The best episodes of Law & Order
Ranked by viewer rating, highs first. Vote on a placement to back it or contest it.
- 01
A teenaged African-American girl claims to have been raped by white police officers. Police and prosecutors struggle to get the truth when an ambitious African-American congressman claims the investigation is a racially motivated cover-up. However, when the rape kit tests negative, the prosecution suspects the case may be a hoax. The conflict heats until Robinette learns from the girl's parents that she and her boyfriend had sexual relations. The family fears an unwanted pregnancy, so, with the urging of the congressman, they claim the girl was raped by police officers. Having admitted the hoax, the family avoids the congressman whose campaign has been destroyed. Prosecutors devise a solution involving all-round gag orders. They concede that reputations were seriously damaged, but they reason that, with its impetus deflated, the case will fade quickly from people's memories.
- 02
Stone temporarily dismisses rape charges against three defendants because the victim is a journalist of questionable character whose testimony has too many flaws. Greevey and Logan's subsequent reinvestigation uncovers a possible fourth assailant. This is one of the few episodes where the "Order" segment preceded the "Law" segment.
- 03
Greevey and Logan discover that an apparent mugging victim found unconscious on a park bench has had his kidney removed. The case leads to a powerful man whose daughter desperately needed a transplant and the doctor who may have helped him.
- 04
A lethal drug overdose of a young actress leads the detectives to an aggressive stage mother and a pornographic movie producer.
- 05
The detectives investigate the gang rape of a college student during a fraternity Halloween party, but when her own testimony can't be supported by the evidence, it becomes hard to prove rape.
- 06
When a gambler is killed, the hit-and-run investigation leads to the discovery of a schoolteacher carrying on an affair with one of her students. Cerreta and Logan suspect that she may have manipulated him into killing her husband.
- 07
The investigation into an illegal social club fire which claimed 53 fatalities leads to a connection between arson, illegal immigrants and the sale of green cards.
- 08
The discovery of a frozen corpse in a dumpster leads to rival Broadway producers.
- 09
An obsessive fan pleads temporary insanity when he is charged with attempting to murder the soap opera actress who is the center of his life.
- 10
Stone faces an old rival in court as he tries to link a hit man and three murders to a sleazy lawyer and a powerful man behind bars.
- 11
When a Romanian immigrant kills, his lawyer announces he will plead his client "not guilty due to cultural insanity" claiming the man had been conditioned to violence in his homeland.
- 12
Logan and Briscoe begin their investigation into the death of a hearing-impaired young woman by questioning her two most recent boyfriends.
- 13
A discrepancy concerning the time of death of a drive-by shooting victim leads McCoy and Ross to initiate prosecutions against both the shooter and the doctor who harvested her organs as transplant donations.
- 14
After the cops trace an eagle tattoo on a man shot and killed while holding up an armored truck to a group of militia members, McCoy finds himself facing one of their number as the pro se counsel for his friends, arguing for the concept of "jury nullification", the right of a jury to protect a defendant from an unjust law by acquittal despite the evidence.
- 15
Curtis and Briscoe investigate the death of Josef Moussad, an Arab man found behind a dumpster, the victim of an apparent mugging. The detectives soon realize that Moussad had brought a doctor into the country to perform aclitoridectomy on his young niece, and suspicion turns to the family. Ross is horrified that young Alison's grandmother and uncle were both in full support of the operation, which makes it hard for her to prosecute the case objectively.
- 16
Taking on an apparent Mafia murder, Detectives Briscoe and Curtis are stymied by a dead witness and a seemingly incoherent mob boss.
- 17
The stabbing death of a psychologist draws Detectives Briscoe and Curtis into a heated divorce case and pits McCoy and Ross against a manipulative attorney.
- 18
The death of a college student leads to a case involving an HIV-positive male who's seeking to infect as many young women as possible. McCoy, testing right-to-privacy ethics, wants to charge him with murder.
- 19
A 10-year-old girl is raped and rendered comatose by a pedophile. A snitch offers Briscoe a chance to avenge his daughter's death. The NYPD brass is looking to force Lieutenant Van Buren out of her job, while Ross resigns from hers to devote more time to her family life and her ongoing divorce. McCoy, meanwhile, must contend with Judge Feldman as an adversary both at trial and outside the courtroom due to an ethics complaint the judge filed against him. While all of this goes on, Schiff begins to consider the possibility that Feldman might defeat him in the election.
- 20
After a baby girl is found dead, Briscoe and Curtis investigate the family and learn that her adopted family and brother were trying to keep some painful secrets. Jack gets a new partner, Abbie Carmichael, who had a 95% conviction rate in her four years with Special Narcotics. Together McCoy and Carmichael try to prove that the little girl's brother committed the crime.
- 21
Detectives discover a shocking twist involving unlikely suspects when they investigate the brutal beating of a black man dumped near the highway.
- 22
The investigation into how a teen got wounded leads to a case involving a young woman's murder and a drug operation.
- 23
After a child in a day-care center dies from an antibiotic resistant bacteria, Briscoe and Curtis try to find the source of the infection, leading to a case involving an extramarital affair, embezzlement and a drug manufacturer.
- 24
After the detectives find a murdered postman and a woman who was left for dead in her apartment, the investigation leads to a serial killer and a surprise.
- 25
The murder of an employee at a fertility clinic leads to a case involving a dead man's first and second wives.
Shows like Law & Order
The closest matches on shared genres, ranked by match strength and popularity.
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- 02Drama·Crime·LegalThe best episodes of The Good Wife2009–2016·CBS
The Good Wife follows Alicia Florrick, a wife and mother who boldly assumes full responsibility for her family and re-enters the workforce after her husband's very public sex and political corruption scandal lands him… - 03Drama·Crime·LegalThe best episodes of Better Call Saul2015–2022·AMC
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Once a powerful lawyer, Billy McBride is now burned out and washed up, spending more time in a bar than a courtroom. - 05Drama·Crime·LegalThe best episodes of Bull2016–2022·CBSBull stars Michael Weatherly as Dr. Jason Bull in a drama inspired by the early career of Dr.
- 06Drama·Crime·LegalThe best episodes of The Lincoln Lawyer2022–presentMickey Haller, an iconoclastic idealist, runs his law practice out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car, as he takes on cases big and small across the expansive city of Los Angeles.
