All episodes Season 1 S01E02 1990-09-20 60 min 1990s NBC

Law & Order

Subterranean Homeboy Blues

TV Flash files “Subterranean Homeboy Blues” as hour 2 of 545 in the TV Flash guide — Law & Order (1990–2010) on NBC, season 1, episode 2, aired 1990-09-20, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S01E02: listed hour 2 of 545 in the Law & Order guide, hour 2 of 22 in season 1. It aired 1990-09-20 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Prescription for Death” (S01E01). Next is “The Reaper's Helper” (S01E03). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

Law & Order — Subterranean Homeboy Blues (S01E02)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

A white woman, Laura di Biasi, shoots two black men in a crowded subway. The shooting at first appears to be self-defense, but further investigation shows that the motive may be revenge. Logan and Greevey argue about di Biasi's guilt, especially after learning that the dead man has a substantial record, and the living one cannot control himself in court. Laura di Biasi tries to make her case to Robinette, but he distances himself from the issue. Stone has trouble with the case, both in dealing with di Biasi's public defender, Shambala Green, and with the fact that the district attorney's office is divided over the issue.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Subterranean Homeboy Blues sit in the Law & Order guide?

S01E02 is listed hour 2 of 545 — hour 2 of 22 in season 1, season 1 episode 2.

When did Law & Order S01E02 air?

Subterranean Homeboy Blues aired 1990-09-20 and is listed at 60 minutes.

Do I watch in order, or is it modular?

Modular is the point. Cases close. Casts change. Start anywhere in the original 1990–2010 run and you will understand the clang within twenty minutes. Order matters only if you care which partner is standing next to whom.

In the series

Why this series still plays

For the walnut that became a city: street then courtroom, a clang as civic punctuation, and two decades of interchangeable parts that taught TV how to clone a night. Comfort is the feature. The original 1990–2010 cathedral still teaches the form; the revival is the machine refusing to clock out.

Picture a Tuesday when the nation still had a cop show that split like a walnut: first the street, then the courtroom, a clang on the soundtrack that became civic punctuation. Law & Order premiered September 13, 1990, on NBC, created by Dick Wolf, and it did not invent the procedural so much as industrialize it. Prescription for Death is the template in miniature — a hospital night, a dead patient, cops then lawyers, no hug required. On the palate: newsprint, a New York that looks like a location budget with a…

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Filed against

Also in season 1

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