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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!

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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 5 Episode 1 - Second Opinion
    7.8/10(405 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.

    Director:Edwin Sherin
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 2 - Coma
    8.1/10(408 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.

    Director:Jace Alexander
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 3 - Blue Bamboo
    7.4/10(362 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.

    Directors:Don Scardino, René Balcer
    Writers:Morgan Gendel, René Balcer

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  4. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 4 - Family Values
    7.5/10(391 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.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 5 - White Rabbit
    8.2/10(425 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.

    Director:Steven Robman
    Writer:Morgan Gendel

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  6. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 6 - Competence
    8.0/10(387 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.

    Director:Fred Gerber
    Writer:Mark B. Perry

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  7. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 7 - Precious
    7.6/10(357 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.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 8 - Virtue
    7.7/10(383 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.

    Director:Martha Mitchell
    Writer:Mark B. Perry

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  9. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 9 - Scoundrels
    7.4/10(344 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 10 - House Counsel
    8.1/10(401 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 11 - Guardian
    7.3/10(350 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.

    Director:Christopher Misiano
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 12 - Progeny
    7.8/10(360 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.

    Director:Don Scardino
    Writer:Morgan Gendel

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  13. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 13 - Rage
    8.0/10(404 votes)

    #13 - Rage

    S5:E13

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

    Director:Arthur W. Forney
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 14 - Performance
    7.8/10(390 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.

    Director:Martha Mitchell
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 15 - Seed
    7.6/10(520 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.

    Director:Don Scardino
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 16 - Wannabe
    7.4/10(353 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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 17 - Act of God
    7.6/10(346 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.

    Director:Constantine Makris
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 18 - Privileged
    7.7/10(334 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.

    Director:Vincent Misiano
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 19 - Cruel and Unusual
    8.1/10(360 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.

    Director:Matthew Penn
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 20 - Bad Faith
    8.2/10(363 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.

    Director:Dann Florek
    Writer:René Balcer

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  21. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 21 - Purple Heart
    7.6/10(335 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.

    Director:Arthur W. Forney
    Writer:Morgan Gendel

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  22. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 22 - Switch
    7.9/10(363 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.

    Director:Christopher Misiano
    Writers:Jeremy R. Littman, Sibyl Gardner

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  23. Law & Order Season 5 Episode 23 - Pride
    7.6/10(374 votes)

    #23 - Pride

    S5:E23

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

    Director:Edwin Sherin
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 5 Ratings Summary

"Second Opinion" is the best rated episode of "Law & Order" season 5. It scored 7.8/10 based on 405 votes. Directed by Edwin Sherin and written by Unknown, it aired on 9/21/1994. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Coma".