Law & Order Season 25 Episode 10’s Near-Perfection Proves This Bad Habit Needs To Go

Law & Order Season 25 Episode 10 was easily the best of this season so far.

It gave Maura Tierney’s Jessica Brady a meaty conflict and left it ambiguous whether her son was actually innocent of murder until near the end of the episode.

However, I was frustrated by a conversation between Riley and Walker near the beginning of the episode — and this annoying back-and-forth is part of a bad habit that has plagued Law & Order since it returned in 2021.

Riley and Walker Got Into A Completely Unnecessary Debate About A Side Issue on Law & Order Season 25 Episode 10

Soon after the victim was found, Riley annoyed me by complaining to Walker that he wouldn’t have allowed his daughter to become an actress like the victim.

At first, my frustration was personal. 

As a writer, I’ve heard a lifetime of similar nonsense about how artistic careers should be considered hobbies because they can’t make money, and I didn’t need to hear it again on my screen.

However, that wasn’t the only reason I was annoyed (although it might have been what made me want to yell at my TV)

The bigger issue is that modern episodes of Law & Order always waste time with random conversations between the cops that have nothing to do with the case.

Cop banter is a part of most police procedurals, but Law & Order tends to take it to extremes, and often it feels like the writers are trying to insert their opinions on various social issues by having cops talk about them for no reason whatsoever.

In This Case, The Victim’s Profession Was Entirely Irrelevant (At Least In The First Five Minutes)

It would be one thing if the conversation also moved the case forward. 

For example, if the cops were discussing a possible motive for the crime and how to support children who want to go down the same path, the side conversation would make more sense.

But that’s not what happened here, and it’s not what usually happens.

Instead, Riley was subtly disparaging the victim for her chosen profession and using that as an excuse to go on about how he would handle it if his kids wanted a similar career path… all while walking down the street doing absolutely nothing to help find the killer.

Can we stop this, please? It adds little to the show and is mostly annoying, and nobody wants to hear strong opinions that aren’t relevant to the story.

It’s especially frustrating when this takes up airtime in a story that has more than enough conflict without manufactured debates between cops over irrelevant social issues.

And in this case, it would have been so easy to make it relevant.

Riley’s Support of Brady Added Depth To The Episode

Brady was struggling with guilt over her son having become an addict who could be falsely accused of murder, plus there was a slim, but non-zero, chance that he was actually involved in his girlfriend’s death.

Riley talking to her about how kids have their own personalities, regardless of what you do as a parent, strengthened their relationship and heightened Brady’s inner conflict, especially since Riley hated Brady when she first showed up on Law & Order Season 24 Episode 1.

If Riliey had a side conversation with Walker about not wanting to have the kind of relationship that Brady has with her son and fear that an artistic career leads to drugs and alcohol, that would at least have made sense.

What do you think, Law & Order fanatics?

Are you also tired of random side conversations between cops, or do you think they add something to the episodes?

Let’s start a conversation in the comments! Please share this article with your friends so they can weigh in too.

If you enjoyed this article, check out our coverage of Law & Order: SVU and other Dick Wolf shows like the One Chicago shows.

Law & Order airs on NBC on Thursdays at 8/7c and streams on Peacock on Fridays.

TV Fanatic is searching for passionate contributors to share their voices across various article types. Think you have what it takes to be a TV Fanatic? Click here for more information and next steps.