Poison (11 Nov. 2001)

When a mysterious "angel of death" poisons a series of hospital victims with cyanide, Detectives Goren and Eames suspect a nurse who fits the typical profile - but when others fall dead ... See full summary »

Director:

Gloria Muzio

Writers:

Dick Wolf (creator), Rene Balcer (developer),

Stars:

Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Jamey Sheridan

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Detective Robert Goren
Kathryn Erbe	...	Detective Alexandra Eames
Jamey Sheridan	...	Captain James Deakins
Courtney B. Vance	...	A.D.A. Ron Carver
J. Smith-Cameron	...	Trudy Pomeranski
Susan Bruce	...	Colleen Braxton
Anne O'Sullivan	...	Ms. O'Brien
Charles Dumas	...	NYPD Crisis Command Inspector
Daniel Jenkins	...	Goren's Tree-Hugger Friend
Anita Gillette	...	Loretta Marlon
Jerry Orbach	...	Detective Lennie Briscoe
Jesse L. Martin	...	Detective Ed Green
Myra Lucretia Taylor	...	Amanda Juno
Stephanie Roth Haberle	...	Mrs. Berkowitz
Marc Damon Johnson	...	Derrick Alton

Storyline

When a mysterious "angel of death" poisons a series of hospital victims with cyanide, Detectives Goren and Eames suspect a nurse who fits the typical profile - but when others fall dead outside the care facility, the investigators must widen their search. Even when the cops discover the source to be tainted, over-the-counter painkillers, the victims continue to pile up, and they can't gain any traction with their case until they find a motive -- or at least a source of the killer substance.

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Plot Keywords:

cyanide poisoning | franchise | visiting husband's grave | code blue | serial killer | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 November 2001 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wolf Films, Studios USA Television

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although they want to distance themselves from any real life events, the plot of this episode is very close to the case of Stella Nickell who did almost the exact same thing in order to kill her husband Bruce Nickell.

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Quotes

Detective Robert Goren: As Leonard Palmeranski might say, "Why me?"

User Reviews

Capturng 'The Angel Of Death'

Three people have died recently a local hospital. What's usual about it is that all three patients were not in serious condition. How could this happen? In the introduction, we, the viewers are presented with two suspects, because obviously something isn't kosher here. One is a nurse and the other is a visitor of a patient, who is in the bed next to the latest victim. The nurse looks a little wacky, a poor nerdy woman who has no social life; the other is woman immediately portrayed as some selfish, mean person. Is one of these two responsible for these three deaths? (Yup!)

Within 12 minutes, Det. Goren has it figured out that the suspect that looks like the sure killer, is not. His bosses aren't convinced Goren is corrupt in his assumption, so the detective has to get busy and find the real murderer and - worse- stop a potential terrorist-type situation because the killer is spiking aspirin at a nearby drugstore with cyanide (the cause of these deaths) and more people are starting to die.

This a good episode. It was enjoyable to see D'Onofrio ("Goren") figure it out and nab this disgusting woman - labeled "The Angel Of Death" early on in the show - who was, indeed, an extremely cold and selfish person..