Sam Waterston's 30 Best 'Law and Order' Episodes, Ranked

Sam Waterston

This week marks the end of an era on Law & Order as the long-lived NBC procedural says goodbye to one of its most iconic team members. Thursday's episode, titled "Last Dance," will be Sam Waterston's final episode as District Attorney Jack McCoy.

Waterston's sendoff segment is bound to be a big one. The description for the case of the day indicates that McCoy will take "drastic action" on the prosecution side after a woman is found murdered in Central Park, and one of the suspects is a tech billionaire with political sway. Jack McCoy's willingness to bend the rules of trial conduct isn't new—he's even earned the nickname "Hang 'Em High McCoy" for his unbridled tenacity. So chances are, this will be McCoy in peak justice-seeking form.

Still, fans may be feeling a bit wistful about watching him walk away from the Manhattan DA's Office after so many decades, so to celebrate his incredible run on the show, we're taking a look back at the best of his more than 400 episodes of Law & Order.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About 'Law & Order' Season 23

Sam Waterston's 30 Best Law and Order Episodes, Ranked

30. Law & Order Season 14, Episode 11: "Darwinian"

McCoy cannot be accused of quickly falling for a bleeding-heart-style defense, as evidenced by his nonplussed reaction to a defendant's emotional outburst in this case. Here, the defendant is a homeless man who brutally beat another homeless person to death over food. While opposing counsel is convinced that his life's circumstances are such that he can't be held to the same standards as others, McCoy wholeheartedly disagrees and makes it clear that the man on trial has made his own luck, however rotten it might be. Justice can't be bought, but it also can't be bargained for with Jack McCoy.

29. Law & Order Season 7, Episode 17: "Showtime Part 3"

Meanwhile, McCoy's ability to elicit an emotional (and damaging) response from a defendant comes into play in a big way in the climax of this three-part arc centered on the murder of a director's wife. This testimony comes on the heels of a dream team defense putting on their very best display of distraction, but as usual, McCoy knows just how to draw a grand finale confession out of his star witness.

28. Law & Order Season 14, Episode 4: "Shrunk"

The ever-excellent J.K. Simmons guest stars in this fascinating segment about the murder of an actress by a member of her therapy group who may have been manipulated into committing the heinous crime by his doctor. McCoy's ability to find the truth and willingness to fight for it is as sharp here as it ever was, even if it doesn't go his way in the end.

27. Law & Order Season 5, Episode 6: "Competence"

McCoy's malleability with adherence to evidentiary norms is on full display early on in his tenure as EADA in this 1994 episode. Here, he works to convict and later clear Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) of liability after she shoots an attempted mugger and inadvertently kills his mentally handicapped associate. McCoy decides to withhold certain information from discovery, and it comes back to bite him and Van Buren. Later, he reveals that his own father, who was a police officer, would've likely behaved with excess brutality, which is an early window into the complex relationship he has with his dad's legacy.

26. Law & Order Season 14, Episode 13: "Married With Children"

Jack McCoy's ability to get a defendant to say the same thing in a very, very different way than the defense wants them to is unparalleled. In this case, a woman claims that she only pushed her former partner off a hotel balcony after she felt attacked by her, but McCoy's incisive redirect makes her motive crystal clear in a way only he can.

25. Law & Order Season 6, Episode 21: "Pro Se"

In this episode, a schizophrenic homeless man who chose to stop taking his medication has murdered multiple women and must now defend himself at trial for the murders. Not only is the performance of guest actor Denis O'Hare in the role completely arresting, but the courtroom dynamic of the brilliant, but troubled man lodging a more-than-competent defense leaves McCoy on his back foot on more than one occasion, which is fun to watch.

Even more fun is the moment when McCoy stands up for Claire Kincaid (Jill Hennessy) after Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) demands her removal from the case over a previous plea bargain she made with the same perp because McCoy has never been afraid to say "no" to the boss.

24. Law & Order Season 11, Episode 9: "Hubris"

Another self-represented defendant who manages to get a bit of an upper hand on McCoy is the perp in this multiple murder trial, who uses his good looks and cavalier personality to seduce the jury foreperson and keep the judge from interfering. The defendant is suspected of murdering the owners of a jewelry store as well as their employee and her young daughter, but his ability to disarm everyone in the courtroom is deeply disturbing to McCoy, who is strangely outwitted. McCoy doesn't back down, of course, and the story takes a major twist before it's all said and done, but it still stings for our favorite DA's ego.

23. Law & Order Season 10, Episode 7: "Patsy"

Not every investigation has gone McCoy's way throughout his time in the DA's office—far from—and in this case, perhaps it was for the best that he didn't win. In the episode, a man is accused of killing his girlfriend and assaulting her sister. However, he contends that he's the victim of a setup, and a contemptuous volley of arguments between the defense and prosecution leaves McCoy making a heated (and prejudicial) closing argument that lands him in contempt and the case in a mistrial.

What makes this episode so special is that both McCoy's act and the case at large are punctuated by a question mark about what is right and wrong, while Waterston's portrayal of his character's vehemence is all the more powerful as a result.

22. Law & Order Season 14, Episode 1: "Bodies"

Since Jack McCoy is dead set on seeing justice done no matter the cost, it's perhaps unsurprising when he decides to prosecute a defense lawyer who claims it's his sworn duty to refuse to disclose the location of the bodies of victims of his convicted serial murderer client. Through sheer theatrics, McCoy manages to secure a guilty verdict against the attorney and feels justified that a little time in Rikers will change his mind. Here again, our prosecutor extraordinaire not only refuses to go by the book, but he expects others to have a flexible relationship with legal ethics as well.

21. Law & Order Season 21, Episode 3: "Filtered Life"

Jack McCoy won't let a silly little thing like a lack of evidence stop him from pursuing a case, and in this case, in which an influencer disappears on a camping trip, he refuses to let Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) and Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) back down either. His justification for pursuing this potential justice in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds? "Because it's a helluva lot better than the alternative," he exclaims, proving, once again, that McCoy is simply not a subscriber to the "it's better to let 10 guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer" maxim of law.

20. Law & Order Season 6, Episode 8: "Angel"

One of Law & Order's darkest episodes features one of Jack McCoy's brightest courtroom moments. In the episode, a young mother claims her baby was abducted while she was attending confession with a priest, but later, it's revealed that she killed her daughter and cremated her remains. She claims her priest convinced her God would want her daughter dead rather than alive in a cruel world, but McCoy's cunning examination brings out the devastating truth of the matter in one of the series' most gutting moments.

19. Law & Order Season 5, Episode 12: "Progeny"

This episode's case involves a pro-life activist who admits to convincing a man to shoot an abortion clinic physician. As McCoy questions the defendant on the stand, he asks him one very simple but show-stopping question that shifts the narrative altogether: "If it was so righteous, why didn't you do it yourself?" His cross-examination skills are downright legendary, and this one is razor-sharp and instantly evocative of an emotional truth.

18. Law & Order Season 10, Episode 1: "Gunshow"

McCoy has never been afraid to think a little bigger when it comes to prosecution, and in this timely episode about a mass shooting in Central Park, he takes his case to the top by taking on the manufacturer of a weapon that was too easily converted into a fully automatic gun. It's his fearlessness that makes him so unique and unstoppable.

Related: Everything to Know About 'Law & Order: Organized Crime' Season 4

17. Law & Order Season 16, Episode 9: "Criminal Law"

McCoy finds himself on the defensive—well, sort of—in this scary 2005 episode in which his name appeared on a hit list for a mass murderer. Not only does he have to help re-prosecute a man who has hired an assassin to take out witnesses to his workplace shooting, but he also has to learn to set aside his ego long enough to accept protection against a killer on the loose, which is a very tall order indeed.

16. Law & Order Season 6, Episode 5: "Hot Pursuit"

The close, but sometimes contentious professional (and personal) relationship between McCoy and Kincaid comes to a head with this tough-call case in which a woman claims to have been forced to commit a string of violent crimes against others by her kidnapper. While Kincaid isn't convinced she should be prosecuted, McCoy refuses to back down and meticulously picks apart the defendant's claims line by line until there's little doubt left about her agency in her actions.

15. Law & Order Season 9, Episode 10: "Hate"

Throughout the show, McCoy grappled with many criminals who led with hate in their hearts, but that was never more explicit than in this episode. Here, he targets a white supremacist for inciting murder against a teen girl. As ringleader of the violent group, the defendant claims First Amendment speech protections, but Jack McCoy makes a compelling argument against the same by closing the case to say, sharply, "The First Amendment protects words that persuade, it doesn't protect words that incite."

14. Law & Order Season 7, Episode 19: "Double Down"

What happens when you make a deal with the devil, and the devil doesn't deliver on his end of the promise? Well, that's what McCoy has to figure out when he offers a deal to one of two suspects in a deadly store robbery to find out the location of a kidnapped hostage. When the missing person turns out to be dead, though, McCoy decides to go back on his word and use that very same deal to secure a conviction for another murder. Is it right? Debatable. Is justice served? Well, McCoy certainly feels that it is.

13. Law & Order Season 13, Episode 13: "Absentia"

Constitutionality also comes into question in a big way with this case, in which the key witness for a murder trial just so happens to be a man who was convicted in absentia for the murder of his girlfriend decades before. While his original conviction is no longer valid due to lack of due process, it's up to McCoy to piece together 20-year-old evidence to get another conviction—this time, beyond the suspect's conspiracy theory-style defense. McCoy does well to take his absurd testimony about illicit black ops and classified government operatives and bring some long-overdue justice to this fugitive.

12. Law & Order Season 19, Episode 19: "The Drowned and the Saved"

This 2009 season finale is a prime example of a ripped-from-the-headlines narrative about political scandal—in this case, amid a murder investigation, McCoy is stunned to learn of some corruption by his appointer, Gov. Donald Shavoy, which results in a wild game of 3-D chess over McCoy's own reelection effort.

11. Law & Order Season 5, Episode 10: "House Counsel"

Things get very personal for Jack McCoy in this early case, which finds him prosecuting a former law school colleague who represents a mobster and allegedly helped him target, bribe and later kill a key juror. The case hinges on whether McCoy's longtime professional rival was merely providing legal services to his client or participating in a conspiracy, and he fights tooth and nail to prove it's the latter, no matter how long he's known the guy or how much respect he has for his more legitimate legal prowess.

10. Law & Order Season 7, Episode 18: "Mad Dog"

Some of the finest moments of Sam Waterston's time on the show come when his Jack McCoy is shown to be far less than perfect, as in this chilling 1997 episode. Here, the prosecutor becomes legitimately obsessed after a serial rapist he's testified against is let out on parole, and he works overtime to get him back behind bars—even if it means taking the word of potential liars and harassing the parolee's friends and family. The moral ambiguity about McCoy's actions is what makes this such a compelling piece of TV drama, and Waterston's performance as a doggedly determined DA is superb.

9. Law & Order Season 8, Episode 1: "Thrill"

The complicated intersection of McCoy's religious faith and his very secular occupation has long been a point of intense drama on Law & Order, and Jack McCoy has to draw a line in the sand once and for all about how his Catholic faith will affect his work in this 1997 favorite. The episode finds him fighting for the admissibility of a teen's confession to an uncle, who is a priest, about killing a delivery man. Though McCoy deeply respects the sanctity of confession, he ultimately determines that he can't be a practicing Catholic when he's at work, which cements his position on the very difficult matter once and for all.

8. Law & Order Season 13, Episode 7: "Open Season"

In this grisly case, it's the lawyers who find themselves in the crosshairs after protecting a dangerous defendant from prosecution. Most notably, Danielle Melnick (Tovah Feldshuh) winds up paying the ultimate price for violating the court's restrictions, but she and McCoy butt heads about what's right and wrong right up until her bitter end.

7. Law & Order Season 5, Episode 2: "Coma"

How far is Jack McCoy willing to go to secure his conviction? Pretty far, it turns out, and in this episode—Sam Waterston's second overall—he seriously weighs whether to risk killing the comatose victim to retrieve the bullet he needs to secure a conviction against her husband for the shooting incident. When the case ultimately does not go his way, and he faces a loss in the courtroom, a colleague suggests that perhaps the defendant was innocent, which seems to be something McCoy is allergic to even considering. It's an early testament to his professional posturing as a prosecutor and a preview of what's to come from the character.

6. Law & Order Season 8, Episode 11: "Under the Influence"

The death of Kincaid in a drunk driving accident takes a toll on the entire team, particularly McCoy as he works to prosecute a hit-and-run driver who killed three people, including a child. McCoy becomes conflicted when the judge in the case shows a distinct bias against the defense as a result of his political ambitions, and it's up to McCoy to do the right thing in the way of discovery, even if it jeopardizes his much-desired prosecution of the defendant.

What makes the episode so significant is not just McCoy's dust-ups with a judge who's technically on his side, but how clear it is that he's holding this suspect accountable for more than just the bloodshed he actually caused.

5. Law & Order Season 8, Episode 24: "Monster"

This gripping episode is a double whammy. The case of the day is deeply upsetting, as the team searches for a child rapist. At the same time, McCoy faces a Disciplinary Committee hearing over his handling of the case in "Under the Influence," in which he tried to conceal an exculpatory witness from the defense. Unfortunately, McCoy has clearly not learned his lesson as he convinces a doctor to lie to the suspect about his victim's condition to secure a plea and faces the threat of disbarment from the judge.

Like other episodes on this list, questions of morality and character are in direct conflict when it comes to McCoy's decisions in the case, and it's that grey area that provides so much color to the character in this show.

4. Law & Order Season 5, Episode 1: "Second Opinion"

Waterston's introductory episode is also one of his very best. In this 1994 premiere, a woman's dead body begins to emit toxic fumes, and the team suspects her alternative medicine provider for breast cancer treatments may be to blame.

McCoy's team isn't sold on the potential for a homicide charge, but he refuses to back down against the person who's not only "fleecing her patients" but also potentially shortening their lives. Waterston cements his status as an instant icon of the show when his character levels with the dead woman's husband, who is reluctant to testify truthfully against the doctor until McCoy gets through to him. His gravitas and grit are on full display and set the tone for the character forevermore.

3. Law & Order Season 20, Episode 23: "Rubber Room"

If fans want a reminder of what it means when Jack McCoy takes extreme action to solve a case, this all-time-best episode is a great one to revisit ahead of his final stint. As the team races to uncover the identity of an anonymous blogger who's plotting an attack on a school, McCoy faces resistance from a teacher's union representative and issues a sternly-worded threat that finally gets the message across.

"If your obstruction allows a massacre to happen, I will crucify you," he insists. "I will charge you with negligent homicide, and after I convict you, I will resign my job and represent the families of the victims in a death suit against you and the union. By the time I'm done, you'll be finished. So my advice to you is get out of my way." It's hard to argue with that fervor, and indeed, the recipient of his tongue-lashing doesn't even try.

This eventful episode closes with a courtroom scene that features one of Waterston's best-ever monologues and, as it was poised to be a series finale before Law & Order was resurrected, audiences everywhere agreed that it successfully stuck the landing for the legal drama.

2. Law & Order Season 6, Episode 23: "Aftershock"

This formula-busting episode delves into the complicated feelings of the entire team after they witness the lethal injection execution of someone they convicted. As they come to terms with what it means to sentence someone to die, every single cast member delivers on their characters' emotional journeys.

Waterston's portrayal of McCoy—visibly intoxicated and in mourning for his "Superman" father, whose own complexities and devastating flaws are revealed in a slow-burn soliloquy—is exquisite. And the way the episode ends, with Kincaid killed by a drunk driver, changes the trajectory of the show, especially McCoy's presence thereon, for years to come.

1. Law & Order Season 16, Episode 22: "Invaders"

Jack McCoy has never been afraid to bend the truth—or the rules—to take a dangerous criminal off the streets, and this case proves it better than anything else could. The circumstances of the story are deeply disturbing, as we see an informant's entire family brutally slaughtered before the killers also claim the life of the case's ADA Alexandra Borgia (Annie Parisse).

To get justice, McCoy sidesteps the usual routes and even creates a mock trial to gain the cooperation of a DEA agent who has supplied the murderers with illicit materials and thereby aided in the killings. McCoy refuses to give up, however, until he secures an arraignment of the suspects and even when he's kicked off the case for his unusual tactics, he walks away with a clear conscience and refuses to apologize for any of his tactics because, for him, all that matters is that it worked.

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