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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!

Binge this in 17h 56m•Peaking at 9.0/10

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 of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 1 - Tragedy
    8.0/10(921 votes)

    #1 - 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.

    Director:David Platt
    Writer:Amanda Green

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  2. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 2 - Manic
    7.9/10(1143 votes)

    #2 - 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.

    Director:Guy Norman Bee
    Writer:Patrick Harbinson

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  3. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 3 - Mother
    8.1/10(1139 votes)

    #3 - 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.

    Director:Ted Kotcheff
    Writers:Dawn DeNoon, Lisa Marie Petersen

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  4. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 4 - Loss
    9.0/10(1503 votes)

    #4 - 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.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 5 - Serendipity
    8.2/10(899 votes)

    #5 - 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.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 6 - Coerced
    8.6/10(1112 votes)

    #6 - 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.

    Director:Jean de Segonzac
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 7 - Choice
    7.5/10(1163 votes)

    #7 - 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.

    Director:David Platt
    Writer:Patrick Harbinson

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  8. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 8 - Abomination
    8.0/10(941 votes)

    #8 - 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.

    Director:Alex Zakrzewski
    Writers:Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters

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  9. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 9 - Control
    8.2/10(1221 votes)

    #9 - 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.

    Director:Ted Kotcheff
    Writer:Neal Baer

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  10. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 10 - Shaken
    8.1/10(944 votes)

    #10 - 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.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Amanda Green

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  11. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 11 - Escape
    8.5/10(1181 votes)

    #11 - 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.

    Director:Jean de Segonzac
    Writer:Barbie Kligman

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  12. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 12 - Brotherhood
    8.1/10(909 votes)

    #12 - 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.

    Director:Jean de Segonzac
    Writer:Jose Molina

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  13. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 13 - Hate
    7.9/10(819 votes)

    #13 - 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.

    Director:David Platt
    Writer:Robert Nathan

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  14. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 14 - Ritual
    8.3/10(1134 votes)

    #14 - 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.

    Director:Ed Bianchi
    Writers:Christos N. Gage, Ruth Fletcher

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  15. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 15 - Families
    8.6/10(1288 votes)

    #15 - 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.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Jonathan Greene

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  16. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 16 - Home
    8.3/10(936 votes)

    #16 - 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.

    Director:Rick Wallace
    Writer:Amanda Green

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  17. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 17 - Mean
    8.6/10(1182 votes)

    #17 - 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.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writers:Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters

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  18. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 18 - Careless
    8.0/10(826 votes)

    #18 - 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.

    Director:Steve Shill
    Writer:Patrick Harbinson

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  19. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 19 - Sick
    8.2/10(1173 votes)

    #19 - 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.

    Director:David Platt
    Writer:Dawn DeNoon

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  20. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 20 - Lowdown
    8.2/10(845 votes)

    #20 - 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.

    Director:Jud Taylor
    Writer:Robert Nathan

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  21. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 21 - Criminal
    8.1/10(826 votes)

    #21 - 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?

    Director:Alex Zakrzewski
    Writer:Jose Molina

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  22. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 22 - Painless
    8.1/10(1109 votes)

    #22 - Painless

    S5:E22

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

    Director:Juan José Campanella
    Writer:Jonathan Greene

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  23. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 23 - Bound
    8.1/10(1040 votes)

    #23 - 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.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Barbie Kligman

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  24. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 24 - Poison
    8.7/10(1021 votes)

    #24 - 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.

    Director:David Platt
    Writers:Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters

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  25. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 5 Episode 25 - Head
    8.0/10(1038 votes)

    #25 - 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.

    Director:Juan José Campanella
    Writers:Dawn DeNoon, Lisa Marie Petersen

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Season 5 Ratings Summary

"Tragedy" is the best rated episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" season 5. It scored 8/10 based on 921 votes. Directed by David Platt and written by Amanda Green, it aired on 9/23/2003. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Manic".