Directed by Martha Mitchell
Written by Michael S. Chernuchin & Janis Diamond
Jack McCoy, Claire Kincaid, Lennie Briscoe and Rey Curtis attend the execution of a criminal they convicted for rape and murder. In a departure from the show's usual format, the episode then follows each of the characters during the day, as they struggle to deal with what they've witnessed.
This episode contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: While drinking at the bar, McCoy reveals his father was abusive to both him and his mother.
- Artistic License – Law: The State of New York hasn't executed anyone since 1963. The writers were likely counting on someone being executed under Pataki, who reintroduced the death penalty in 1995 (19 years after the nationwide moratorium was lifted, and the year before this episode aired) but this never happened before the death penalty was again abolished in 2007 (a total of seven individuals were given death sentences, but none were executed), meaning they jumped the gun.
- Bystander Syndrome: Mentioned in Van Buren's letter to her mother when she describes the crime the defendant was executed for.Anita Van Buren: A crowd of people stood and cheered when he raped her. They were supposedly good people, and they did absolutely nothing. Then he beat her to death with a tire iron. And today, the State of New York got its revenge. It's not enough, and it's too much.
- Cruel Twist Ending: Claire drives Briscoe home from the bar, and on the way, they get hit by a drunk driver; Claire is instantly killed.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Claire Kincaid.
- Day in the Life: One of the only episodes in which the show abandons the usual format and instead focuses on the personal lives of the leads, specifically their reaction to an execution they all witnessed.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: McCoy is talking in the bar about his tough, abusive father's death in the hospital — or is he describing the execution he witnessed that morning? Enough to leave the viewer wondering about McCoy's motives for going to witness the execution. Which closure was McCoy seeking?
- Heroic BSoD: It's one thing to sentence murderers, rapists and the worst of society to life in prison or a death sentence. It's another thing to witness an execution. Lennie ends up going Off the Wagon from the sheer stress, Curtis is massively disturbed, and both McCoy and Claire are so shook up that they're clearly acting out-of-character. Poor Briscoe then ends up with another one at the very end with the drunk car crash— he's got minor injuries, but when he looks over to see Claire's side, her entire half of the car is caved in, and blood is everywhere. The episode ends with him in a horrified Stunned Silence.
- Irony: Claire drives Lenny home because he's too drunk to do so. . . and they get hit by another drunk driver.
- Off the Wagon: Happens to Briscoe for the first and only time during his time on the series.
- Surprise Car Crash: The episode concludes with Claire driving an inebriated Lenny home from a bar and them getting t-boned out of nowhere.
