killer. What makes this all stand out is that the man behind the murders gets away with it, but pays for his crimes with a big twist at the end.
17
“Damaged”
Season 8, Episode 22
The case in Law and Order the episode “Damaged” is complicated, as the person who was shot (a teacher) was not the intended victim, and the real victims were three boys who sexually assaulted a girl with intellectual disabilities. It's when the courtroom drama hits these shades of gray when it comes to guilt and the reasoning behind the quest for revenge that the series goes beyond the typical murder cases. In this case, the girl's sister seeks revenge against the three boys.
This episode stands out because the system doesn't always work; in some cases, it fails to help the people who need it most. The girl's father knows that if the three boys went to court for what they did to her, it would hurt his daughter more than it would help her, and he wants to take her away, even if it means letting the boys go free. When the judge said the girl had “the time of her life” and ended the case, it was one of the most shocking moments in the show’s history.
16
“Pro Se”
Season 6, Episode 21
Node Law and Order In the episode “Pro Se”, three people die and one is injured in a vintage clothing store. Detectives set out in search of a man with schizophrenia who had been off his medication for a long period of time. However, This episode stands out because the man, despite his mental health problems, has a law degree and chooses to serve as his own defense. Denis O'Hare stars as the killer, giving a great performance as he pleads his case.
When the man revealed that he just wanted to prove he was capable, his fate was even more tragic.
The whole case was interesting because Jack McCoy offered the man a plea deal depending on him taking his medication, but the man refused because he didn't want to go back. It almost seemed like he made a big case for himself as a brilliant lawyer, but deep down, he almost wanted to be found guilty and pay for his crimes, even though he wasn't in the right state of mind when he committed them. When the man revealed that he just wanted to prove he was capable, his fate was even more tragic.
15
“Hot Pursuit”
Season 6, Episode 5
Law and Order ripped one of the most infamous cases from the headlines in this season 6 story: The Patty Hearst case, which involved the daughter of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst being kidnapped and later arrested for participating in bank robberies with her captors. The best Law and Order the episodes take liberties with the source material so that it's clear what it's based on without being a carbon copy. The episode accomplished this by having Hearst's replacement caught after a wave of robberies at local businesses, including one that left two people dead in a nightclub.
McCoy's doubts about the woman's claims that she had no choice led him to accuse her of murder, although not everyone agreed with him. Discussion of this during the courtroom and in the prosecutor's office allowed the public to decide whether justice was served. The strong writing and acting, along with Amanda Peet's performance as a woman, is why it gets a solid 7.9 rating on IMDb.
14
“Working Mom”
Season 7, Episode 14
Before becoming famous for her role in Desperate housewivesFelicity Huffman played a desperate sex worker in Law and Order. This episode is memorable not only for its acting but also for its subject matter; Law and Order was one of the first shows willing to combat police corruption instead of portraying all police officers as heroic, and that story involved the murder of a retired police officer who was then accused of raping two sex workers.
Huffman's character was a respected PTA mother who was also a sex worker, which helped change the image of sex workers as social deviants. Her claims that she was sexually assaulted and shot the police officer to protect herself make for a powerful story that would have been one of the Law and Order: SVUbetter episodes instead of airing the original series if the spinoff existed then. Furthermore, this story was so well done that it was remade for Law and Order: United Kingdom. Therefore, it deserves recognition despite only having an average rating of 7.6 on IMDb.
13
“Baby, it's you”
Season 8, Episode 6
Long before Homicide: life on the streetJohn Munch (Richard Belzer) transferred to the NYPD's Special Victims Unit, he visited New York with the rest of his Baltimore unit in a two-part crossover episode with Law and Order. The episode involves a model found dead in New York, whose injuries suggest she was killed in Baltimore.. This leads to a turf war over who gets the case; however, Munch and Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) begin a friendship based on their mutual cynicism and history of failed marriages.
Orbach and Belzer's chemistry makes them one of the best platonic duos on television.
While the premise is a bit far-fetched, it's fun to watch the two units interact. Orbach and Belzer's chemistry makes them one of the best platonic duos on television, and it's a shame the two didn't get their own spin-off, buthis episode is probably partially responsible for Belzer's invitation to join the Law and Order: SVU cast. This story also scores high points for Pembleton's (Andre Braugher) confrontation with Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) over his not-so-legal methods of getting confessions, making its just 7.7 IMDb rating intriguing.
12
“Private Lives”
Season 22, Episode 19
Although the soft reset of Law and Order has had a lot of solid episodes, sometimes it's too blunt about what the “right” response to social issues is. This is not the case with “Private Lives,” which revolves around the murder of a doctor who provided gender-affirming care to trans teens. Sasha Alexander is excellent as the victim's wife, a right-wing politician who secretly supported her husband's work with trans youth but publicly took the opposite stance to ensure his election.
The inclusion of this character was a setback for Law and Orderin the early days, like mepresented a thorny question and allowed the audience to decide what the right answer was. The final scene was especially powerful, with Alexander's character justifying her apparent hypocrisy by explaining that if she lost her election bid, someone who was genuinely harmful to the transgender community would gain power. This made the issue less clear and left the public grappling with the question of whether she was right, along with the question of what care is appropriate for transgender teens.
11
“Resistance”
Season 11, Episode 1
“Endurance” loses points for revolving around a mother who may have killed her disabled child because she was overwhelmed, as it reinforces a negative and harmful idea that children with disabilities, especially autistic children, are a burden that leads parents to harm them. However, this problem is offset by the fact that, ultimately, the mother in this story is not responsible for the fire that killed her son.
Additionally, this episode introduces Nora Lewin, the new prosecutor who takes Adam Schiff's (Stephen Hill) place. These elements help it earn the solid 8.0 rating it has received from IMDB users.
10
“Corruption”
Season 7, Episode 5
This 1997 episode offered an interesting twist on the corrupt cop trope. Briscoe finds himself in trouble after a detective with ties to his past shoots a drug dealer, leading to the formation of a police commission into unethical police behavior. The detective tries to turn the tables, accusing Briscoe of covering up evidence, after Curtis refuses to say that he saw the deceased pick up a gun, leading to a powerful conflict for McCoy, as he wants to prove that this detective committed perjury and is corrupt despite the risk to your case if you do so.
Surprisingly, this episode was based on a real-life case in which heroin was continually stolen from the New York Police Department's Property Office for years, although this is difficult to guess simply by watching. It's a well-done story that puts Briscoe, who is one of the Law and Orderof the film's most iconic and beloved characters, at risk of losing their jobs and freedom, thus earning its place as one of the best episodes of all time in the series and its 8.3 rating on IMDB.
9
“Masculinity”
Season 3, Episode 21
Technically, “Manhood” is guilty of the Bury Your Gays trope, which reinforces negative stereotypes by killing off gay characters, especially if they are on the verge of finding happiness. However, in this case, Law and Order was shining a light on homophobia in the police department at a time when few television shows were willing to address LGBTQ+ issues. The episode revolves around the death of a police officer at the hands of a suspect after his calls for backup were ignored. The investigation shows that the officer was gay and that his colleagues ignored his calls because of his sexual orientation.
This episode is strong even on rewatches. Stone prosecutes the drug dealer who shot the cop and three cops who ignored his calls for backup, which is groundbreaking for New York's fictional justice system considering how easily it could have ignored the cops' failure to support his brother in blue. Unfortunately, the episode ends with the acquittal of the police officers, and it is debatable whether this highlights the homophobia and excessive reverence of the police officers or whether it reinforces the idea that their position was moral. However, the episode deals with a delicate subject fairly and deserves an 8.1 rating on IMDB.
8
“Danger”
Season 6, Episode 4
In modern episodes, rich people trying to buy acquittals or immunity is a common theme across the world. Law and Order franchise. However, in the 1990s, it wasn't, and “Jeopardy” was one of the first episodes to do so. This episode involves a judge dismissing all murder charges against a wealthy defendant accused of killing three people in a magazine office. and takes the unusual step of a second investigation in the same episode.
Schiff's internal conflict as he directs McCoy and Kincaid to investigate the judge elevates this far beyond the standard Law and Order fare, making the episode's 8.p0 rating on IMDB a bit low.
In most Law and Order episodes, the prosecutor only has a small part, assigning the cases and guiding the trial strategy to ensure victory. In this episode, however, Schiff is an important actor, as the judge is a personal friend but suspects him of corruption. Schiff's internal conflict as he directs McCoy and Kincaid to investigate the judge elevates this far beyond the standard Law and Order fare, making the episode's 8.0 rating on IMDB a bit low.
7
“Out of Half Light”
Season 1, Episode 11
This initial episode established Law and Order's willingness to tackle difficult subjects, as well as his brand of ripping stories from the headlines. The episode is based on the infamous Tawana Brawley case, in which a black teenager accused four white men, including a district attorney, of raping her, but a jury concluded that she had fabricated the attack. Like Brawley, the girl from Law and Order the story was found to have racial slurs written on her body, claimed four white men raped her, and was eventually discredited.
THE Law and Order The episode changes several details and uses the case to explore the question of how the powerful can manipulate the legal system. The victim's family refuses to cooperate with the police and a powerful black congressman shelters her in an old church, interfering in the investigation and causing Stone to question whether the attack really happened. However, it is equally possible that the family and congressman are trying to protect the girl from racial prejudice, and the audience decides for themselves, making this one of the most powerful episodes of the series.
6
“Assassin”
Season 10, Episode 2
Law and Order explored the question of whether young children can be held responsible for murder in an episode involving a shockingly brutal case. When a child is found dead, with batteries stuffed in her mouth, the police suspect that one of her classmates, a 10-year-old girl named Jenny, is responsible. The violence and the belief that a child is responsible are scary enough, butThe episode shines because it does not glamorize or sensationalize the event.
As the plot shifts from the issue of obtaining enough evidence to arrest Jenny to the court case, the story moves into controversial territory with the district attorney's office and various mental health experts evaluating whether Jenny is capable of understanding the severity of her actions and their predictable consequences. This substantial conflict makes this episode one of Sam Waterston's best Law and Order episodes and earns an 8.3 rating on IMDB.
5
“The Ring”
Season 13, Episode 5
After the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, all New York-based television series felt obliged to address the subject in their stories. Law and Order waited a year to avoid sensationalizing the attack or re-traumatizing the survivors by using their situation for entertainment. “The Ring” gets high marks not just for sensitivity, but for a story that is only tangentially related to 9/11 but resonates emotionally and honors survivors.
This story involves a skeleton found a year after the attack. The remains are identified as someone who allegedly died in the World Trade Center on that fateful day, but no one has been able to verify whether she came to work. The story focuses on the possibility that someone killed her elsewhere and used 9/11 to get away with murder, addressing the issue of exploiting the tragedy for personal gain. The story is also reinforced by the DA Branch's personal connection to one of the suspects, making it difficult for him to prosecute the case without alienating powerful political allies.
4
“COD”
Season 14, Episode 24
Jerry Orbach was most closely associated Law and Order than anyone else in the 1990s, despite not being part of an original cast. Thus, its final episode was emotional, although the story was typical despite Briscoe's decision to retire. The story is interesting as it features two women who are tried separately for conspiring to murder each other's husbands, forcing both ADAs to try the cases at the same time.
It is unusual for a Law and Order The episode features two trials, but it is more significant that it is Orbach's swan song. Orbach was supposed to join the short-lived group Law and Order: Trial by Jurybut sadly passed away from prostate cancer after filming just two episodes. That's why, this final episode can be considered a fitting tribute to Orbach and his iconic characterwho he is best known for playing today.
3
“Confession”
Season 2, Episode 1
The opening of the second season is one of the Law and OrderThe film's saddest episodes, featuring the murder of original character Max Greevey (George Dzunda), who is shot to death in his garage. It also foreshadows Logan's (Chris Noth) eventual exit story, as Logan reacts to Greevey's death with anger and violence, beating up a suspect to get a confession out of him.
This is one of the most impactful episodes Law and Order, which is even more impressive considering it had only been on the air for a season when it was made.
The angry cop who can't handle pain has become a tired trope, but it wasn't as common in 1991, and the emotions in this episode are raw and relatable, although modern audiences will probably be disgusted by Logan's behavior. His reaction is tied to the horrific fact that Greevey was killed outside his home, which was supposed to be a safe place. This is one of the most impactful episodes Law and Order, which is even more impressive considering it had only been on the air for a season when it was made.
2
“Under the influence”
Season 8, Episode 11
Sam Waterston appeared on Law & Order for over 20 years as Jack McCoy, and McCoy's difficulty dealing with Claire Kincaid's (Jill Hennessy) death was one of his strongest arcs. In “Under the Influence,” McCoy reacts emotionally to a case involving drunk drivers who were involved in a fatal hit-and-run, and it's difficult for him to be objective because it reminds him of how Kincaid diedleading to one of the most emotional episodes of the series.
This episode is also one of the few to feature Jamie Ross in a compelling role as an assistant district attorney. Ross confronts McCoy during this episode, believing that he is allowing his emotions to get the better of him, which adds to the episode's appeal. Ross ends up resigning at the end of the episode, and McCoy faces an ethics inquiry for the way he handled the case, making this one of the few times his career is in danger throughout the series.
1
“Aftershock”
Season 6, Episode 23
“Aftershock” is the only episode of Law and Order this doesn't follow the format of detectives being called into a murder investigation and lawyers handling the court case. Instead, this episode involves lawyers and police officers witnessing the execution of a man they arrested and convicted. The event has a significant impact on each of the characters, and they struggle with their emotions after seeing the man die.
This emotional episode is memorable not only for each character's emotional arc, but also for its shocking ending. Kincaid was considering resigning from his position because of his upset over the execution, but suffered a worse and unexpected fate: in the last minute of the episode, while driving Briscoe home, she was killed when a drunk driver crashed into her car. The shock of his death would be explored in future episodes of Law and Orderand there was also an ironic component to it, because she was driving Briscoe home because he was too drunk to drive safely.