Law and Order – Season 23 Episode 5 Recap & Review

The Last Dance

Law & Order Season 23 Episode 5 begins with a woman found strangled in the park. There is a possibility of her having been mugged because she was found without a purse. However, the way she died suggested someone with a specific motive killed her. They hit her to the ground and she knocked her head. She could have died from that, but the perpetrator still strangled her to death.

The police believe it wasn’t a mugging or robbery-related after tracking down the person who did steal from the body. His name is Miguel, and he works with maintenance. He saw the body and stole a necklace along with other items because he thought the victim didn’t need it. 

However, Miguel saw a white guy with possibly a hat with a letter on it standing near the body. Miguel’s tip gave the police a lead on who to look for. The stolen necklace also provided an identification for the victim. Her name was Veronica Knight. Turns out, she was the creator of a dating app to help women have their own community. The police break the news to Veronica’s family, and they tell them she wasn’t personally interested in dating anyone. 

Veronica was in that park that morning to meet someone, so the police searched nearby security cameras and found someone matching that description leaving the park. The letter on his hat was “P” for Princeton and his name was Scott Kelton: a billionaire who lived in the area. Scott jogged every morning in that park. The police interviewed him, and he admitted he knew Veronica.

Turns out, Veronica worked for him for 3 years before they went their separate ways. Veronica had tried to get in touch with him recently but he never got back to her. Kelton claimed he saw a street vendor harassing a woman that matched her description. Kelton called 911 and the police followed up his lead and questioned the street vendors, finding one with a history of criminal sexual assault.

However, Kelton lied about his past with Veronica, and this is revealed when Veronica’s therapist, Dr. Shannon Andrews, contacts the police to tell them that Veronica had started seeing her to deal with a previous rape she suffered by Kelton and wanted to confront him.

Kelton is arrested, and they believe he murdered Veronica to protect his reputation as well as his company. However, District Attorney Jack McCoy is facing pressure to drop the case, as Kelton had donated to McCoy’s rival for District Attorney and was also considered the golden boy of New York City.

The Mayor tries to get McCoy to drop it, but the DA sticks to his principles and firmly believes Kelton killed Veronica and should face the consequences. McCoy hands the case to ADAs Price and Maroun. They put the street vendor on the stand, with Kelton’s lawyer trying to portray the man as the real killer. Their next move was to put Dr. Shannon Andrews on the stand, but the therapist refuses to testify, claiming it was unethical for her to discuss Veronica.

McCoy tells Price to offer Kelton a plea deal where he wouldn’t serve less than ten. Price tries to negotiate with Kelton by first offering 15 years and working down to 10. Kelton refused to take the deal and was only willing to serve 5. Kelton admits during negotiations that he did kill Veronica but claimed they had consensual sex previously, but Veronica was calling it rape when she confronted him. He refused to apologise and they got into an argument and things escalated. 

Price and Maroun try to track down other witnesses to corroborate the rape and find a lawyer called Jordan Payne who might know something. They try to convince him to testify but he refuses. Price considers serving him with a subpoena. Jordan was the son of Mayor Payne, who wanted to give Kelton the 5-year plea agreement. He told Price to make a deal or he’ll ruin Price’s career if his son gets subpoenaed.

The episode ends when Price tells McCoy what happened and he removes him from the case. McCoy decides to personally finish the trial as the prosecutor and forces Jordan to testify. Jordan claimed that it was all a witch hunt. He was ultimately forced to admit that Kelton called Veronica “an uptight bitch” after she abruptly left their work trip. The defence brings up Jordan’s affair to show that he has a history of lying to people he loves. Jordan’s affair was set to be in the news, but he did help to convict Kelton. McCoy decides to resign as District Attorney and goes out with a win and takes the hit to keep his office free of political issues.

The Episode Review

What an emotional episode with the final appearance of Sam Waterston as District Attorney Jack McCoy after first appearing in the procedural crime drama 30 years ago, and starring in over 400 episodes.

It’s a big loss for the show and feels strange that it’s come about in the middle of a season. However, he gets a good storyline to bow out with, and the episode is the strongest of the season so far.