The BEST episodes of Law & Order season 7

Every episode of Law & Order season 7, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Law & Order season 7!

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: 10/8/2024Network: NBCStatus: Continuing
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Double Blind
star
7.78
149 votes

#1 - Double Blind

Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/6/1996

The murder of a janitor in a university laboratory building leads back to a student employee whose participation in a drug study may have prompted the crime.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Showtime
star
7.73
171 votes

#2 - Showtime

Season 7 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/27/1997

The trial of Eddie Newman begins but the prosecution's chances of conviction are hampered by a "dream team" of defense attorneys, Gorton's personal pressures on Ross, the public questioning of the relationship between Curtis and Lisa Lundquist, and a surpise accusation.

Directors: Ed Sherin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Terminal
star
7.72
167 votes

#3 - Terminal

Season 7 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/21/1997

The cops uncover a man with a secret second life as they try to learn who opened fire on a group of people disembarking from a party cruise, but his guilt or innocence becomes almost a second thought as Schiff goes toe to toe with the governor and the States Attorney General over the decision to seek the death penalty.

Watch Now:Amazon
Working Mom
star
7.61
142 votes

#4 - Working Mom

Season 7 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/26/1997

The murder of an ex-cop with a penchant for blackmail and illicit sex brings feminist lawyer Lanie Stieglitz into court against McCoy to defend a suburban wife and mother.

Directors: Jace Alexander
Watch Now:Apple TV
Menace
star
7.61
167 votes

#5 - Menace

Season 7 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/5/1997

The detectives face a difficult struggle getting witnesses to a girl's apparent suicide to come forward while Ross tries to prove that a known bully is the one really responsible for her actions.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Corruption
star
7.59
179 votes

#6 - Corruption

Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/30/1996

Curtis, angered by the attitude of an old colleague of Briscoe's, looks beyond the findings of an IAB investigation and turns up evidence of police corruption that puts the DA's office into competition with an ambitious judge and Briscoe under investigation for stealing evidence from a police lockup.

Directors: Matthew Penn
Watch Now:Apple TV
Legacy
star
7.57
141 votes

#7 - Legacy

Season 7 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/15/1997

The sidewalk shooting of a young husband uncovers the fact that his wife's first husband died in a inadequately investigated accident, and that they may have been having an affair before it happened.

Directors: Brian Mertes
Watch Now:Apple TV
Deadbeat
star
7.55
139 votes

#8 - Deadbeat

Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/13/1996

The murder of a deadbeat father whose son is dying of leukemia presents McCoy and Ross with a sympathetic suspect and a moral dilemma.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Mad Dog
star
7.51
173 votes

#9 - Mad Dog

Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/2/1997

McCoy becomes obsessed with nailing a serial rapist recently released on parole and pushes the cops perilously close to harassment as he attempts to connect the man with a new rape and murder matching his previous M.O.

Writer: René Balcer
Watch Now:Apple TV
Barter
star
7.51
178 votes

#10 - Barter

Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/12/1997

An unpromising case of murder suddenly develops new leads when the cops explore the possibility that the victim was mistaken for someone else. McCoy walks a thin line in the matter of ethical conduct as he tries to make a case against a lendor who uses unscrupulous methods to collect the money owed to him.

Directors: Dan Karlok
Watch Now:Apple TV
Matrimony
star
7.50
198 votes

#11 - Matrimony

Season 7 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/19/1997

The discovery of a would-be thief refocuses a murder investigation, leaving the prosecutors the task of making a conspiracy case against the deceased's attorney and the pretty young widow.

Directors: Lewis H. Gould
Watch Now:Apple TV
Double Down
star
7.49
207 votes

#12 - Double Down

Season 7 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/16/1997

The cops' best hope of finding a kidnapped hired car driver alive is one of the armed robbers who grabbed him after a job, but the immunity deal he demands in return would effectively preclude his prosecution for the shooting death of an off-duty cop, placing McCoy in a difficult position as he seeks to placate the cops, who want the guy prosecuted, and the kidnapped man's wife, who wants every avenue of saving her husband explored.

Directors: Arthur W. Forney
Watch Now:Apple TV
We Like Mike
star
7.48
198 votes

#13 - We Like Mike

Season 7 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/30/1997

A young man who claims to have helped a murdered young man change a flat tire is first the cops' primary suspect, then the prosecutors' chief witness.

Directors: David Platt
Watch Now:Apple TV
Turnaround
star
7.45
166 votes

#14 - Turnaround

Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/20/1997

Back in New York with their suspect, Briscoe and Curtis try to pin down his schedule on the night of the murder, but find instead that another man was in the area at the right time and more importantly, might have a motive for the crime. But after the issuance of a new arrest warrant, McCoy and Ross have to fly to LA to defend their warrant against attacks by the man's defense counsel, Ross's former husband Neal Gorton.

Directors: Ed Sherin
Watch Now:Apple TV
I.D.
star
7.45
203 votes

#15 - I.D.

Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/25/1996

The cops tackle identifying a corpse left in an elevator, and McCoy finds his prosecution of the suspect later hampered by a vindictive judge who resents Ross's in-court rebuke for sexual harassment.

Writer: Ed Zuckerman
Watch Now:Apple TV
Causa Mortis
star
7.42
252 votes

#16 - Causa Mortis

Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1996

McCoy's new second chair, ADA Jamie Ross, is determined to prosecute as harshly as possible a carjacker who took the life of a teacher as she pleaded for her life on an audio tape discovered at the crime scene.

Directors: Ed Sherin
Writer: René Balcer
Watch Now:Apple TV
D-Girl
star
7.41
179 votes

#17 - D-Girl

Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired 3/13/1997

A headless corpse fished out of the river sends Briscoe and Curtis out to Los Angeles to obtain a blood sample from their chief suspect while McCoy and Ross back in New York try to obtain a court order for the procedure.

Directors: Ed Sherin
Watch Now:Apple TV
Past Imperfect
star
7.41
187 votes

#18 - Past Imperfect

Season 7 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/14/1997

The cops have a definite clue when a bloodstain that's not the same as the victim reveals that the killer was a blood relative, and the prosecutors stumble when their chief suspect claims their chief witness is her lawyer, and his knowledge of the crime represents privileged communications.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Survivor
star
7.41
182 votes

#19 - Survivor

Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/23/1996

Briscoe and Curtis's investigation of the murder of a rare coin dealer nets them a millionaire as a suspect, but Ross has to play detective too as the DA's office tries to establish a provenance for the missing coin collection.

Directors: Vincent Misiano
Watch Now:Apple TV
Good Girl
star
7.38
193 votes

#20 - Good Girl

Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/7/1996

Briscoe and Curtis have to break the mutual alibi of two girlfriends as they try to find the killer of a young black man, whose angry parents pressure McCoy to indict a young woman who claims the victim had raped her.

Directors: Jace Alexander
Watch Now:Apple TV
Family Business
star
7.34
168 votes

#21 - Family Business

Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/20/1996

The murder of Richard Speigel, chief financial officer for an exclusive, family-owned department store goes from the sitting room to the bedroom and into the board room as suspicion shifts from co-workers to family members.

Directors: Lewis H. Gould
Watch Now:Apple TV
Passion
star
7.32
162 votes

#22 - Passion

Season 7 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/7/1997

Briscoe and Curtis investigate the death of a pretty young book editor who was reputedly having an affair with one of her authors, and find themselves focusing on the author's long time companion, who steadfastly denies there was anything wrong with their relationship.

Watch Now:Apple TV
Entrapment
star
7.24
189 votes

#23 - Entrapment

Season 7 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/8/1997

The case against Huey Tate, a young man accused of shooting the well-known leader of the African-American Congress comes undone when the New York authorities learn that their chief witness was once an informant for the FBI, and is still under their protection.

Directors: Matthew Penn
Watch Now:Apple TV