Law & Order
The Troubles
TV Flash files “The Troubles” as hour 20 of 545 in the TV Flash guide — Law & Order (1990–2010) on NBC, season 1, episode 20, aired 1991-03-26, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E20: listed hour 20 of 545 in the Law & Order guide, hour 20 of 22 in season 1. It aired 1991-03-26 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Serpent's Tooth” (S01E19). Next is “Sonata for a Solo Organ” (S01E21). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A truck with three handcuffed federal prisoners arrives at the 27th precinct. FBI and NYPD officials discover that one of the prisoners has mysteriously been murdered. The FBI officials assert jurisdiction and transport the other two to a federal prison. One of the two is a suspected IRA member who has been detained in the U.S. for five years without charge, bail or trial. Shortly afterwards, the remaining prisoner is discovered hanging in his federal prison cell. A prison guard is discovered to be an IRA member; he confesses to the prisoner's murder. Detectives and prosecutors face resistance from federal authorities as they pursue murder charges against a suspected IRA member serving time in federal prison, after he is suspected of killing another federal prisoner.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Troubles sit in the Law & Order guide?
S01E20 is listed hour 20 of 545 — hour 20 of 22 in season 1, season 1 episode 20.
When did Law & Order S01E20 air?
The Troubles aired 1991-03-26 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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