Law & Order
The Wheel
TV Flash files “The Wheel” as hour 286 of 545 in the TV Flash guide — Law & Order (1990–2010) on NBC, season 13, episode 9, aired 2002-12-11, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S13E09: listed hour 286 of 545 in the Law & Order guide, hour 9 of 24 in season 13. It aired 2002-12-11 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Asterisk” (S13E08). Next is “Mother's Day” (S13E10). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The smoldering corpse of an Asian girl found outside the Chinese consul general's apartment leads the detectives to believe she had immolated herself to make a political statement. When forensics shows that she had been murdered beforehand, they find themselves in the middle of a religious conflict, with the consul general their prime suspect and his attorney an old friend of DA Branch.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Wheel sit in the Law & Order guide?
S13E09 is listed hour 286 of 545 — hour 9 of 24 in season 13, season 13 episode 9.
When did Law & Order S13E09 air?
The Wheel aired 2002-12-11 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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