Law and Order: SVU’s 300th episode

In the criminal justice system, it helps to reach 300 episodes.

S14 Ep5 of Law and Order: SVU “Manhattan Vigil” airs this week.

The episode, titled “Manhattan Vigil,” centres on the kidnapping of a wealthy child, a crime that sparks some deep reflection from Detective Benson and Sergeant Munch, who investigated a similar snatching, in the very same neighbourhood, 13 years prior.

“I wanted to refer back to show’s earliest days,” says Executive Producer Warren Leight. “There’s a lot of déjà-vu to the episode on purpose.”

Beyond providing a look back on SVU’s early days through the eyes of Benson and Munch, Leight has even more surprises in store for fans come the show’s tricentennial episode.

“Jean de Segonzac directed the pilot, so we have him directing the 300th episode,” Leight reveals. He’ll also be bringing back a few of the actors from the same pilot, including Chris Orbach, son of the late Jerry Orbach. Jerry played Lennie Briscoe on Law & Order for 13 years and, in a classic example of art imitating life, Chris played his son, Detective Ken Briscoe, in SVU’s inaugural season.

“We just wanted to bring them back … We figured they did something right if the show is still going 300 episodes later,” Leight says. “We thought it was a way of saying thanks.”

Thursday, November 1 at 8.30pm on TEN.

Corrected.