The Ledger

Dennis Farina leaving Law & Order +

Not too much of a surprise really: Dennis Farina is leaving L&O to pursue other opportunities. He's a big time movie star, so the move makes sense, I think. It was fun while it lasted. Update: J. Bishop writes to tell us that Milena Govich, from Conviction, will replace Farina: I thought you might be interested in this. I thought the story was wrong and that she'd be replacing Annie Parissie as the new ADA, but story says she'd be replacing Dennis Farina as a detective. I myself wanted Parissie to be replaced with Stephanie March.... Have a good day, J. Bishop www.HelpMeImpeachBush.com...

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10.21 Narcosis

In this convoluted episode (10.21), a corrupt cop or a teenage hacker appears to be responsible for the death of a sleazy prostitute/madame who also ran a lucrative online striptease business. Briscoe and Green investigate; McCoy and Carmichael figure out who to prosecute. The episode begins with two lady friends walking down the street talking about how men aren't trustworthy. One of them women discovers the victim's body behind some trash cans. She has no ID on her. She's been strangled. Through her fingerprints, they learn she has an arrest record and went by the name "Lotus Blossom". She wasn't raped, but details from her record and body suggest she was a prostitute. The dets visit the address on her...

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15.13 Ain't No Love: Serena Southerlyn Gets Fired (Thank God!)

Branch: "You're fired." Southerlyn: "Is this because I'm a lesbian?" America: "WHAT???!!!!" [mp3] Many fans have waited a long time for Serena's departure, but I don't think anyone expected it to go quite like this. The moment was shocking, but, after even slight reflection, seems incredibly cheap and hollow. Subtlety has been lacking from the show's scripts for the last several years, and this is, certainly, the most ham-fisted bit of writing I've seen yet. Contrast it with way the departures of other characters have been handled: often with some "organic" dramatic build-up, and always with integrity -- Cerreta and Greevey getting shot, Curtis leaving to take care of his wife, Ross's session with the disciplinary committee, and of course...

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1.12 Life Choice

Abortion is a hot topic in this episode (1.12) in which a bomb explodes in an abortion clinic, killing a woman who may or may not have been the bomber. Greevey and Logan investigate in between arguments about abortion, and Robinette and Stone put aside their personal feelings to prosecute those responsible. The episode begins with two officers, a man and a woman, on patrol, discussing marriage and the role of women. They pull up outside an abortion clinic, where protesters are picketing. The abortion clinic receives a bomb threat over the phone, and the officers investigate. Just after they evacuate the building, the bomb detonates (on camera, which is rare), and the building is on fire. Greevey and Logan...

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Lawyer sues Law & Order for $15M

A New York lawyer is suing L&0. He says there were similarities between him and the lawyer in the episode Floater from last season....

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2.15 Trust

In this episode (2.15), a teenager shoots a friend while the two of them are playing with a gun. Investigation shows that he was involved in a similar shooting a couple of years earlier. Cerreta and Logan investigate, and Stone and Robinette prosecute -- twice. The episode begins with a couple of cops patrolling in a car by a pier. They see some kids running through an abandoned warehouse and go in to investigate. They find the kids, and also find the body of a 15-year-old boy, Robby Fenwick. The kids say they heard there was a body there, so they just went to check it out. They also find a .357 revolver nearby. The detectives talk to the ballistics...

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Fred Thompson taking "Arthur Branch" to L&O: Trial by Jury, too

He will appear on both shows....

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15.1 Paradigm: Joe Fontana's First Episode

Well, here we go again. Intro Multimedia Plot Summary Analysis Extras Introduction In this episode (15.1), an Iraqi-American woman kills a US soldier who recently returned from working as a guard at Abu Ghraib. Meanwhile, Detective Joe Fontana replaces Lennie Briscoe as Ed Green's partner, and the two of them work to solve the case. McCoy and Southerlyn attempt to set aside their political differences and build a prosecution. Multimedia Screenshot of Bloomberg, with cast membersScreenshot of Bloomberg, close upScreenshot of Bloomberg press conferencemp3 of BloombergScreenshot of Fontana's first appearanceMore Plot Summary The episode begins rather provocatively, with a professional couple sneaking off to a remote portion of their office building as they discuss another employee's eating habits. They...

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15.2 The Dead Wives Club

Uh oh -- they're only on the second episode and the season already has taken a turn for the worse. In this episode (15.2), a woman whose firefighter husband left her for a 9/11 widow kills the widow by pushing her off the Staten Island ferry moments before it crashes into the dock. Fontana and Green investigate, and McCoy prosecutes with more ardor than Southerlyn cares for. This episode is one of the most exploitative and insensitive in the show's history, and I can't believe they would air it at all, let alone this close to the 9/11 anniversary and this early in the season. If you live in NYC, you will immediately recognize two plot elements "ripped from the...

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12.2 Armed Forces

In this episode (12.2), a down-on-his-luck Vietnam veteran is murdered by some of his fellow soldiers because he threatened to expose their massacre of civilians in a village during the war. Briscoe and Green investigate, and McCoy and Southerlyn prosecute. The episode begins inside a fancy restaurant's kitchen, where a manager is yelling at everyone to do things better. An Asian dishwasher (who looks Vietnamese to me), drops a tray full of glasses, and as he cleans up, takes his mess outside, where he comes across the body. Briscoe and Green arrive, and Green chastises a police officer for yelling at the Asian kid. Green says of the white officer, "When is he going to realize he's the minority in...

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13.18 Maritime

In this episode (13.18), a dead woman is found floating in the East River. Investigation indicates she died along with two men, and that the brother of one of the men is responsible. Briscoe and Green lead the investigation, and McCoy and Southerlyn prosecute, twice. The episode begins with two men (also brothers) discussing the marital difficulties of one of them. He's become involved with a yoga instructor, apparently. His brother cautions him to stick with his wife. As they discuss this, one notices a body floating in the river. Green and Briscoe arrive and learn the body has been in the water for some time, and has a gunshot wound to the head. She has no ID, but ME...

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3.10 Consultation

In this episode (3.10), a woman from Nigeria dies after one of the 60 heroin-filled condoms she swallowed bursts in her stomach on her way to a drug dealer in Harlem. Briscoe and Logan discover that a Nigerian tribal chief with diplomatic immunity is behind the smuggling scheme, but Stone and Robinette struggle to charge him. The episode begins with the woman riding in the back of a taxi cab from the airport to Harlem. She begins looking ill and distressed, so the cab driver takes her to the hospital, where she dies. It turns out she had something else in her belly: an unborn son, who also died. After talking to the doctor, the detectives track down the cab...

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5.13 Rage

In this episode (5.13), Courtney Vance turns in a great performance as a cocky Wall Street trader who kills his boss and then uses "black rage" as a a defense. Briscoe and Logan investigate, and McCoy and Kincaid prosecute against this novel defense. The episode begins with a young couple approaching a big townhouse. From dialogue we learn that the woman is excited to introduce the man, her boyfriend, to her father. The enter the home and walk upstairs, and discover the father dead, with a shotgun in his lap and blood splattered all over. Looks like killed himself, but the daughter insists to the detectives that he didn't. ME Rodgers agrees, saying that based on the way the blood...

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4.13 Breeder

In this episode (4.13), a young woman blackmails would-be adoptive parents by threatening to abort the babies she agreed to turn over to them. Logan and Briscoe investigate, and Stone and Kincaid figure out what to prosecute her for. The episode begins in a hospital waiting room, where someone comes across a woman who appears to be dead. It turns out she isn't dead, juts very sick. Her name is Deborah Elkins, 22. She gave birth very recently, the doctors say, but the baby is nowhere to be found. She says she gave birth in a taxi cab, and that's all she remembers. Van Buren is skeptical. They track down the cabbie, and he says she was sick, but doesn't...

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8.10 Ritual

This episode (8.10) deals with the African cultural practice of female genital mutilation and is extremely difficult to watch at times. The victim in the episode was arranging to have his niece undergo this procedure, and then one of her relatives killed him to prevent it. The episode begins with a tow truck driver preparing to haul away a BMW. He notices a body concealed behind a short wall nearby. Briscoe and Curtis investigate. They find some notes about a flight on him, which leads them to his hotel, and they learn his name is "Joe" Moussad. They begin to have mild suspicions that he might be involved in terrorism. Down at the precinct, the detectives pass a woman as...

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3.18 Animal Instinct

In this episode (3.18), a professor is killed at the university lab where she experiments on animals. At first, it looks like animal rights activists might be to blame, but then when it is discovered that her husband and a colleague may have been having an affair, the focus of the investigation shifts. Briscoe and Logan investigate, and Stone and Robinette lead an ill-fated prosecution until they figure it all out. The episode begins with the discovery of the victim, Fay Walsh, in her lab. Pro-animal graffiti ("Innocent Victims") adorns the walls. Briscoe and Logan talk to her husband, and he says she received threats from animal rights groups. They focus on Dirk Chesney, an activist with a violent past....

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4.6 Pride and Joy

In this episode (4.6), a "gifted" teenager kills his father, who he says was abusive. It turns out, however, he probably killed him because he was ashamed of his father's working class ways. The episode begins with a mom arriving home with groceries. She calls out to her family, and finds her son, Sean, in the back, listening to music. She finds the dad out back in the alleyway. He's dead. The cops arrive and look around, and then the mother's daughter, Maureen, shows up and freaks out. Cerreta and Logan investigate, and Stone and Kincaid prosecute. The neighbors say they heard an argument, but assumed it was another tenant. Back at the precinct, everyone agrees the details don't add...

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2.21 Silence

In this episode (2.21), a secretly-gay city councilor is blackmailed and then murdered by some unsavory types. The prosecution of the case is made more difficult because the victim's father, an old political supporter of Adam Schiff, is ashamed of his son's sexual identity, and essentially protects his murderers as a result. Cerreta and Logan investigate, and Stone and Robinette attempt to prosecute. The episode begins with a couple riding in a Checker cab discussing marital issues. The cab screeches to a halt, and the cabbie gets out and sees a body in the street, which he nearly ran over. It appears that the victim may have jumped from a bridge overhead. Cerreta and Logan arrive, and ID the victim...

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4.10 The Pursuit of Happiness

In this episode (4.10), a Russian mail-order bride and her boyfriend kill her domineering husband. Briscoe and Logan investigate, and Stone and Kincaid prosecute. The episode begins with two men going in to work at a butchery. They are surprised to find someone is already there. They walk around and find their boss, the victim, Billy Cooper, 56 years old. He's been shot. Cops on the scene give the detectives their interpretation of how the crime went down, and Briscoe and Logan repeatedly point out mistakes in their theories. They note that he has a young wife. The visit the wife who is crying a lot. Her name is Irina and she speaks with a Russian accent. It is the...

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1.19 The Serpent's Tooth

In this episode (1.19), two young adults sons are apparently responsible for the murder of their wealthy parents. The episode seems loosely based on the case of Menendez Brothers. Greevey and Logan investigate, and Stone and Robinette prosecute. The episode begins, as many early episodes do, with two cops discussing the mundanities of life while on patrol. They hear an alarm, and a man comes running out of a townhouse. He tells them his parents have been shot. He is their son, Greg Jarman. The detectives enter the house, and find the dead parents. Profaci is already at the scene. They find the father's gun collection. It appears one of the weapons from this collection is the murder weapon. Greevey...

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1.18 The Secret Sharers

In this episode (1.18), a priest covers up the murder of a drug dealer committed by one of his parishioners. Greevey and Logan investigate the case, and Stone and Robinette prosecute. The episode begins, as many early episodes do, with a couple of cops discussing the mundanities of life. They are near a church fair, and a couple of shady characters are shooting water guns into a clown's mouth, winning multiple prizes. They exit the fair. Moments later, shots ring out. A crowd gathers and we see that the victim is one of the dealers. Roll credits. (This teaser is unusual because no detectives respond to the scene.) When the show resumes, Logan and Greevey are at the scene. They...

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7.22 Past Imperfect

In this episode (7.22), an older woman, a former model, is found dead while she's supposed to be attending a surprise birthday party in her honor. It turns out that a daughter she didn't know she had was trying to blackmail her to get money from her rich and illegitimate father. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, and McCoy and Ross weave a prosecution together. The episode begins inside the scene at the surprise party. When she doesn't show up, the flamboyant host, Mr Holland, goes to her apartment to find her. There are professional photos of a model on the walls. He finds her with her head bashed in. Briscoe and Curtis respond to the scene. The victim's name is Christine...

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9.11 Ramparts

This is one of those episodes where McCoy gets all agitated about the Sixties because some case reminds him of it and whoever his ADA is can't possibly understand, at least according to McCoy. In any case, this episode (9.11) begins with the discovery of a skeleton in a VW bus sunk in the Hudson River and ends with McCoy trying to get the police to disclose their practices of spying on, and inciting, protesters during the Vietnam Era. Briscoe and Curtis investigate the 30+-year-old murder, and McCoy uses his prosecution of the murderer to launch his own investigation into police practices. Carmichael sits around. The episode begins with some women yelling after a shooting in the park near the...

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10.7 Patsy

McCoy delivers one of his most blistering closing arguments ever in this episode (10.7) about a woman who nearly kills herself in an attempt to frame the man she believed killed her sister. Here is an mp3 of McCoy's closing statement. A portion of it is seen in the TNT promos for L&O when the lady judge says to McCoy, "You're in contempt, Mr McCoy!" The episode begins with a superintendent and an exterminator approaching a woman's apartment. Hearing no answer, they enter, and see a badly injured, but somewhat conscious woman on the floor. Her name is Cecilia. Briscoe and Green investigate, eventually handing off to McCoy and Carmichael for a zealous prosecution. Briscoe and Green head over to...

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13.10 Mother's Day

Elisabeth Rohm takes her bad acting skills to a new low in this preposterous episode (13.10) in which a mother kills her son who had killed another girl by running her over in her car. All of this gets even more ridiculous when the woman's defense attorney turns out to be both a former law school classmate of Southerlyn's and the -- gasp! -- niece of the defendant. Briscoe and Green investigate, while McCoy tries to build a prosecution and stave off Southerlyn's lack of talent at the same time. The episode begins at a diner where a blonde college-aged girl sits down and talks to the folksy counter man, ordering a coffee and reading a chemistry text book. She...

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9.17 Shield

In this episode (9.17), a relationship between two cops leads to the murder of one of them. After much investigation, it appears a protective and vengeful partner is to blame. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, McCoy and Carmichael prosecute. The episode begins with a cop inside a deli, picking up some snacks. He walks back out to his car and finds his partner, dead, weapon still holstered. The two were involved in a stakeout of a con named Jerry Mays, and were waiting at his girlfriend's apartment for him. A homeless witness to the crime says he saw someone running away. Briscoe and Curtis raid the girlfriend's apartment. Mays is not there, and he is their chief suspect. They talk to...

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5.19 Cruel and Unusual

In this episode (5.19), a mentally disturbed boy dies while wrestling with Mike Logan in a jail cell at the precinct, and the investigation into the boy's life leads to a controversial treatment at a psychiatric facility. Eventually, the director of the facility is charged by McCoy and Kincaid for some highly unorthodox techniques that may have led to the boy's death. The episode begins with a young couple walking down the street, and an obviously disturbed young man walks by them, saying, "What time? What time?" repeatedly. Police take him into custody and bring him to Logan and Briscoe's precinct, where he starts going crazy in the jail cell. Logan rushes in to restrain the kid, and he suddenly...

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3.16 Jurisdiction

In this episode (3.16), some nursing students are brutally attacked in their dormitory, and a man with mild mental retardation eventually is arrested and confesses to the crime. Not everyone is convinced he's guilty, though, and soon enough the Manhattan DAs office gets into a big fight with Brooklyn for jurisdiction over the case. The episode begins with two nursing students opening the door to a dorm apartment, and finding two badly injured nurses inside, one of whom is dead. They've been stabbed and one of them is missing a finger. Briscoe and Logan investigate, and Robinette and Stone prosecute. Briscoe and Logan interview the other nurses, and mention Richard Speck, who killed 8 nurses in real life. They find...

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3.11 Extended Family

In this episode (3.11), a toddler girl is kidnapped, and her wealthy father, a Broadway producer, quickly becomes a suspect. But the investigation soon focuses on the girl's mother, who may have kidnapped the girl because she thought her daughter was the victim of sexual abuse. A prominent child psychologist may have gone too far in eliciting the girl's tales of abuse, however, and by the end of the episode, the truth of the situation is murky at best. Briscoe anf Logan do as well as they can on the investigation, and Stone and Robinette are left to make sense of it all. The episode begins with a young girl, about 5 or 6, walking with a woman who seems...

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5.22 Switch

In this episode (5.22), a woman with multiple-personality disorder kills a psychiatrist in a hospital office. The question is, Which personality killed her. Briscoe and Logan investigate, and McCoy and Kincaid figure out how to prosecute the deeply disturbed murderer, after first considering her father as a suspect. The episode begins with two janitors walking down a hospital hallway. One janitor is instructing the new janitor about what found object can be kept by them. They then discover a psychiatrist, Lillian Hampton, dead in her office. Briscoe and Logan arrive to investigate, and note that she wacked over the head with a trophy. They talk to her boss, who says he overheard the victim arguing with someone that night. Her...

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7.7 Deadbeat

Jerry Stiller guest-stars as a defense attorney in this episode (7.7) in which a man is apparently killed by his ex-wife's aging father because of the victim's refusal to pay child support, but the truth appears to be slightly more complicated than that. Briscoe and Curtis investigate and McCoy and Ross prosecute. The episode begins with two kid and his tourist parents in a hotel, and the kid discovers a body in the hallway. Briscoe and Curtis responds, and talk to two old ladies who think they saw the shooter. The victim is an Arizona resident named Michael Malone. While they're investigating the crime scene, the phone in Malone's hotel room rings. One of the dets answers it, and invites...

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14.10 Ill-Conceived

In this episode (14.10), a garment factory owner is killed in his office. The paternity of one of his worker's baby appears to be a motive in his death, as those closest to him seem to turn against him. Briscoe and Green uncover as much as they can, and McCoy and Southerlyn figure it all out in the end. The episode begins with some cleaning ladies working in the garment factory. They come across the badly beaten body of the plant's owner, Arnold Zachary. He is found with cooking flour on his jacket, and there is an unclear videotape of someone entering the building. They talk to his workers, who say he was nice. They also meet his wife, 26,...

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First and Last Episodes

Here are the first and last episodes of various characters that I have documented so far. I will update this post as I am able. These links are broken right now...sorry. But go to the Notable Episodes category, and you should be able to find them all. First Episodes First Episode Ever. (Greevey/Logan/Cragen/Stone/Brooks/Schiff) Paul Sorvino/Phil Cerreta's first episode. Jerry Orbach/Lennie Briscoe's first episode. Sam Waterston/Jack McCoy's first episode. Angie Harmon/Abbie Carmichael's first episode. Carey Lowell/Jamie Ross's first episode. Benjamin Bratt/Rey Curtis' first episode. Dianne Wiest/Nora Lewin's first episode. Jesse L. Martin/Ed Green's first episode. Fred Thompson/Arthur Branch's first episode. Dennis Farina/Joe Fontana's first episode. Last Episodes George Dzundza/Max Greevey's last episode. (A body double appears for him in the next...

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5.23 Pride: Mike Logan's Last Episode

In this episode (5.23), a conservative city councilor apparently murders another city councilor, get acquited, and then is punched in the face by Mike Logan during a fracas on the courthouse steps immediately after the trial.The episode begins with a heated debate at a public meeting. A man is shouting down an official calling for compromise. They seem to be debating gay rights and benefits for domestic partners. The meeting ends, and the man who was shouting exits with another man amidst a bit of commotion. They hear gun shots and run to see what happens: the man he was yelling at, who we learn is a city councilor named Richard Durban, is dead. Witnesses say they saw a man...

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5.17 Act of God

In this episode (5.17), a young boy is killed when the building he is trespassing in is blown up by dynamite placed by an arsonist. Many people have a motive for destroying the building, and dogged investigation from Briscoe and Logan yield a couple of suspects. Unfortunately, McCoy and Kincaid get the wrong man convicted, and then have to figure out how to prosecute the real perpetrator. The episode begins with a boy, who looks about 11, throwing a grappling hook up into a building's window. He begins climbing the building, and is not spotted by a man who comes by walking his dog. As the man cleans up after his dog, the building explodes, and we soon learn that...

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Yes!! Elisabeth Rohm, aka Serena Southerlyn, Leaving Law & Order

I think there will be a lot of happy fans out there: Elisabeth Rohm is leaving L&O midway through next season, to explore other opportunities. No word on a replacement yet, but this means that there will be two major cast changes for the 15th season.Update: According to Reuters, Rohm is committed to the first 13 episodes of Season 15. The article also reveals/reminds us that Dennis Farina's character will be named Joe Fontana....

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L&O Sound Files

I made some MP3s of the Law & Order theme songs. So far I've done::Original Series, Season 1Original Series, Season 13Criminal Intent, Season 3I also made a couple of the voice-over greetings ("these are their stories...").I don't watch SVU, so I haven't done those yet, but I will soon....

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4.9 Born Bad

In this episode (4.9), a teenager brutally beats to death another teenager, and his murderours tendencies are blamed on a genetic predisposition to violence. Briscoe and Logan investigate the case, and Stone and Kincaid refute the defense counsel's argument. The episode begins with a priest named Father Jack walking the streets in a seedy part of town (pre-redeveloped Times Square?), handing out fliers for a soup kitchen and trying to get people off the street. He comes across a teenager who isn't moving. He's dead. He's been badly beaten, and has no ID on him, but he's wearing expensive sneakers, so if he's a street kid, he hasn't been out for long. Briscoe and Logan talk to a couple of...

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7.6 Double Blind

In this episode (7.6), a young man on an experimental schizophrenia treatment slays a janitor from the building where he works. After Briscoe and Curtis solve the murder, McCoy goes after the psychiatrist who is treating the killer. The episode begins with a janitor and a locksmith approaching a door that has been glued shut, They open the door and enter the apartment: the lights don't work, and there is blood spattered on the wall and everywhere else. The victim is Mr Frank, a dead janitor. He's been shot multiple times. Curtis uses his crime scene investigation skills and conclude that the killer used a pillow to muffle the sound of the shot, and killed the victim on a drop...

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12.3 For Love or Money

In this episode (12.3), a man is killed in a parking lot, and virtually anyone could be responsible. Eventually, it appears that a woman and her daughter are to blame, but even they are not wholly loyal to each other. Briscoe and Green unravel the complicated case, and McCoy and SS use their prosecutorial wiles to find out the truth. The episode begins with a couple of teenagers walking in a parking lot. It appears that they are stoned. They stumble over a dead guy, and one of them says, "Talk about a total buzz kill." CSU arrives and determines that the man has been shot to death, and has been dead about 3-4 hours. He has many drivers licenses...

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13.14 Star Crossed

In this episode (13.14), a manipulative Latina vamp is behind a dim-witted young man's crime spree, which ends in the death of a car salesman during a carjacking. Briscoe and Green investigate and McCoy and Southerlyn and prosecute the femme fatale. The episode begins with a couple of cops in a car who see three men running away. They come up on a badly beaten man who is dad. The victim is a middle-aged man named Hal Garber, who is a car salesman at a Manhattan Jaguar dealer. He's discovered in Harlem, a bit out of the way for him. They visit his work place and find he took a Jaguar out with a man named Mr Martinez, and the...

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11.2 Turnstile Justice

In this episode (11.2), a woman is found dead, lying on a bench on a subway platform. She's been bludgeoned to death. Briscoe and Green's investigation leads to an emotionally disturbed person, but McCoy isn't content to prosecute just him: he goes after the health management organization that released him without medication from Rikers the day before the murder, even though they knew he was crazy and violent.The episode begins with a woman seeking help from some transit cops in a subway station: she says that a homeless woman is lying on a bench and being eyed by some ruffians. The cops respond, and soon determine the woman is dead. Briscoe and Green arrive to investigate, and learn that the...

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8.13 Castoff

In this memorable episode (8.13), an attractive blonde social worker is gunned down outside her place of work. It turns out she was engaged in a kinky sex life that ultimately leads to her death at the hands of a sociopath she was sexually involved with. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, and McCoy and Ross prosecute. The episode begins with some kids miming their basketball moves outside a community center. They say hi to "Ms G.," a woman who walks by them, turns the corner, and is promptly shot. Briscoe and Curtis arrive and the victim is identified as Jennifer Galen, a social worker. They talk to her rich father, who says he warned his daughter about working uptown, and he...

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13.12 Under God

In this episode (13.12), a priest confesses to the murder of a drug dealer (cutting short Briscoe and Green's investigation), and McCoy and Southerlyn figure out how to prosecute a man who says God made him do it. The episode begins with an older guy trying to pick up a hooker for "half-and-half." They start doing it, when they look over and see a dead body. Briscoe and Green note that the victim was shot, has a wad of cash on him, and was probably a drug dealer. They determine the vic's name is Scott Giddens. They try to track down his apartment. They go through some housing projects, and come across an overdosed girl in his apartment. A girl...

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12.6 Formerly Famous

Gary Busey and Joe Piscopo guest star in this episode (12.6) that is somewhat of a take on the actor Robert Blake's apparent killing of his wife. Briscoe and Green investigate the crime, and McCoy and Southerlyn prosecute. The episode begins with Busey's character, Tommy Vega, entering a restaurant, all out of sorts. He says he need help because his wife, Beth Ann, has been shot. Briscoe and Green arrive, and Briscoe says that Vega was a famous singer with a Vegas act (think Tom Jones) until "he took up with a guy named Jack Daniels." They interview Vega and he says he and his wife had dinner at the restaurant, they walked to the car, and he went back...

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4.11 Golden Years

In this episode (4.11), an elderly woman is essentially starved to death by her bitter granddaughter. It takes a while for Briscoe and Logan to figure this out, and Stone and Kincaid work to assemble a prosecution appropriate for the crime. The episode begins with an elderly woman approaching an apartment door that has been busted open. She calls out "Mildred? Mildred?" (because all old ladies are named Mildred). But Mildred doesn't reply: she is found dead in her ransacked apartment. The Asian male ME tells the detectives their victim is Mildred Bauer, 82. Her daughter-in-law shows up and wonders where the live-in caretaker is. They talk to other maids in the park and learn that Maria Gonzalez has been...

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8.3 Navy Blues

In this episode (8.3), a female Navy fighter pilot is suspected of killing her married boyfriend, who was under her command on her ship. Briscoe and Curtis get stonewalled by the Navy as they try to investigate her, and McCoy and Ross have trouble getting the jurisdiction and the information they need to prosecute. The episode begins with two officers responding to an old lady's call for help finding her runaway chihuahua. While searching a wooded area, they come across the body of Robert Stroud, a member of the US Navy. His watch and wallet are missing, but his dogtags identify him. Briscoe and Curtis arrive, and learn that the chihuahua was found and bit one of the officers. They...

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5.21 Purple Heart

In this episode (5.21), a cabbie is found slain outside an Irish bar. It looks like his ambitious wife arranged his murder, and then killed the hitman, too. It takes Briscoe and Logan a while to figure it all out, and even longer for McCoy and Kincaid to determine a motive. The episode begins with a young couple walking out of a bar, squabbling over the man's apparently crude friends, with whom he grew up. They go to get a gypsy cab, and find the driver shot in the head, dead. Briscoe and Logan arrive to investigate, and discover that he is a veteran of the first Gulf War and earned a Purple Heart. They talk at the precinct, where...

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7.12 Barter

In this episode (7.12), w woman is shot dead from behind in her building's parking garage, but it looks like the killer was aiming for a different, similar-looking woman who usually parked there. So who ordered the hit-gone-bad? Isn't it always the husband? Yep. But this time, there's a conspiracy behind the hit, and figuring out how the conspiracy is connected to a corrupt loan company is difficult. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, McCoy and Ross build a prosecution. The episode begins as a wealthy couple, the Tashjians, find a dead body in their parking spot. The victim is Shelley Ganz, and she's been shot in the back with a shotgun. Briscoe and Curtis show up, and Briscoe delivers the second-best*...

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10.3 DNR

In this episode (10.3), a civil court judge is shot and badly injured in her building's garage, and her Jaguar is stolen. It looks like a botched murder-for-hire, but it's unclear who did the hiring. After Briscoe and Green's investigation, it appears that the husband set up the hit, but McCoy and Carmichael have trouble building a prosecution because the victim refuses to testify against her husband. On top of all this, the victim tries to get legal permission to end her own life, a move which McCoy resists. The episode begins with Mr Grobman returning from a trip to Long Island, talking to his doorman. They hear gun shots coming from the garage, and they run down there, only...

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7.3 Good Girl

In this episode (7.3), a young black man is killed in his apartment, apparently by a young white woman whose family was very uncomfortable with their relationship. Briscoe and Curtis solve the case, and McCoy and Ross assemble the prosecution. The episode begins with two men discussing the graffiti and other maintenance problems is a low-rent apartment building. They hear loud music coming from an apartment, and the super enters the apartment and finds the victim, Charles Monroe, dead on the bed. He's been stabbed to death. They find his girlfriend, Arlene Williams, who is black and concerned about being implicated in his death: "You're not going to do a Fuhrman on me," she says, referring to the detective in...

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8.16 Divorce

In this episode (8.16), a lady psychologist caught between a couple in a heated divorce battle ends up dead. Who wanted her dead? A divorcing couple and possibly their attorneys, to name a few. Briscoe and Curtis try to figure it out, while McCoy and Ross assemble a prosecution. The episode begins with the discovery of the dead female psychologist in her office at the hospital. Her husband, Mr Burke, arrives, and is quite upset to hear his wife is dead. He says he called a security guard at the hospital to check up on her when she was late, and the guard told him she was fine. Well, the boss of the security guards, when pressured, admits to the...

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7.19 Double Down

In this episode (7.19), an armed robbery leads to a kidnapping, and McCoy has to decide whether to make a deal with one of the robbers to learn the location of the abductee before he's killed. Briscoe gets the strong impression that McCoy is being manipulated, but McCoy has to come to a decision anyway. The episode begins at the scene of an armed robbery, where a getaway driver (we don't know he's the getaway driver yet) is blocked in by another truck. As the robber runs out, another man emerges from the building, shooting. They can't enter the getaway vehicle so they run off. Briscoe and Curtis arrive at the scene to investigate, and learn that $1200 has been...

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6.12 Trophy: Battle of McCoy's Lovers!

In this terrific, densely packed episode (6.12), a serial killer is killing black boys and leaving behind ominous notes. The crimes closely parallel the work of a previous serial killer who was caught and convicted 5 years eaerli...or was he? Evidence begins to suggest that McCoy convicted the wrong man, and his assistant and girlfriend from that time period, Diana Hawthorne, may be to blame for the miscarriage of justice. Briscoe and Curtis investigate the killings, and McCoy and Kincaid figure out to do with their suspects and Hawthorne The episode begins with two city workers picking up garbage in the park, discussing the Mets. One of them discovers the body of a young black boy, found alongside his school...

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5.14 Performance

In this episode (5.14), some men at a bachelor party watch a pornographic videotape that, to their surprise, might be a snuff film: a young women is pictured being raped and shot in the head through a pillow. Briscoe and Logan try to identify the girl on the tape and the man seen shooting here, while McCoy and Kincaid try to get the victim to reveal everything about what happened. The episode begins at the bachelor party. They see a young girl strapped to a bed, screaming, and a man straddling her pulls out a pistol, puts a pillow over her face, and pulls the trigger. One of them men at the party brings the tape to Briscoe and Logan...

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7.23 Terminal: Schiff Takes on the Governor

In this intricately structured episode (7.23), the finale of season 7, a gunman shoots at a crowd of Jewish people as they exit a social cruise. The state Attorney General's office wants Schiff to seek Murder 1 and the death penalty against the defendant, but he refuses, so they take the case away from him. He fights the decision in court, even as he's dealing with another difficulty in his life: his wife suffers a stroke and dies at the end of the episode. Briscoe and Curtis investigate the shooting, and McCoy and Ross have to choose between ambition and loyalty. The episode begins with a crowd of people disembarking a small ship. Two women are discussing their social...

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6.17 Deceit

In this episode (6.17), a lawyer is killed because he was gay and had an affair with a closeted senior partner. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, and McCoy and Kincaid prosecute.The episode begins with cleaning lady entering an apartment, discovering Mr Wells, who has been shot 3 times. As the detectives go through his things, they discover dresses in his closet. An old lady neighbor says Mr Wells had a girlfriend named Liza, and she noticed that Wells was being watched by someone. She even wrote down the license plate of the car she noticed watching him. It turns out he was being watched by a law firm, which kept an eye on him because he litigated critical cases, including one...

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List of Briscoe's Wisecracks

This article features a list of Briscoe's wisecracks over the years....

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5.8 Virtue

In this memorable episode (5.8), a drunk driving accident leads to an investigation of an ambitious city councilman's history of rape, but with a lack of reliable witnesses, it's hard to prove the case. Briscoe and Logan do their best to sort it out, and McCoy and Kincaid try to get witnesses to bolster their prosecution. The episode begins with cops on patrol coming across a traffic accident, late at night. But there's something strange about it: the female victim is in the driver's seat, but her feet don't reach the petal, and whiplash doesn't explain the discrepancy. It appears that she was placed into the driver's seat after the crash, and the actual driver fled the scene. The victim,...

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10.8 Blood Money

In this interesting episode (10.8), an old insurance salesman is found stabbed and shot in the back of a cab. When it's discovered he reneged on life insurance policies sold to Polish Jews during World War II, everyone realizes the list of people with a motive to kill him is almost infinite, but it turns out the real killer has more than just a business relationship with him. Briscoe and Green investigate, and McCoy and Carmichael orchestrate difficult prosecutions against some unlikely defendants. The episode begins with the discovery of the old man, Peter Grimaldi, in the back of his cab, stabbed to death. The cabbie, Mr Singh, was talking on his cell phone and didn't notice anything amiss till...

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13.24 Smoke

In this episode (13.24), a famous comedian/movie star is investigated after his adopted baby falls to his death after being dangled out a hotel window during a fire. The investigation leads to evidence of a conspiracy by the comedian to commit child abuse, abuse which in one case occurred at least 5 years ago. Briscoe and Green uncover the conspiracy, and McCoy and Southerlyn figure out how to prosecute it.The episode begins at the scene of the fire, out on the street looking up at it. A crowd has gathered, and a woman says audibly, "I heard he fell out of Monty's window." Briscoe and Green show up to learn the details, and find that the victim in the case...

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7.13 Matrimony

In this episode (7.13) an old man is dead, and it looks like his young trophy wife is responsible. But the case gets more complicated when it is revealed that the trophy wife has an even more conniving and villainous mother. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, and McCoy and Ross ultimately solve the case by setting up a sting against the perpetrator. The episode begins with a young couple looking at their neighbors through a telescope. As they survey the cityscape, they spot a dead man on the floor. The police investigate, and learn the victim is a wealthy man named Peter Triandos. They talk to his young Southern wife, Kim, who shows up. She says she was out socializing at...

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14.23 Caviar Emptor

In this rather bad episode (14.23) a family feud over a caviar business turns violent, and a various members of two Persian-Americans are suspects. Briscoe and Green investigate, and McCoy and Southerlyn prosecute. But what's the point. The episode begins in a home where it's clear a wedding has just taken place. The patriarch of the family is found dead. The son wants an autopsy, but the new wife doesn't. Southerlyn has to go to a judge's house -- in the episode's opening moments -- to settle it. The judge allows the autopsy because the marriage papers haven't officially been filed yet (it's a weekend). The ME determines the case was a homicide. They talk to the new wife, who...

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5.18 Privileged

In this episode (5.18), a troubled young man kills an elderly couple who he thinks are his own adoptive parents. Briscoe and Logan investigate, and Kincaid and McCoy figure out how to prosecute this man who had violence in his heart, but was psychotic and molested as a child. The episode begins with with the discovery of a very bloody crime scene: an elderly couple stabbed to death in their bed. Each victim has been stabbed a dozen times. Their names are David and Arlene Lerner, and they were married for 25 years. At the precinct, they learn the murder weapon was a knife taken from the house. They talk to the couple's daughter, who is clueless. They check out...

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8.23 Tabloid

In this episode (8.23), a couple of murders take place because of a gossip columnist's efforts to uncover a story of an unwanted pregnancy in a Kennedy-like family. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, and McCoy and Ross try to pressure the family into revealing the truth. The episode begins with a doorman and a UPS deliveryman squabbling over the where the UPS guy parked his truck. He says he's just trying to do his job, and the doorman says the same thing. The dispute comes to an abrupt end, however, as they look up and see a woman getting run over by a car. The victim is Margaret Abbott, a Hudson University law professor and member of the prominent Abbot family....

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8.12 Expert

In this episode (8.12), an expert on a certain psychological malfunction who often testifies in criminal trials is nearly shot to death. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, trying to determine whether someone upset with him for getting a defendant acquitted might be to blame, or whether there was a different motivation. McCoy and Ross head up and unusual trial in which the victim essentially testifies on behalf of the defendant. The episode begins with a group of people having a fun time in a restaurant. One gets up to use the bathroom, and shots are fired. Two customers run toward the restroom, guns drawn, yelling, "Mike? Mike?" Mike is fine, his mafia buddies are happy to learn, but Mr Milton, a...

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5.16 Wannabe

In this episode (5.16), a man is shot dead in the street, and the investigation eventually leads to a couple of boys who are "wannabe" thugs. Briscoe and Logan generate the leads, but McCoy and Kincaid have to figure out who is actually responsible for the crime. The episode begins at a birthday party, where people are waiting for the father to arrive. Shots are heard outside, and the victim, Bill Prescott, is the father everyone was waiting for. He's been shot twice in the back. Logan and Briscoe arrive to investigate. The livery driver who dropped him off at the corner doesn't remember seeing anything. Ballistics says the weapon is a "Charter Arms Undercover." They check out his place...

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6.16 Savior

In this episode (6.16), it appears that a desperate father kills his family to spare them, and himself, the humiliation of watching him fall apart. Olivet cautiously suggests the man might fit the profile of a "family annihilator," but the truth turns out to be more complicated. The episode begins with woman and her son walking down the sidewalk. The son is discussing his stomach ache. They enter a townhouse, and call out to the occupants. They go upstairs and discover the woman's sister and nephew dead, and her niece seriously injured. Briscoe and Curtis arrive and learn that the victim's name is Joyce Elder, and her son Billy, 10, was also shot to death. The CSU team finds an...

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8.14 Grief

In this episode (8.14), an assault case leads to two incapacitated women -- one comatose, one mentally unstable -- who appear to have been raped in a hospital environment. But each case -- the assault and the two rapes -- turn out to be more complicated than they first appear to be. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, while Ross and McCoy figure out who they can put on trial, and for what.The episode begins with a beating victim in a tunnel in central park. He talks to the detectives, but won't explain what happened. They talk to some other cops who happened to have arrested the victim, George Harding, a few days earlier. They say that two guys were chasing him....

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6.15 Encore

In this episode (6.15), McCoy gets another shot at prosecuting Michael Dobson, a man he suspected of killing his wife in an episode (Coma) in the previous season. Briscoe and Curtis investigate Dobson this time around. The episode begins with an older couple walking in the park. The woman spots an assault occurring, and a man runs after the attacker. Cops on horseback respond and try to chase down the suspect, but find only the man who tried to help: he has a knife sticking out his chest, but he's still talking and nearly standing. The suspect is described as a Hispanic male, 5'8". The assault victim is dead. Briscoe and Curtis respond and learn that a Colombian peso was...

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5.2 Coma

In this episode (5.2), a woman is shot in the head, and lingers in her coma while Briscoe and Logan investigate her husband for a connection to the shooting. The case becomes more complicated when McCoy and Kincaid fight to retrieve the bullet from her brain so they can use it as evidence, an operation which leads to the victim's death. The husband, Michael Dobson, goes free, but McCoy gets another chance for a conviction when Dobson re-appears in an episode (Encore) the next season, accused of killing his second wife.The episode begins with a couple walking down a sidewalk. They complain about a man who seems to be stealing radios from parked cars, and the husband is about to...

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4.7 Apocrypha

In this pretty crazy episode (4.7), a young woman drives a Mercedes into a downtown office building's garage and the explodes a car bomb, killing her and damaging the building. It turns out that the woman is involved with a religious cult whose charsismatic leader may have led to the bombing. The episode begins with the woman driving in heavy traffic downtown. She gets her windows washed by a squeegee man, and then enters the parking garage. Moments later, as the parking attendants are talking, a large explosion is heard and seen, and, in an unusually spectacular bit of staging, destroys the facade of the garage [screen shot]. Briscoe and Logan respond to the scene and learn that there is...

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5.9 Scoundrels

Edie Falco guest stars in this episode (5.9) in which a swindling lawyer is killed in his office, and several suspects had a motive for killing him. Briscoe and Logan investigate, and McCoy and Kincaid build a prosecution. The episode begins with the discovery of the lawyer, Arthur Kopinsky, dead in his office. Before the detectives even finish processing the scene, Kopinsky's own lawyer arrives, and starts passively hindering the investigation. After not getting very far with a conventional investigation, the detectives get the help of Kinciad who serves a warrant, raising her voice at Kopinsky's office. The detectives and Kincaid are trying to figure out the relationship between Kopinsky and a disgraced former banker named Tappan. They learn that...

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14.8 Embedded

In this episode (14.8), a television "tabloid journalist" is shot outside a bar. The prime suspect is a US soldier angry over reporting the journalist did in Iraq which led to the deaths of three other soldiers. Briscoe and Green capture the suspect, but McCoy and Southerlyn develop doubts as to whether they have the right man. The episode contains vigorous debate about the ethics of the war in Iraq and the usefulness of embedded journalists. The episode begins with the journalist, Frank Elliot, talking with some friends in a bar. They're talking about women when he spots his ex-girlfriend, a blonde woman. He tries to get her to go home with him, since he's leaving for Iraq again the...

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9.15 Disciple

In this episode (9.15), an ex-nun performs an excorcism that leads to the death of a young girl. The victim's mom tries to obfuscate what happened, but ultimately the full story becomes known. Briscoe and Curtis investigate the death, which takes a while to figure out, and McCoy and Carmichael figure out how to prosecute a woman who says she was guided by divine intervention. The episode begins in a hospital waiting room, where two women talk until a guard notices a dead girl lying down next to them. Briscoe and Curtis respond, and get only vague information from witnesses (a doctor who saw the girl after she died is hurried and unhelpful, and a woman describes the man she...

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14.9 Compassion

In this episode (14.9), a pediatric oncologist uses cyanide to kill a man who claims he can talk to dead people. It turns out the psychic was previously a real estate con man who ripped off the doctor, and that appeares to be her motive. Briscoe and Green connect the dots, and McCoy and Southerlyn prosecute the doctor, who may or may not be crazy. The episode begins with two middle-aged men eating together in a restaurant and discussing the merits of Viagra. One man swears by it, the other is reluctant to try it. The Viagra advocate gestures tolds an older gentleman sitting alone behind them and says that he is probably waiting for a twenty-something date to show...

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1.4 Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die

In this episode (1.4), a young woman dies after being savagely beaten in her bed. After much detective work, Greevey and Logan settle on the young scion of a formerly wealthy, high-society family. Stone and Robinette have trouble making the case, however, until they secure the co-operation of some other love interests of the defendant. The episode begins, as many of the early ones do, with a pair of cops on patrol, discussing a mundane issue (their kids). They see a lady enter a home, and the camera leaves the cops and follow the lady. She walks up the stairs, calling out to her roommate Paige Bartlett. She finds Paige in her bedroom, twitching and in shock. It appears she...

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2.20 Intolerance

Sam Rockwell guest stars in this episode (2.20) about a Chinese-American boy killed over academic rivalry. Cerreta and Logan determine his jealous friend's mother and brother (Rockwell) are responsible, but Stone and Robinette have trouble getting all the evidence they need admitted to the trial. The episode begins with several school kids walking down the street near their school ("Manhattan Science") discussing a scholarship. The Chinese-American boy and the white girl taunted by some older Chinese boys in a passing car. Shortly thereafter, gunshots ring out and we learn that the Asian student, Tim, is dead. Logan and Cerreta arrive to investigate. Logan remarks that bullets don't recognize IQ. Over at the precinct, they talk to the white girl, Kate,...

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7.11 Menace

In this well-written episode (7.11), a woman leaps to her death from the Brooklyn Bridge. It appears that she was being chased by a large, angry man whom she had a traffic accident with. After much investigation, it is revealed that this seemingly random encounter may have had its roots in an arson she was aware of. Briscoe and Curtis investigate, and McCoy and Ross try to make murder charges stick, despite the unusual circumstances. This is also the episode in which Curtis and his wife get separated. The episode begins with a wealthy-looking couple (husband and sexy wife) stuck in traffic on the ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge. They're flirting with each other when they hear some yelling and...

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9.2 DWB