Couples

A runner was jogging on a park early in the morning. He suffered from a heart attack and he died shortly after. That's the beginning of four different stories:

1-A woman was shot dead near the jogger; she was a laborer who changed her name after running away from her former husband (Otto Sanchez); he had already spent ten years of jail time for her murder, so a double jeopardy could come up;

2-On their round Briscoe and Green noticed a crazy woman run over her cheating husband much to the mistress despair; in the questioning room, the perp quoted Schopenauer before Green;

3-At a gas station toilet, the detectives look a message in the mirror wrote by a kidnapped girl; she is eight months pregnant and her husband is the prime suspect.

4-Forensic chef figures out the runner was poisoned before the jogging by pure nicotine; he's gay and his lover may know something.

An unusual episode, a common day work for Briscoe and Green; lawyers made only a brief appearance, so it looks almost entirely a police drama. Now I understand why they don't have time to raise a family.

This is the Best episode of Law and Order ever. I've seen it at least five times and I still love it. Great stories and Briscoe and Green make it my favorite!

This is one of the best L&O episodes in the entire series!!! It deviates from the usual format and focuses on several cases at once. We can easily be lulled into thinking the police and attorneys work on only one case at a time, because every television show works that way. But in reality, they have several open cases at a time. L&O decides to show how cops work multiple cases, but in this case they do so all in one day. It is both serious and humorous, everyone gives A+ performances, and brilliantly execute a wonderfully written episode. If you havent seen it before, put it on your watchlist. It will become an instant favorite, I guarantee it. And by the end you'll be just as exhausted as the police, and nodding your head in total agreement with Briscoe's one-liner that ends the episode.

Season 13's penultimate episode "Couples" left a major impression on me on my first watch of it. Just loved its complex case, its uniqueness (in that it is police procedural heavy rather than one half investigating and the other legal) and its surprisingly twisted atmosphere. Reading the basic plot summary here, it does sound like a strange episode but it didn't feel like a strange episode to me on first watch. Have seen some strange episodes of other shows recently, and "Couples" is a long way from that.

On re-watch, "Couples" was every bit as brilliant as remembered and actually even better. It is without question one of the best episodes of Season 13, in fact if there is a contender for the best of the season "Couples" would be an extremely worthy winner. Everything that was so good about it on first watch still came over as more than good and even brilliantly, more so this time in my view.

As usual for 'Law and Order', the production values are solid and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting. The direction is sympathetic enough without being leaden.

The script in "Couples" is gritty and tight, as well as entertaining. Anybody that loves Briscoe's one liners and Jerry Orbach's sassy delivery of them will be in absolute heaven, this episode is a real showcase for them. Loved the story, it is very different in structure to the usual 'Law and Order' structure and it was great to see the police shine the most they did all season. Don't get me wrong, the policing always intrigued while also not being as inspired, but here the teamwork and how they go about getting the truth engrossed from the get go and never stopped. Briscoe and Green's interactions are a joy.

It has also got a good deal of suspense and the case is complex and has a lot going on without being crowded or incoherent. The murders are also surprisingly twisted, especially the brutal one with the car. The performances are very good to brilliant all round, Orbach and a chillingly unhinged Judith Blazer coming off best. Orbach's chemistry with the also great Jesse L Martin does not disappoint.

Concluding, brilliant penultimate instalment. 10/10.

This is, without doubt, my favorite Law & Order episode.

First, it's unique, in that instead of the usual 1/2 cop and 1/2 lawyer format, the cop side dominates. I guess half the cast wanted some time off. The lawyer side probably did all their work in one day, instead of the usual 5-6 days.

Second, because of it's unique format, it surprises you, and keep you on the edge of your seat, waiting to see the lawyer side of the show. But when they show up, even the legal question is really unique.

Third, while some the of the murders are simple to solve (very unusual for L&O), some are twisted, really twisted.

Lastly, it shows that 'one of those days' happens to cops as well as to the rest of us working schmucks.

The below is not a spoiler, just funny: Last lines in the show:

Detective Green: "We got a jumper."

Detective Briscoe: "I may join him."