LAW & ORDER {LAW AND ORDER}: BITCH (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas that deals with the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of criminals. The first half of each episode concerns the police procedure that leads to the arrest of a suspect, while the second half covers the efforts of the district attorney to prosecute the case. In this episode, stockbroker Bradley Osterhaus is found murdered in his home, and Briscoe and Green discover that he was apparently romancing several women at once, though they all seem unconcerned about his other paramours. Lindsay Tucker explains that she found him "warm and safe" and that she was taking photographs for famed cosmetics mogul Jackie Scott at the time of the murder, and Jackie confirms the alibi. Briscoe and Green wonder if Osterhaus was killed by a client angry over a financial loss, but are then shocked to learn that he was sleeping with both Jackie and Lindsay – who are mother and daughter. They visit Lindsay's home and find that she was not with Jackie on the day of the murder, as she claimed, and though Jackie admits to the affair, she swears that her daughter is not a killer. Lindsay declares that she loved Osterhaus and refuses to believe their explanation about her mother, but the detectives then discover that Jackie too lied about her whereabouts on the day in question. As they question her again, Lindsay bursts in and, newly convinced of the affair, blurts out a confession of murder.
Jackie seeks out her old friend Arthur Branch and attempts to manipulate him into letting Lindsay off with a minor sentence, though Branch tells McCoy and Southerlyn that her motherly concern is decidedly out of character. Looking into her financials, Southerlyn finds that Jackie dumped a certain stock right before it plummeted, suggesting that she had insider information. McCoy guesses that she tried to persuade Osterhaus to backdate a stop-loss order, which would have saved her from an insider-trading charge, and killed him when he refused, then convincing her daughter to take the fall for her. McCoy decides to release Lindsay but wire-tap her phone, and Jackie is quickly arrested after she is heard thanking Lindsay for her help and gloating that "they fell for it." Jackie is soon released on bail, though ordered to house arrest, and the prosecution team is stunned when her attorney declares that she is not guilty by reason of mental defect, as she was suffering from hormone-replacement withdrawal at the time. Skoda and Olivet interview her together, and Jackie explains that she was "muddled" and not in her right mind due to a lack of sleep, and though Skoda notes that any drug withdrawal can have serious mental and physical effects, Olivet dismisses the offensive argument and states that Jackie's only "defect" is hubris.
On the stand, Olivet firmly declares that menopause symptoms cannot believably lead to murder, adding that Jackie was clearly willing to send her own daughter to prison to protect herself. The defense points out that she is not a medical doctor, however, and Olivet fumes over the implied misogyny in Jackie's claim. Skoda is then called by the defense and agrees that sleep-deprivation can have harmful consequences, but refutes the idea that it is an excuse for murder in this case. Jackie claims that she has resumed taking the hormones despite the cancer risk because of the extreme level of her symptoms, though McCoy points out argues that her actions right before and after the murder, including the planting of a false alibi, were very deliberate. Jackie declares that she has always been scorned by men and desperately "needs to be redeemed," and Branch, sensing that the jury is warming to her, offers her a plea deal of first-degree manslaughter. He adds that he intends to indict Lindsay for obstruction and conspiracy, hinting that he will humiliate Jackie through her own daughter's testimony, and she angrily accepts her former friend's offer. Commercials deleted.
(In a scene deleted from this asset, Lindsay visits Branch after Jackie's bail hearing and begs him to help her mother, swearing that she is a loving person despite her many ruthless actions.)
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: November 30, 1999 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:44:13
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 118686
- GENRE: Drama, police/detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/detective; Drama, legal
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1990-2010
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Peter Jankowski … Executive Producer
- Jeffrey Hayes … Executive Producer
- Dick Wolf … Executive Producer, Created by
- Michael S. Chernuchin … Executive Producer, Writer
- Arthur W. Forney … Co-Executive Producer
- Richard Sweren … Co-Executive Producer
- Lewis H. Gould … Co-Executive Producer
- Wendy Battles … Co-Executive Producer
- Eric Overmeyer … Co-Executive Producer
- William N. Fordes … Supervising Producer
- Gary Karr … Supervising Producer
- Roz Weinman … Supervising Producer, Writer
- Kati Johnston … Producer
- Jill Goldsmith … Producer
- Terri Kopp … Producer
- Mark Guggenheim … Co-Producer
- Kathy O'Connell … Associate Producer
- Constantine Makris … Director
- Mike Post … Music by
- Jerry Orbach … Cast, Detective Lennie Briscoe
- Jesse L. Martin … Cast, Detective Ed Green
- S. Epatha Merkerson … Cast, Lt. Anita Van Buren
- Sam Waterston … Cast, Jack McCoy
- Elisabeth Röhm … Cast, A.D.A. Serena Southerlyn
- Fred Dalton Thompson … Cast, Arthur Branch
- Lucie Arnaz … Cast, Jackie Scott
- Melissa Errico … Cast, Lindsay Tucker
- Maria Tucci … Cast, Helen Brolin
- Fred Grandy … Cast, Neil Skinner
- Carolyn McCormick … Cast, Dr. Elizabeth Olivet
- J.K. Simmons … Cast, Dr. Emil Skoda
- Andrea Navedo … Cast, Detective Ana Cordova
- Fran Lebowitz … Cast, Judge Janice Goldberg
- Nancy Franklin … Cast, Regine
- Nancy Snyder … Cast, Cece Vandeveer
- Tom Ligon … Cast, Phil Brucker
- Bryan Hanna … Cast, David Nunan
- Maura M. Knowles … Cast, Perrisue Maxwell
- Martha Millan … Cast, Colossa
- Zabryna Guevara … Cast, Salma
- Chris Kipiniak … Cast, Vlady
- Michael K. Weiss … Cast, Malcolm Sweetzer
- Curt Karibalis … Cast, Judge Elmer Mann
- Jason Pugatch … Cast, Assistant M.E. Cantor
- Shaun Powell … Cast, CSU Tech Barrett
- Rick Johnson … Cast, Court Clerk