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The Best Episodes of Law & Order Season 5

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

The Best Episodes of Law & Order Season 5

In cases ripped from the headlines, police investigate serious and often deadly crimes, weighing the evidence and questioning the suspects until someone is taken into...
  1. Background image for Second Opinion
    7.8/10(382 votes)

    #1 - Second Opinion

    S5:E1

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

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    Director:Edwin Sherin
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for Coma
    8.0/10(388 votes)

    #2 - Coma

    S5:E2

    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.

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    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Blue Bamboo
    7.4/10(345 votes)

    #3 - Blue Bamboo

    S5:E3

    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.

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  4. Background image for Family Values
    7.5/10(369 votes)

    #4 - Family Values

    S5:E4

    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.

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  5. Background image for White Rabbit
    8.1/10(404 votes)

    #5 - White Rabbit

    S5:E5

    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.

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  6. Background image for Competence
    7.9/10(368 votes)

    #6 - Competence

    S5:E6

    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.

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    Director:Fred Gerber
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  8. Background image for Precious
    7.6/10(341 votes)

    #7 - Precious

    S5:E7

    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.

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  9. Background image for Virtue
    7.7/10(359 votes)

    #8 - Virtue

    S5:E8

    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.

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  10. Background image for Scoundrels
    7.4/10(323 votes)

    #9 - Scoundrels

    S5:E9

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for House Counsel
    8.1/10(373 votes)

    #10 - House Counsel

    S5:E10

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Guardian
    7.4/10(327 votes)

    #11 - Guardian

    S5:E11

    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.

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  13. Background image for Progeny
    7.8/10(337 votes)

    #12 - Progeny

    S5:E12

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

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  14. Background image for Rage
    8.0/10(377 votes)

    #13 - Rage

    S5:E13

    A Wall Street broker accused of murdering his mentor uses the defense of ""black rage"" in court.

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    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for Performance
    7.8/10(360 votes)

    #14 - Performance

    S5:E14

    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.

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    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Seed
    7.6/10(492 votes)

    #15 - Seed

    S5:E15

    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.

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    Director:Don Scardino
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Wannabe
    7.4/10(328 votes)

    #16 - Wannabe

    S5:E16

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

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Act of God
    7.6/10(323 votes)

    #17 - Act of God

    S5:E17

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

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  19. Background image for Privileged
    7.7/10(313 votes)

    #18 - Privileged

    S5:E18

    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.

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    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Cruel and Unusual
    8.1/10(335 votes)

    #19 - Cruel and Unusual

    S5:E19

    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.

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    Director:Matthew Penn
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Bad Faith
    8.2/10(336 votes)

    #20 - Bad Faith

    S5:E20

    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.

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    Director:Dann Florek
  22. Background image for Purple Heart
    7.6/10(319 votes)

    #21 - Purple Heart

    S5:E21

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

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  23. Background image for Switch
    7.8/10(342 votes)

    #22 - Switch

    S5:E22

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

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  24. Background image for Pride
    7.7/10(353 votes)

    #23 - Pride

    S5:E23

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

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    Director:Edwin Sherin
    Writer:Unknown

Season 5 Ratings Summary

"Second Opinion" is the best rated episode of "Law & Order" season 5. It scored 7.8/10 based on 382 votes. Directed by Edwin Sherin and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/21/1994. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "Coma".