This is one of those L&O episodes where, rather than taking the viewer on a one-hour journey of surprising twists and turns, the viewer is instead guided through a cyclical, narrative back-and-forth; I watched in frustration as the two main guest characters, a couple played by Kevin O'Rourke and Julie Boyd, simply gave the detectives and the DA's office a runaround for an hour.
Part of the problem is the way the characters are played, though I'm sure the actors were only doing what they were told: Kevin O'Rourke as the husband/father has such a defiant "woe is me" victim complex that I found his character insufferable; his wife, Julie Boyd, is so spacey and loopy that I thought I was watching "Ghost Whisperer" or some other supernatural show. While the annals of L&O are filled with characters who try to stonewall the cops, the jurors, and even themselves, there's something about these two that, even if you chock their issues up to mental illness, makes them super irritating to watch.
As with many L&O episodes that end up being duds, this one's got at least a few redeeming elements: There's some fine one-liners, and there's a scene where Sam Waterston as EADA Jack McCoy makes a case for the sterilization of one of the guest characters, to the shock and disgust of Jill Hennessy as ADA Claire Kincaid and Steven Hill as DA Adam Schiff.
While I love those radical, unorthodox legal arguments that walk or cross the line of proper ethics which the Jack McCoy character would later become known for, it's not enough to save this one, in my opinion.
Fine actors, weak script.