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Episode Guide > Season 16, Episode 12

Law & Order: Family Friend

 

Episode Score

 
7.8 Good
40 votes

Your Score

Air Date

Wednesday January 11, 2006

Production Code

16012

Episode Summary

After Philip and Valerie Messick are attacked in their home, Green and Fontana follow the trail to a small-time thug named Jay Fleckner. After Valerie's testimony unintentionally helps free Fleckner, he is found dead, and detectives soon realise that Bob Cerullo, a family friend of Valerie and her late husband, was the triggerman. Unfortunately, when McCoy attempts to prosecute Cerullo, a retired cop, he threatens to claim that he deliberately planted evidence in his past cases in an attempt to get McCoy to drop all the charges.

  •  
    10 Perfect

    One of the best episodes so far. hide show

    A very special episode since I played the victim, Phillip Messick! It wasn't easy to die with my eyes open! I think Amy's acting was incredibly impressive and the story line had lots of turnarounds and kept the viewer guessing.
    Nice to show that cops can be bad/good guys at the same time as well.

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  •  
    8.3 Great

    It was more human.
    I couldn't disagree more with the other reviews. This was not your usual L&O and I liked it.
    It wasn't split its usual 50/50, we were 40 minutes into the show before the trial started.
    hide show

    The case was layered and complex and took longer to go to trial. I don't think it was your typical mob case, it dealt with consequences. Sure the legal aspects were rote but the hidden agendas by the caharacters, the feds, even our prosecutors when they decide to flip the wife to get a cop. Wow. It was more human than the other episodes. And I liked the performances, all subtle, no spot on mafia wife or mook cop, a more real look at these types of people.

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  •  
    5 Mediocre

    Over & Over Again! hide show

    Yep you guys are all right!
    They did do this all over again.
    The mafia and the dirty ex-cop.
    How many times have we seen this one.
    It ain't the first nor will it be the last one.
    I am glad though that the feds did help a bit after trying to be secretative in their case of the money.
    Too bad McCoy didn't try a lot harder.
    Knowing him.

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    1.3 Abysmal

    From bad to worse! hide show

    Law and Order has been going down the drain for years now, so last night tragedy was not a surprise to me. It was so bad I could barely keep my focus.

    The mob tie in this episode made no sense whatsoever.

    One man kills another man, scars the wife, steals from them, then gets away with the crime because the wife had a diffrent type of payback planed.

    He friend who happens to be a cop would take out the newly freed killer and because he was a cop he expected to get off.

    I swear they did this episode already.....a cop kills someone and becuse his a cop he will get off.

    Overall, terrible episode.



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  •  
    7 Good

    Not the show's best attempt at entertainment hide show

    I liked the episode until the court case. The mob tie in was good and the victim was great until she was on the stand. After the bad guy got off the show went down hill. You knew that retired cop was dirty in one way or another. I didn't care what happened by the end.

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Episode Cast and Crew

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  • This is the first episode to be broadcast in a 16:9 ratio, which is known as letterbox format. This is also the first episode broadcast in HDTV. []
  • Bob Cerullo: I killed him to save my own life?
    Jack McCoy: How can that make any sense, when all the weapons at the crime scene were YOURS? []
  • Jack McCoy: Juries aren't stupid.
    Ernie Kruhulik: Really? We must be working in different courtrooms. []
  • Bob Cerullo: This is what I get for twenty-five years on the force?
    Jack McCoy: That doesn't buy anyone a murder! []
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