Related
Summary
For 20 old age , Sam Waterston ’s portrait of Jack McCoy inLaw & Orderhas been an essential part of the show , and many episodes highlight his acquirement as a performer . Waterston ’s carrying into action helped base the authoritative lawyer archetype check in law-breaking proceduralsto this daytime , and in his best episodes , he is a unwavering defender of the legal philosophy . However , the show is also sure to show the moral ambiguity that can amount from bureaucratic red mag tape and the pressure to get results .
introduce in season 5 , Waterston rapidly developed a report with the other cast membersas if he had been on the show since the starting time . After so many yr , it sometimes feels as if he has always been on the series because he is one ofTV ’s longest - running characters . While otherLaw & Orderactors have come and gone , he has been a standby for the series , ensuring that audiences can return to the show at any meter , knowing he ’ll be there . Though he is allow in time of year 23 of the revival , his legacy will live on long after he ’s run .
While otherLaw & Orderactors have come up and gone , he has been a understudy for the series , guarantee that audience can refund to the show at any metre , knowing he ’ll be there .
A dawdler for Law & Order time of year 23 , installment 5 teases the first flavor at Sam Waterston ’s Jack McCoy passing after 20 years on the long - running drama .
Episodes
IMBd valuation
" Hot Pursuit "
7.9 /10
" Second Opinion "
" Rubber Room "
8.6 / 10
" Hubris "
8.3 / 10
" Absentia "
7.8 / 10
" Gunshow "
" Open Season "
" behemoth "
7.9 / 10
" Invaders "
8.8 / 10
" Aftershock "
9.1 /10
10Season 6, Episode 5, “Hot Pursuit”
An exploration of a criminal who claims she was coerced into her crimes.
McCoy and his partner , ADA Claire Kincaid ( Jill Hennessy ) , rear mind in " Hot Pursuit " . Their family relationship is a recur plot point as they puzzle out together in the courtroom and have a amatory kinship in individual . Any episode that features the frequent friction between them when their different fashion and morals come to a head is always rent . In " Hot Pursuit " , this is specially apparent when McCoy feel they should persecute to the full extent of the jurisprudence and does n’t believe the victim ’s story that she was draw to commit the trigger-happy crimes she was part of .
Of course , Kincaid disagrees , and another one of their famed disputation ensues . This episode is a Greco-Roman example of what makes McCoy ’s mode so distinctiveand allow the audience questioning where they fall on the number . McCoy is a tough attorney and will look into until he ’s slaked rather of immediately believe the words of the victim . Additionally , the comparison to Patty Hearst , who was abduct and then committed crimes with her kidnappers , made the episode specially topical .
9Season 5, Episode 1, “Second Opinion”
The first appearance of Sam Waterston as Jack McCoy.
Waterston ’s first coming into court is one of the best character introduction on the show and one of the ripe episodes . WhileLaw & Orderis no stranger to in short incorporating client stars , it ’s much more unmanageable to make interview automatically connect to a newfangled member of the DA ’s authority who ’s operate to be a regular on the show . Despite these challenges , McCoy finds a originative answer to the eccentric . In his first installment , he go after the larger structure that led to the crime rather of the individual , a trend that will continuebut is flawlessly executed here .
8Season 20, Episode 23, “Rubber Room”
The final episode of the series, before the 2021 revival.
The series was initially canceled in 2010 , but when it came back in 2021 , theLaw & Orderrevival was successful because of Jack McCoy . Before this , the show was aware that Waterston ’s character was a life-sustaining composition of the show , and gave him an heroic sendoff in the first series finale , " Rubber Room " . McCoy might be a serious military man , buthe ’s well - known for making grand speeches about morality and the nature of the lawin the courtroom . This episode features his greatest speech of the series and pays protection to how of import he is toLaw & Order .
7Season 11, Episode 9, “Hubris”
McCoy goes head-to-head with a murderer who chooses to represent himself.
McCoy is continuously frustrated by a confidence trick Isle of Man who uses his charisma to use a member of the jury to win over the other members of his sinlessness despite his obvious guilt . While his usual adversaries in the courtroom are other lawyers , it ’s hard to see McCoy being practically exceed by an subtle malefactor . Toward the end , it even seems that McCoy has lost completely and will see the world who made a fool of him in the court walk barren . The conclusion has a twist that ’s impossible to predict , which balances the aboveboard but dramatically compelling format of the episode .
6Season 13, Episode 13, “Absentia”
McCoy must prove the validity of a conviction in not just one trial, but two.
As Levi March , Mandy Patinkin guest stars as a piece who become away with the murder of his girlfriendand has been on the run . However , when his personal identity is revealed , McCoy has his work cut out for him in trying to make the article of faith stand by . He has to be originative when convincing the panel that the adult male before them is shamefaced . Law & Ordermakes the sometimes piece of work of lawyers as exciting as the police work , but in " Absentia " , it ’s specially thrilling thanks to Waterston ’s carrying into action . He get a moving pillowcase to the jury and has big alchemy with Patinkin .
5Season 10, Episode 1, “Gunshow”
Instead of prosecuting one man, McCoy goes after an entire corporation.
" Gunshow " is a specially well - timed installment as it deals with the realness of gunslinger ferocity in the United States and how the superstructures that determine case-by-case people ’s actions are often just as guilty as the people who entrust the crimes . Through McCoy , the series subverts prospect by having him pursue the company that made the guninstead of the culprit of a mass shot . create a fragile balance of both action and clever pursuance , " Gunshow " showcases why Waterston is so successful onLaw & Order : he embody the superstar and heart that make McCoy an awe-inspiring attorney .
4Season 13, Episode 7, “Open Season”
The ethics of defending criminals are called into question.
Waterston has great chemistry with almost every defense attorney he comes up against in the series , but Tovah Feldshuh , as Danielle Melnick , pass on him a foot race for his money . While it ’s gratifying to see McCoy squash his opposite in the courtroom , it ’s just as enjoyable to see him have to exploit hard to win even when the grounds is on his side . Like all the great episodes ofLaw & Order , " Open Season " interrogate the Cartesian product between the police , the attorney , and the criminalsand how they all can not be without each other .
3Season 8, Episode 24, “Monster”
McCoy’s methods are called into question during an investigation of a sensitive case.
Outside the court , the NYPD officers search for a horrible outlaw who assaulted a youthful young lady , and inside , McCoy fight tooth and nail against a evaluator who is investigating him for a break of ethics . This episode culminates in an epic opposition between McCoy and Judge Feldman ( Cliff Gorman),who care more about his desire to become District Attorney than he does about fairly prosecuting a case . Seeing McCoy fend up for himself and the case in the case of political intrigue cements him as a character to settle for .
Cumulatively , thou of episodes have aired across the Law & Order franchise over the last 3 decades but which ones do Redditros look at the best ?
2Season 16, Episode 22, “Invaders”
A tragic personal loss shakes McCoy to his core.
ThroughoutLaw & Order , both the prosecuting attorney and the police attempt to keep things as professional as potential , but sometimes the criminals make things personal . McCoy worked with ADA Alexandra Borgia ( Annie Parisse ) for only a few season , but her unrelenting murder in " Invaders " was a terrible loss for McCoy and the entire squad . Though dramatized , it ’s an exercise of the peril that criminal prosecutors put themselves in after Borgia is targeted and killedbecause of the pillowcase she ’s investigating .
However , this is only the beginning , as her death sets McCoy down a dangerous way of life of payback . The instalment especially stand out becauseMcCoy works hard to do things by the account book , but he steps outside the law of nature to get judge for Borgia , knowing he ca n’t sit by and see her Orcinus orca walk costless . The episode ends with McCoy being force off the case because of how emotionally entangled he is , a situation that seldom come .
1Season 6, Episode 23, “Aftershock”
The conclusion of McCoy and Kincaid’s relationship comes without warning.
consider not only one of Waterston ’s good performances but all the cast ’s , as well as a standout instalment in world-wide , " Aftershock " proved how versatileLaw & Orderis . The instalment includesClaire Kincaid ’s shocking deathat the hands of a drunk equipment driver in a pull ending . Before this tragic end , the episode flips the formula of the procedural by exploring each character ’s personal lifeafter they see a man they put in prison being executed via lethal injection . This acute moment has a unsounded impact on them all .
While the most substantial moment of the instalment is Kincaid ’s death , Waterston has a luck to delve into a side of McCoy that unremarkably remains unseen . He get to a bar after go out the execution and contemplates his life history selection , even verbalize briefly about his relationship with his father . episode that break the data formatting of the show are always popular and trusted to lead a lasting impact , and " Aftershock " remains an of the essence McCoy andLaw & Orderepisode to this day .
