Law & Order Deathwatch

Now that Fred Dalton Thompson has left the show, let's pause to give a huge round of applause for David Slack and Richard Sweren, who wrote #17.22, which may prove to be the final episode of modern era of Law & Order.

It's been a rough season, but the season finale, "The Family Hour," was unlike any episode I've ever seen from the show--it was fourth-wall busting absurdist theater with the writers taking two of the best TV characters from recent years--Oscar Bluth and Aaron Echolls--and dropping them into the Wolfiverse. Watching Sam Waterston's Jack McCoy try to make sense of this weird What If . . . crossover was beautiful. It was Law & Order's Jose Cheung moment.

And if that's the way the show goes out, I won't feel cheated.