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The Best Episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5

Every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5!

The Best Episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5

In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members...
  1. Background image for Loss
    9.0/10(1.4k votes)

    #1 - Loss

    S5:E4

    A female undercover agent for the DEA is raped and murdered, leading to a complicated investigation and the arrest of a suspect highly connected with a Colombian drug cartel. This is the toughest case of Cabot's career as she is faced with death threats on herself and her family along with pressure to yield the case to federal authorities.

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    Writer:N/A
  2. Background image for Mean
    8.7/10(1.1k votes)

    #2 - Mean

    S5:E17

    The conviction of a group of sociopathic high school bullies who turned on one of their own escalates into even more violence and death in their exclusive private school.

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    Writer:N/A
  3. Background image for Poison
    8.7/10(980 votes)

    #3 - Poison

    S5:E24

    A young girl is in a coma after ingesting detergent and her mother is suspected of poisoning her. A biased judge makes the case hard to prosecute which leads to an investigation into his past.

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  4. Background image for Coerced
    8.6/10(1.1k votes)

    #4 - Coerced

    S5:E6

    A schizophrenic homeless man kidnaps a boy he thinks is his son, murdering a man in the process. In resolving the case, with Dr. Huang's help, a private mental health facility is brought into question.

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    Writer:N/A
  5. Background image for Families
    8.6/10(1.2k votes)

    #5 - Families

    S5:E15

    The investigation into the death of a pregnant high school student exposes a long-held family secret, which precipitates yet another violent death and eventually the destruction of two families.

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    Writer:N/A
  6. Background image for Escape
    8.5/10(1.1k votes)

    #6 - Escape

    S5:E11

    When a convicted pedophile, desperate to prove his innocence before his terminally ill mother dies, escapes from a Virginia Correctional Facility and kidnaps his accuser to force him to recant his story, a Deputy Marshall teams up with Benson to track them down. Benson eventually finds herself in the middle of a hostage situation beginning to believe his story.

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  8. Background image for Ritual
    8.3/10(1.1k votes)

    #7 - Ritual

    S5:E14

    Two garbage collectors discover what they first think is a scene of animal sacrifice but is the body of a young boy who appears to be the victim of a ritualistic killing. The investigation leads to the discovery of international child slavery.

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    Director:Ed Bianchi
    Writer:N/A
  9. Background image for Home
    8.3/10(888 votes)

    #8 - Home

    S5:E16

    A young, emaciated boy is found by neighbors scrounging for food; detectives suspect the boy is a victim of abuse and are reluctant to let him go home.

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    Director:Rick Wallace
  10. Background image for Mother
    8.2/10(1.1k votes)

    #9 - Mother

    S5:E3

    A psychiatrist with unconventional methods is found sexually assaulted, unconscious and near death in a crack house. It's easier said than done to get her to cooperate with the investigation as they are hampered by doctor-patient confidentiality as she may have been attacked by one of her patients.

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    Director:Ted Kotcheff
    Writer:N/A
  11. Background image for Serendipity
    8.2/10(858 votes)

    #10 - Serendipity

    S5:E5

    A newborn baby is found dead in a gutter, sending the detectives on a hunt for the mother. She too turns up murdered, and the clues point to a serial child molester.

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    Writer:N/A
  12. Background image for Control
    8.2/10(1.2k votes)

    #11 - Control

    S5:E9

    A subway commuter is found castrated and bleeding profusely, leading the detectives to discover their "victim" may be the perpetrator in abducting women and forcing them to live in his dungeon for several years as his bride. As the detectives prepare to arrest their victim turned suspect, Benson arrives to find him murdered.

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    Director:Ted Kotcheff
    Writer:Neal Baer
  13. Background image for Sick
    8.2/10(1.1k votes)

    #12 - Sick

    S5:E19

    A wealthy toy mogul is the suspect of the sexual abuse of a child. His prosecution impeded by the child's parents who refuse to produce their child for questioning to avoid losing the millions paid through a non-disclosure agreement, and by the discovery that a second accusation was falsified in an attempt to extort a settlement.

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    Director:David Platt
    Writer:N/A
  14. Background image for Lowdown
    8.2/10(805 votes)

    #13 - Lowdown

    S5:E20

    Detectives try to decipher a motive for the strangulation of a Bronx assistant DA in an area where hookers stroll. When the death of the prosecutor looks staged using information gleaned from a co-worker's caseload, Novak endangers her career to obtain a confession.

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    Director:Jud Taylor
  15. Background image for Shaken
    8.1/10(906 votes)

    #14 - Shaken

    S5:E10

    The discovery of a beaten infant leads detectives on a search for the attacker, who may be a pedophile. When the medical evidence shows the injuries were a result of shaken baby syndrome, their focus shifts to those closest to the child: her mother, the mother's boyfriend and the nannies.

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  16. Background image for Brotherhood
    8.1/10(871 votes)

    #15 - Brotherhood

    S5:E12

    When the body of young man is found in a tank at a wastewater treatment plant, the medical examiner identifies a tattoo that says TE, the symbol for the fraternity Tau Omega. The investigation into the murder and sodomy of this local fraternity pledge master leads the detectives to his pornographic website featuring college girls at a local bar.

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    Writer:N/A
  17. Background image for Criminal
    8.1/10(790 votes)

    #16 - Criminal

    S5:E21

    When it becomes obvious that a forensics expert raped and murdered a student, the investigation focuses on a criminology professor Cragen arrested decades earlier for similar crimes, but is the professor a perpetrator or a victim?

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  18. Background image for Painless
    8.1/10(1.1k votes)

    #17 - Painless

    S5:E22

    A woman claiming to have been the victim of rape commits suicide while she is still in the emergency room.

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  19. Background image for Bound
    8.1/10(1.0k votes)

    #18 - Bound

    S5:E23

    The death of a wealthy senior citizen leads to an investigation that uncovers a serial killer with childhood abandonment issues who targets the elderly.

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  20. Background image for Tragedy
    8.0/10(882 votes)

    #19 - Tragedy

    S5:E1

    A woman with a high-risk pregnancy disappears and her ex-boyfriend, who's the father, and engaged to the boss' daughter, is under suspicion. In a race against time to find her as her delivery date approaches, Benson and Stabler are faced with more than one suspect willing to take the fall for the crime.

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    Director:David Platt
  21. Background image for Manic
    8.0/10(1.1k votes)

    #20 - Manic

    S5:E2

    Detectives enlist Dr. Huang's help as they investigate the deaths of two high-school basketball players gunned down while shooting hoops in the gymnasium and the connection to an illegal marketing campaign by a major pharmaceutical company.

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  22. Background image for Abomination
    8.0/10(903 votes)

    #21 - Abomination

    S5:E8

    Benson and Stabler have trouble identifying a male murder victim in his 20's found in a pile of sheets in the West Village; they later suspect an outspoken minister who was in the process of flooding the victim with hate mail and death threats. When the activist's alibi checks out, the detectives turn their attention to a professor who objects to the victim's thesis on the failure of sexual re-education groups.

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    Writer:N/A
  23. Background image for Careless
    8.0/10(794 votes)

    #22 - Careless

    S5:E18

    When a young foster child dies due to a religious ritual gone awry, the detectives unravel a mysterious pattern of violence, abuse and murder within one foster care family.

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  24. Background image for Head
    8.0/10(993 votes)

    #23 - Head

    S5:E25

    A boy is accused of being molested after his soccer game, but he doesn't admit to it. His principal and his soccer coach are the prime suspects.

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  25. Background image for Hate
    7.9/10(783 votes)

    #24 - Hate

    S5:E13

    A young Arab woman is brutally raped and burned, and after identifying her, the detectives suspect her husband and mother-in-law. After a man accused of the murders of three Arabs, he claims that he was genetically and biologically predisposed to hatred and violence, but soon they uncover the real impetus to the slayings.

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    Director:David Platt
    Writer:N/A
  26. Background image for Choice
    7.6/10(1.1k votes)

    #25 - Choice

    S5:E7

    While patrolling, police stumble upon an attack in progress at Momma Sue’s restaurant on the pregnant owner. Her husband is arrested and then seeks to have her charged with neglect for drinking during her pregnancy. The detectives discover it's not the first time a child has been exposed to the devastating repercussions of her uncontrolled alcoholism.

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Season 5 Ratings Summary

"Loss" is the best rated episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" season 5. It scored 9/10 based on 1435 votes. Directed by Constantine Makris and written by N/A, it aired on 10/14/2003. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Mean".