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The Best Episodes of Law & Order Season 8

Every episode of Law & Order Season 8 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Law & Order Season 8!

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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 custody. The district attorney's office then builds a case to

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Law & Order Season 8 Episode 1 - Thrill
    7.4/10(8 votes)

    #1 - Thrill

    S8:E1

    The cops break the seemingly random murder of a pizza delivery guy with a little ""undercover"" work in the park, but McCoy and Ross face a harder battle to get a conviction when the two defendants resolutely point the finger at each other, and the one item identifying the actual killer is the recording of a confession-made to a priest.

    Director:Martha Mitchell
    Writer:René Balcer

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  2. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 2 - Denial
    5.9/10(9 votes)

    #2 - Denial

    S8:E2

    Bloody sheets and an apparently stolen credit card lead Briscoe and Curtis to a pair of college age lovers who present McCoy and Ross with a united front of denial that one of them killed their newborn son and disposed of the body.

    Directors:Christopher Misiano, David Shore
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 3 - Navy Blues
    6.5/10(11 votes)

    #3 - Navy Blues

    S8:E3

    McCoy finds himself battling the Navy and the office of the Judge Advocate General as he tries to prosecute a female pilot accused of murdering her married lover after he tried to break off with her.

    Director:Jace Alexander
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 4 - Harvest
    7.9/10(9 votes)

    #4 - Harvest

    S8:E4

    A discrepancy concerning the time of death of a drive-by shooting victim leads McCoy and Ross to initiate prosecutions against both the shooter and the doctor who harvested her organs as transplant donations.

    Director:Matthew Penn
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 5 - Nullification
    7.9/10(9 votes)

    #5 - Nullification

    S8:E5

    After the cops trace an eagle tattoo on a man shot and killed while holding up an armored truck to a group of militia members, McCoy finds himself facing one of their number as the pro se counsel for his friends, arguing for the concept of "jury nullification", the right of a jury to protect a defendant from an unjust law by finding him not guilty despite the evidence.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:David Black

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  6. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 6 - Baby, It's You (I)
    7.8/10(9 votes)

    #6 - Baby, It's You (I)

    S8:E6

    It's old home week for Briscoe when an apparent murder of a teenage model in New York develops ties to Baltimore and Detectives Munch and Falsone pay a visit to the Big Apple to observe the case. Meanwhile, McCoy finds himself battling the attorney of the victim's parents for access to his clients and the Baltimore DA for jurisdiction. This crossover continues on Homicide: Life on the Street S06E05 Baby, It's You (II).

    Director:Edwin Sherin
    Writer:Jorge Zamacona

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  7. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 7 - Blood
    7.9/10(9 votes)

    #7 - Blood

    S8:E7

    The paternity of a black baby given up for adoption by a white mother might provide a clue to her murderer but it also unearths some long buried family secrets.

    Director:Jace Alexander
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 8 - Shadow
    7.6/10(8 votes)

    #8 - Shadow

    S8:E8

    The murder of a bail bondsman looks fairly routine until the chance words of the chief suspect uncovers possible case-fixing between a shady lawyer and an unknown contact within the judicial system.

    Director:Matthew Penn
    Writer:Richard Sweren

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  9. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 9 - Burned
    7.3/10(9 votes)

    #9 - Burned

    S8:E9

    A message overheard on an answering machine leads Briscoe and Curtis to a confessed murderer and the home of wealthy Carl Anderton, whose stubborn non-cooperation with the district attorney threatens to create a serious miscarriage of justice.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Siobhan Byrne O'Connor

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  10. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 10 - Ritual
    7.8/10(8 votes)

    #10 - Ritual

    S8:E10

    The investigation into the death of a man who initially appears to be the victim of a mugging victim reveals him to be a Middle Eastern physician who performs genital mutilations on young girls.

    Director:Brian Mertes
    Writers:Kathy McCormick, Richard Sweren

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  11. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 11 - Under the Influence
    7.9/10(8 votes)

    #11 - Under the Influence

    S8:E11

    After Briscoe and Curtis finally determine who was driving the car that killed three people, the legal prosecution stands in danger of becoming a kangaroo court when McCoy's feelings over Kincaid mesh with the political agenda of an ambitious judge anxious to make an example of the defendant.

    Director:Adam Davidson
    Writer:René Balcer

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  12. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 12 - Expert
    7.2/10(8 votes)

    #12 - Expert

    S8:E12

    The shooting of two people in a restaurant restroom takes some abrupt turns as they try to discover who exactly the intended victim was, and the prosecutors have to deal with a defendant claiming to have been in a dissociative state while committing the crime-- the same defense used years before by the defendant's father.

    Director:Lewis Gould
    Writers:David Shore, I.C. Rapoport

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  13. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 13 - Castoff
    5.7/10(10 votes)

    #13 - Castoff

    S8:E13

    The street murder of a woman who worked with underprivileged kids takes a turn towards the bizarre when the detectives uncover she had a predilection for kinky sex, and that one of her current partners appears to be a serial killer, who offers an overexposure to television violence as his defense during his trial.

    Director:Gloria Muzio
    Writers:David Black, Harold Schechter

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  14. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 14 - Grief
    7.4/10(8 votes)

    #14 - Grief

    S8:E14

    The cops, as they try to pin down the specifics of an assault on a man reluctant to talk about it, uncover the alleged rape of two women in custodial care. But as the prosecutors attempt to prepare their case, a reluctant witness changes their view of the cases.

    Director:Christopher Misiano
    Writer:Suzanne Oshry

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  15. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 15 - Faccia a Faccia
    7.4/10(8 votes)

    #15 - Faccia a Faccia

    S8:E15

    Taking on an apparent mafia murder, Detectives Briscoe and Curtis are stymied by a dead witness and a seemingly incoherent mob boss.

    Director:Martha Mitchell
    Writers:René Balcer, Eddie Feldmann

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  16. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 16 - Divorce
    7.6/10(7 votes)

    #16 - Divorce

    S8:E16

    The stabbing death of a psychologist draws Detectives Briscoe and Curtis into a heated divorce case and pits McCoy and Ross against a manipulative attorney.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Barry M. Schkolnick

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  17. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 17 - Carrier
    7.4/10(9 votes)

    #17 - Carrier

    S8:E17

    The death of a college student leads to a case involving an HIV-positive male who's seeking to infect as many young women as possible. McCoy, testing right-to-privacy ethics, wants to charge him with murder.

    Director:J. Ranelli
    Writers:David Black, J. Ranelli

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  18. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 18 - Stalker
    7.9/10(8 votes)

    #18 - Stalker

    S8:E18

    When a woman is found unconscious at the bottom of her apartment stairs, Briscoe and Curtis must figure out what happened -- before it's too late. In order to make his case, McCoy pits the two detectives against each other in the courtroom.

    Director:Richard Dobbs
    Writer:Kathy McCormick

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  19. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 19 - Disappeared
    7.4/10(8 votes)

    #19 - Disappeared

    S8:E19

    A defendant refuses to allow his lawyer to raise the issue of insanity, this complicating matters for the brother who turned him in with hopes of securing medical treatment for him.

    Director:David Platt
    Writers:Richard Sweren, William N. Fordes

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  20. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 20 - Burden
    7.2/10(8 votes)

    #20 - Burden

    S8:E20

    After a 12-year-old quadriplegic dies at home in his bed, paramedics claim that he was suffocated and the suspects include the boy's parents and sister.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writers:David Shore, I.C. Rapoport

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  21. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 21 - Bad Girl
    7.7/10(10 votes)

    #21 - Bad Girl

    S8:E21

    Schiff's re-election may hinge on the stabbing death of a police officer; Briscoe's daughter is arrested for dealing drugs.

    Director:Jace Alexander
    Writers:René Balcer, Richard Sweren

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  22. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 22 - Damaged
    8.2/10(9 votes)

    #22 - Damaged

    S8:E22

    The case of a teacher's shooting uncovers a vendetta involving the rape of a mentally challenged coed by three students, whose attorney claims they weren't aware of her condition.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Janis Diamond

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  23. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 23 - Tabloid
    7.4/10(8 votes)

    #23 - Tabloid

    S8:E23

    Tabloid journalism comes under scrutiny during the investigations into the deaths of a gossip columnist and a celebrity target he pursued.

    Director:Brian Mertes
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Law & Order Season 8 Episode 24 - Monster
    7.9/10(9 votes)

    #24 - Monster

    S8:E24

    During the search for a pedophile who raped a 10-year-old, a snitch offers Briscoe a chance to avenge his daughter's death. Meanwhile, Van Buren learns that her job is in jeopardy; McCoy is ordered to appear before a disciplinary committee because of his conduct in a DUI case; and the increasingly political Schiff worries that the rape case may adversely impact his reelection bid.

    Director:Edwin Sherin
    Writers:René Balcer, Richard Sweren

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Season 8 Ratings Summary

"Thrill" is the best rated episode of "Law & Order" season 8. It scored 7.4/10 based on 8 votes. Directed by Martha Mitchell and written by René Balcer, it aired on 9/24/1997. This episode is rated 1.5 points higher than the second-best, "Denial".