Law & Order

Family Friend

Season 16, Episode 12, Aired 1/11/06

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.moreless

7.9

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"Terrible"
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"Abysmal"
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"Abysmal"

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Cast & Crew

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Annie Parisse

A.D.A. Alexandra Borgia
Fred Dalton Thompson

D.A. Arthur Branch
Dennis Farina

Det. Joe Fontana

Fan Episode Reviews (5)

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Not the show's best attempt at entertainment

7.0

"Good"

By angelspinknose, May 11, 2010 Report Abuse

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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2 2
From bad to worse!

1.3

"Abysmal"

By Milks23, May 11, 2010 Report Abuse

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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0 3
Over & Over Again!

5.0

"Mediocre"

By JPPT1974, May 11, 2010 Report Abuse

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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0 2
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.moreless

8.3

"Great"

By VinnyG, May 11, 2010 Report Abuse

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.moreless

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One of the best episodes so far.

10

"Perfect"

By Alligatot, Jan 26, 2006 Report Abuse

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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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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Notes
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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. Edit
Quotes
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- Bob Cerullo: Justice at any cost, that it, McCoy? Go after me, it's gonna cost you plenty. Edit
- (After Alex Borgia offers him a deal in return for testimony) Darrell Dennehy: I spent two-thirds of my life locked up. I can do the time but I sure ain't interested in dying. Edit
- 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? Edit
Allusions
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