| "Aftershock" | ||
|---|---|---|
| ← | L&O, Episode 6.23 | → |
| Production number: K0125 First aired: 22 May 1996 | ||
 | ||
| Teleplay By Janis Diamond Story By Janis Diamond & Michael S. Chernuchin Directed By Martha Mitchell | ||
After attending an inmate's execution, McCoy, Kincaid, Briscoe, and Curtis all react in different ways.
Plot[]
Jack McCoy, Claire Kincaid, Lennie Briscoe, and Rey Curtis attend the execution of a man each had a part in helping to convict. Kincaid and McCoy fight briefly while driving back to the city. Kincaid decides to take a sick day, while McCoy returns to the office. Briscoe and Curtis have the day off, but Curtis decides to finish up some paperwork.
Curtis has a scuffle with a man in a holding cell and is ordered by Anita Van Buren to take the day off. He proceeds to meet a graduate student, Jaime, downtown and spends the day flirting with her while ignoring his wife's phone calls. He eventually spends the night with her.
Briscoe visits an off track betting facility and meets some acquaintances with "inside information." After losing some money, Briscoe meets with his estranged daughter and they go to lunch.
Kincaid visits her former law school professor (who is later revealed to be her stepfather) to discuss her concerns about capital punishment, and more broadly, her feelings about the legal profession and her role in it. She then has a late lunch with Van Buren and discusses the morality of capital punishment.
After dispatching a few plea bargains and lunch with Elizabeth Olivet, McCoy goes to a bar and meets some blue collar workers where they play darts and talk about their fathers. McCoy initially speaks highly of his father, a former police officer. However, after getting drunk, he reveals that his father demanded perfection from him, and would beat both him and his wife (McCoy's mother) for the slightest failure. He also states that he "never talks about these things."
Briscoe's talk with his daughter does not end well. He walks into the same bar that McCoy is at and orders a club soda, as he is a recovering alcoholic. After McCoy leaves in a cab, Briscoe seemingly becomes depressed and orders a vodka. Kincaid, whom McCoy had earlier called to get a ride home, meets a drunken Briscoe at the bar and offers to take him home.
While driving home, Briscoe laments the state of his relationship with his daughter, and says that he would have liked to have a child like Kincaid. As she tries to comfort him, a drunk driver slams into the side of their car, killing her.
The episode ends with a dazed Briscoe wandering in the accident scene, bursting into tears at the sight of Kincaid's dead body, as Van Buren reads part of a letter she has been writing to her mother about the execution in a voiceover.
Cast[]
Main cast[]
- Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe
- Benjamin Bratt as Detective Rey Curtis
- S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
- Sam Waterston as Executive A.D.A. Jack McCoy
- Jill Hennessy as A.D.A. Claire Kincaid
- Steven Hill as D.A. Adam Schiff
Recurring cast[]
- Jennifer Estlin as Cathy Briscoe
- Carolyn McCormick as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
- John Fiore as Detective Tony Profaci
- Charles Dumas as Donald Van Buren
Guest cast[]
- Len Cariou as Mac Geller
- Jennifer Garner as Jaime
- Tom Riis Farrell as Bud
- Jerry Grayson as Mike
- Joe Lisi as Reds Carpenter
- Madison Arnold as Leonard Jensen
- Paul Austin as Sean Daugherty
- Mal Z. Lawrence as Sam
- Jim Moody as Joe
- Chris Bauer as Mickey Scott
- Michael Hannon as Mark
- Andrew Weems as David Silverman
- Gil Rogers as Man in Suit
- David Edward Jones as Hobbs
- JoAnna Beckson as Linda
- Erin Cohen as Stadler
- Susan Willis as Mrs. Landers
- David Bryant as Reporter #1
- Merri Ann Milwe as Reporter #2
- Billy Otis as Manny Rose (uncredited)
References[]
- Adele Saunders (victim)
- Kevin Mandalay
- Marissa Mandlay
- Execution
- Disneyland
- Sarah, Duchess of York
- Xscape
- Oasis
- Big Brother and the Holding Company version
- Deborah Curtis
- Socrates
Quotes[]
- Anita Van Buren: A crowd of people stood and cheered when he raped her. They were supposedly good people, and they did absolutely nothing. Then he beat her to death with a tire iron. And today, the State of New York got its revenge. It's not enough, and it's too much.
- Claire Kincaid's last words: Lennie, I doubt your daughter hates you.
Background information and notes[]
- An aftershock is a consequence of an earthquake, where additional tremors in the Earth have a risk of causing more damages than the earthquake preceding it. This reflects the playout of the episode and the characters' descent into disarray and tragedy.
- "Aftershock" is notable because it abandons the typical Law & Order episode structure of the police investigation followed by legal proceedings. Rather than chronicling a criminal case, the episode accompanies each of the main characters, all of whom were taking a day-off after witnessing an execution. It is in this episode where the audience finds out a little bit more about the backstories of the characters.
- This episode marks the death of ADA Claire Kincaid who is killed when her car is hit by a drunk driver while driving an inebriated Lennie Briscoe home. Earlier at the bar, Briscoe had said "at least she's Irish", despite Kincaid being a Scottish surname.
- This marks the second time a main character ends in death.
- As a result of Kincaid's death, this is Jill Hennessy's final contract appearance.
- Kincaid's death by a drunk driver comes up again in "Under the Influence".
- Future Alias star Jennifer Garner made a special guest appearance as Jaime in this episode.
- The song that Jaime plays in her apartment and dances with Rey Curtis to is "Sweet Jane" by Cowboy Junkies.
- Curtis wife Deborah kicks him out of the house in the episode "Menace" after he tells her what happened with Jaime in this episode.
- This episode was adapted in the Law & Order: UK episode "Tremors".
- According to an interview with The Morning Call, the reason why Jill Hennessy left the show was because she feared being typecast.[1]
Footnotes[]
| Previous episode: "Homesick" |
"Aftershock" Law & Order Season 6 |
Next episode: "Causa Mortis" |