The BEST episodes of Law & Order season 5

Every episode of Law & Order season 5, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Law & Order season 5!

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.

Last Updated: 11/17/2024Network: NBCStatus: Continuing
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Rage
star
7.84
229 votes

#1 - 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.

Directors: Arthur W. Forney
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Seed
star
7.76
211 votes

#2 - 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.

Directors: Don Scardino
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Guardian
star
7.73
244 votes

#3 - Guardian

Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/11/1995

After the body of a young female junkie is identified as the daughter of a wealthy family, Briscoe and Logan try to find out who left her to die in the yard of a day-care center.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Progeny
star
7.66
203 votes

#4 - Progeny

Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/25/1995

The investigation into the killing of an abortion clinic doctor leads to an activist group led by a former priest.

Directors: Don Scardino
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
House Counsel
star
7.64
223 votes

#5 - House Counsel

Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/4/1995

The killing of a man who had served as a juror in a mob trial leads to a battle of wills between McCoy and his long-time friend, the suspect's attorney.

Directors: James Quinn
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Bad Faith
star
7.63
166 votes

#6 - Bad Faith

Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/26/1995

Logan relives unhappy childhood memories when a friend is found dead, a presumed suicide, until the investigation reveals recent contact with a former priest, with a history of pedophilia.

Directors: Dann Florek
Writer: René Balcer
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
White Rabbit
star
7.63
161 votes

#7 - White Rabbit

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/19/1994

A routine investigation uncovers evidence that leads Briscoe and Logan to a long-time fugitive, a radical Vietnam War opponent on the run since a 1971 burglary that left a policeman dead.

Directors: Steve Robman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Competence
star
7.62
210 votes

#8 - Competence

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/2/1994

When Lt. Van Buren is the victim of an attempted holdup by two teens, she fires her gun and kills one of them, and the detectives are faced with the fact that she shot an unarmed child in the back.

Directors: Fred Gerber
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Privileged
star
7.62
194 votes

#9 - Privileged

Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/5/1995

The investigation into a double murder leads to a young alcoholic whose family once lived in the victims' house and who had admitted to his AA group that he's had nightmares about killings.

Directors: Vincent Misiano
Watch Now:Apple TV
Cruel and Unusual
star
7.58
224 votes

#10 - Cruel and Unusual

Season 5 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/19/1995

The death of an autistic youth in custody reveals a multitude of unusual and possibly illegal therapies being used, but also parents reluctant to pursue a prosecution.

Directors: Matthew Penn
Watch Now:Apple TV
Pride
star
7.54
199 votes

#11 - Pride

Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/24/1995

A gay city councilman is murdered and the trail leads to a bigoted rival politician and a male prostitute.

Directors: Ed Sherin
Watch Now:Apple TV
Act of God
star
7.53
201 votes

#12 - Act of God

Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/22/1995

A bomb at a construction site kills a 12-year-old boy, and the suspects include the bankrupt contractor and a jealous husband.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Precious
star
7.51
209 votes

#13 - Precious

Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1994

When Briscoe and Logan suspect that a missing infant may have been murdered by her parents rather than kidnapped, they uncover a terrible family secret which hides a mentally ill serial killer.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Second Opinion
star
7.50
223 votes

#14 - Second Opinion

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/21/1994

A woman's death exposes an unorthodox method of treating cancer that Executive Assistant DA McCoy intends to prove is negligent homicide.

Directors: Ed Sherin
Watch Now:Apple TV
Purple Heart
star
7.49
176 votes

#15 - Purple Heart

Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/3/1995

The investigation into a taxi driver's murder involves a loan shark, a forged check, a missing plumber and the victim's wife.

Directors: Arthur W. Forney
Watch Now:Apple TV
Coma
star
7.47
264 votes

#16 - Coma

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/28/1994

A comedy-club owner comes under suspicion for having shot his wife, now comatose with a bullet in her head, after it's discovered he was abusive and she was about to divorce him.

Directors: Jace Alexander
Writer: Ed Zuckerman
Watch Now:Apple TV
Wannabe
star
7.45
227 votes

#17 - Wannabe

Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/15/1995

The shooting of a board member of an exclusive private school leads to a blue-collar family and a classist system.

Directors: Lewis H. Gould
Watch Now:Apple TV
Virtue
star
7.45
203 votes

#18 - Virtue

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/23/1994

McCoy uses a charge of "larceny by extortion" against a councilman, whose former colleague claims he demanded sex in exchange for a law-firm partnership.

Directors: Martha Mitchell
Watch Now:Apple TV
Switch
star
7.43
224 votes

#19 - Switch

Season 5 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/17/1995

Suspects in a psychiatrist's murder include the victim's ex-husband, a patient suffering from multiple-personality disorder and her obstructive father.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Performance
star
7.43
242 votes

#20 - Performance

Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/8/1995

Briscoe and Logan set out to identify the apparent victim in a snuff film, but find her alive and really the victim of a points-for-sex club at her prestigious high school.

Directors: Martha Mitchell
Watch Now:Apple TV
Scoundrels
star
7.40
213 votes

#21 - Scoundrels

Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/30/1994

Among the suspects in a lawyer's murder are a swindler, who conned a woman out of her family fortune, and the woman's once-wealthy son.

Directors: Marc Laub
Watch Now:Apple TV
Family Values
star
7.30
181 votes

#22 - Family Values

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/12/1994

After it's determined that a wealthy woman did not commit suicide but was murdered, the detectives question both her first and second husbands and her teenage daughter.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Blue Bamboo
star
7.30
204 votes

#23 - Blue Bamboo

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/5/1994

The killing of a Japanese nightclub owner who was visiting New York leads to the arrest of a singer who once worked for the deceased, and whose lawyer uses the "battered-woman syndrome" as a defense.

Directors: Don Scardino
Watch Now:Apple TV