"Law & Order" Trophy (1996)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Martha Mitchell

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator)
Jeremy R. Littman (teleplay)

TV Series:

"Law & Order" (1990)

Original Air Date:

31 January 1996 (Season 6, Episode 12)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Drama

Plot:

A man serving time in a serial killer case claims malicious prosecution and false imprisonment after a man who killed two more boys confesses to the other murders. All of the evidence points to Jack McCoy and his former assistant. |

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Police | Attorney | District Attorney | Evidence

Cast

Jerry Orbach	...	Detective Lennie Briscoe
Benjamin Bratt	...	Detective Rey Curtis
S. Epatha Merkerson	...	Lt. Anita Van Buren
Sam Waterston	...	Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy
Jill Hennessy	...	A.D.A. Claire Kincaid
Steven Hill	...	D.A. Adam Schiff
Laila Robins	...	Diana Hawthorne
David Garrison	...	Gerald Fox
Isiah Whitlock Jr.	...	Simon Brooks
John Ramsey	...	Judge Walter Schreiber
Heath Lamberts
Jerome Preston Bates	...	Ernie Bigelow
Stephanie Berry	...	Estelle Walters
José Ramón Rosario	...	Det. Monfredo (as Jose Ramon Rosario)
Conan McCarty	...	Ethan Floyd

Company:

Wolf Films

Claire and Jack, sittin' in a tree...

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This episode exposed, or, rather, confirmed, a romantic relationship between Kincaid and McCoy--only a song-and-dance number could have made it more plain.

Claire confronts Jack's former assistant (Diana Hawthorne) and the latter says, "You are sleeping with him, aren't you?" And Claire not only doesn't deny it, but doesn't even BLINK.

With none of his subsequent assistants has their been a hint of romance. It's hard to imagine the Jamie Ross (Carrie Lowell) or Abby Carmichael (my personal fav amongst Jack's assistants, Angie Harmon) characters in an office liaison; especially Jamie who's terrible marriage (and terribly underused actor who played her ex) began as just such a romance. Serena (Elizabeth Rohm) was a lesbian (either I missed an episode or her revelation to her Arthur came completely out of nowhere!). Can't see it with Rubirosa. It's one thing for two ADAs to have a relationship, but the sitting DA and an ADA. Lawsuit on a platter. Besides, the age gap between Jack and the ADAs (all of whom seem to what the French call "un femme de trente ans") is getting a little wide (tho' fortunately for Sam Waterston, he isn't).

There have been hints before, but never this openly. And none since. Not that I disapprove. After all, to go much beyond the surface of the characters' personal lives would push "Law & Order" more in the direction of "Hills Street Blues" + "LA Law" (=soap opera). Wolf has wisely kept the nature of the Law & Order "franchise" right on formula: police procedural+courtroom drama. While the different shows have measured out the formula with different emphases, they all maintain the core mantra. Not all have been blockbusters (as "SVU" is and "Prime" was for so many yrs); but all have been solid in the ratings. And each has its own core of devotees.