The BEST episodes of Law & Order
Every episode of Law & Order ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Law & Order!
A blended police procedural and courtroom drama which employs a two-part approach: The first half of each episode focuses on NYPD homicide detectives investigating a crime—often derived from a real-life headline—and apprehending a suspect. The second half takes place in the courtroom, with the district attorney prosecuting the defendant.
#1 - Invaders
Season 16 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/17/2006
The family of a man who once turned his customers into the police is slain, and the ensuing fracas pits McCoy against a corrupt D.E.A. agent.
#2 - Monster
Season 8 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/20/1998
During the search for a pedophile who raped a 10-year-old, a snitch offers Briscoe a chance to avenge his daughter's death. Meanwhile, Van Buren learns that her job is in jeopardy; McCoy is ordered to appear before a disciplinary committee because of his conduct in a DUI case; and the increasingly political Schiff worries that the rape case may adversely impact his reelection bid.
#3 - Aftershock
Season 6 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/22/1996
After Briscoe, Curtis, McCoy, and Kincaid witness the execution of a criminal they brought to justice, their unique reactions to the event culminate in personal tragedies for each of them.
#4 - American Dream
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/9/1993
A skeleton unearthed at a building site resurrects one of Stone's old cases, and brings him face to face with the tenacious, brilliant culprit, who is seeking a new trial.
#5 - Open Season
Season 13 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/20/2002
A defense attorney who managed the acquittal of the defendant in the attempted murder of a cop is gunned down outside a Manhattan restaurant. The detectives start with police officers in the precinct of the injured officer, then to his brother, before they are led to a white supremacist who is part of a national network. McCoy is faced with the unlikely prospect that the defendant's attorney, his friend of 20 years and a friend of the slain lawyer, played a part in the murder of a Florida district attorney following the defendant's arrest. McCoy is able to make a deal that perserves the integrity of his adversary, but not without a cost.
#6 - Pro Se
Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/8/1996
The investigation into multiple homicides at a clothing store leads to the arrest of a schizophrenic who presents McCoy with a formidable opponent when he decides to represent himself.
#7 - Rage
Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/1/1995
A Wall Street broker accused of murdering his mentor uses the defense of "black rage" in court.
#8 - Cost of Capital
Season 16 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/8/2006
The case against a high powered executive accused of killing her lover rests on the executive's estranged husband and unstable teenage daughter.
#9 - Harm
Season 9 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/3/1999
Briscoe and Curtis investigate a possible homicide while probing the assault of a retired divorce attorney.
#10 - No Good Deed
Season 23 - Episode 12 - Aired 5/9/2024
Shaw and Riley investigate the death of a therapist with a long list of troubled clients. Baxter takes over Price's chair when a disturbing connection to the defendant is discovered.
#12 - Appraisal
Season 22 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/11/2023
Cosgrove and Shaw suspect an art dealer was murdered but can't make an arrest until they locate her body. Price and Maroun must go to trial with a circumstantial case and a suspect with unlimited resources. The squad celebrates a birthday.
#13 - Caviar Emptor
Season 14 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/12/2004
When a caviar importer is murdered the day after his wedding to a much-younger woman, the large pool of suspects includes his new wife, his children, and his chief competitor, each of whom has a compelling motive for committing the crime.
#14 - C.O.D.
Season 14 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/19/2004
Briscoe bids farewell to the 27 as the prosecution of two women for killing each other's husbands comes to a successful conclusion.
#15 - Last Dance
Season 23 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/22/2024
When a woman is found murdered in Central Park, evidence points to two frequent park-goers: a street vendor and a tech billionaire. In the face of extreme political pressure, McCoy takes drastic action to make the case.
#16 - Old Friends
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/25/1994
A truck hits a pedestrian and the investigation reveals the victim's link to a baby-food company in which a new partner has connections to the Russian mob.
#17 - Chosen
Season 13 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/15/2003
The murder of a bookie with a high-class clientelle leads the detectives to arrest his partner. Charged with first-degree murder, his attorney puts forth an unusual defense strategy that turns the trial into a political statement.
#18 - Couples
Season 13 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/21/2003
Briscoe and Green catch four murders and a kidnapping on the same day, and get handed confessions in each case.
#19 - Born Again
Season 12 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/6/2002
The investigation into the death of an 11-year-old girl uncovers the possible culpability of the child's mother and a rebirthing therapist.
#20 - Heart of Darkness
Season 16 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/18/2006
A journalist's suicide becomes suspect after Green and Fontana find evidence at the scene suggesting that it wasn't a suicide after all.
#21 - Shangri-La
Season 13 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/9/2002
The murder of a female high school English teacher uncovers a love triangle that includes a female student and a male teacher, both of whom become suspects. The prosecutors have to deal with the student's multiple identities and refusal to live past adolescence.
#22 - Damaged
Season 8 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/6/1998
The case of a teacher's shooting uncovers a vendetta involving the rape of a mentally challenged coed by three students, whose attorney claims they weren't aware of her condition.
#23 - Acid
Season 16 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/30/2005
After the daughter of one of Van Buren's college friends is found dead in her room, a suicide, Van Buren joins Green and Fontana in hunting down the man who burned her face with acid months earlier, ultimately leading to her suicide. Van Buren is unsucces
#24 - Remains of the Day
Season 17 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/5/2007
After Michael Jones dies in his mother's hospital room with no immediate explanation, his mother Ashley accuses her former husband's adult children, Miles and Hillary Foster, who are fighting her for control of their father's substantial fortune. The autopsy rules out the Fosters, and points Green and Cassady in the direction of illegally harvested donor bones, which Jones had received in a transplant eighteen months prior. McCoy and Rubirosa struggle to prosecute the case after it becomes clear the only way they will get the evidence they need is to test another young man who received bone grafts from the same woman who had given Michael Jones his legs.
#25 - Seed
Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/15/1995
A routine investigation into a woman's death leads Briscoe and Logan to a fertility doctor guilty of unethical practices, but who cannot apparently be touched because of confidentiality rules, and patient reluctance to talk.