Law & Order
Absentia
TV Flash files “Absentia” as hour 290 of 545 in the TV Flash guide — Law & Order (1990–2010) on NBC, season 13, episode 13, aired 2003-02-12, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S13E13: listed hour 290 of 545 in the Law & Order guide, hour 13 of 24 in season 13. It aired 2003-02-12 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Under God” (S13E12). Next is “Star Crossed” (S13E14). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
When the witness in a jewelry store robbery-homicide fails to appear in court, McCoy suspects foul play until he discovers that the man is a fugitive in a 20-year-old murder case.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Absentia sit in the Law & Order guide?
S13E13 is listed hour 290 of 545 — hour 13 of 24 in season 13, season 13 episode 13.
When did Law & Order S13E13 air?
Absentia aired 2003-02-12 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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