Law & Order: Criminal Intent Season 5 Episode 16

This episode appears to be ripped from the headlines of the Helen Mintiks case. Helen Mintiks was raped and murdered on July 23, 1980, during the intermission of a ballet performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC, where she was a violinist with the orchestra performing that night. Craig Crimmins, a stagehand at the Met, was convicted of the assault and later pushing her to her death down an air shaft. The case was the subject of the nonfiction book Murder at the Met by author David Black, who would later be a writer and producer for Law & Order.

Mike Logan: I hear the fat lady warming up.

This is a reference to the line, 'It ain't over until the fat lady sings.' Most often associated with sports and close games, its roots lie within opera and a popular belief that all operas end as does Richard Wagner's Die Walküre.

Reinhardt's Attorney: Enough with the Vulcan mind-meld!

A reference to the alien race of Vulcans on the long-running series Star Trek (in it's various incarnations). The Vulcan mind-meld is the ability Vulcans have, primarily through physical contact, to share thoughts, feelings and emotions with another person. Very few races in the Star Trek universe were impervious to the mind-meld.

(While examining the teethmarks on Reinhardt's back.)
Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers: By the way, your production of Aida five years ago? One of the best nights of my life. Lennie Briscoe took me.

Aida is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, written about an Ethiopian princess named Aida who is sold into slavery in Egypt.