Cara Buono's performance here as the working class girl who makes some bad choices and winds up in the state prison system dominates this particular Law And Order story. What also drives this story is the history between her and Angie Harmon.
Back in the day when Abbie Carmichael was working in the Narcotics Bureau Buono was one of hundreds of people she prosecuted. Buono made a really bad choice in that one, she was left holding the bag with her boyfriend's drugs. So instead of turning him in, she took the rap for him out of some misplaced sense of street loyalty. It wound her up in a women's prison where she joins the ladies' auxiliary of a gang called the Paganos and uses those connections to get a certain correction officer killed because he was harassing her.
The portrait of this victim is one of a true sleaze-bag, but one who would probably never be caught because of the code of silence among prison guards. After all they're the ones you have to rely on to get yourself out of tight spot if you find yourself in one with all those prisoners.
Tovah Feldshuh makes one of her guest appearances as Sam Waterston's favorite defense lawyer Danielle Melnick. The jury hears all about the victim and has a real problem here. I love Feldshuh's character she's such a passionate advocate in all her appearances.
I've known people like Buono in my life. They make bad choices and continue to make them. You love them, but you want to strangle them at times. I also have to say there's an element of narcissism in Buono's character the way she personalizes what Angie Harmon did back in the day. It's called doing your job.