This episode is a great reward to any fan who has watched the show since Season 3. It is completely different than any other episode in many ways - and winds up being the best. It really is the apex of the show; the series never gets better than this season and this one episode.
The show usually follows the formula of a crime committed, catching the criminal and then prosecution of the criminal. We rarely see even a glimpse of the lead characters' lives.
But instead, this episode has no crime. Rather, it gives us a detailed and insightful look into the lives of each of the four leads.
In the story, the prosecutors and detectives attend the execution of a criminal they have convicted. Seeing it does not sit well with any of the four.
The remainder of the show details both how they deal with their feelings, most of them acting out in ways antithetical to their usual strengths. One character does not act out, but sticking to the lens of life proscribed in "Law & Order," this character is not rewarded - far from it.
The show usually follows the formula of a crime committed, catching the criminal and then prosecution of the criminal. We rarely see even a glimpse of the lead characters' lives.
But instead, this episode has no crime. Rather, it gives us a detailed and insightful look into the lives of each of the four leads.
In the story, the prosecutors and detectives attend the execution of a criminal they have convicted. Seeing it does not sit well with any of the four.
The remainder of the show details both how they deal with their feelings, most of them acting out in ways antithetical to their usual strengths. One character does not act out, but sticking to the lens of life proscribed in "Law & Order," this character is not rewarded - far from it.