All episodes Season 20 S20E03 2009-10-09 60 min 1990s NBC

Law & Order

Great Satan

TV Flash files “Great Satan” as hour 436 of 545 in the TV Flash guide — Law & Order (1990–2010) on NBC, season 20, episode 3, aired 2009-10-09, 60 min.

From the desk

How this hour is filed

This leaf is S20E03: listed hour 436 of 545 in the Law & Order guide, hour 3 of 23 in season 20. It aired 2009-10-09 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Just a Girl in the World” (S20E02). Next is “Reality Bites” (S20E04). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

Law & Order — Great Satan (S20E03)

Catalog log

Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.

When an aspiring musician is found dead behind a trash can, Detectives Lupo and Bernard find a bag full of cash, leading them to a slew of suspects, including Don Sorenson. Sorenson confesses to shooting the musician when it is revealed that his daughter is thought kidnapped, but the clues don't seem to match up when his daughter, Jill Sorenson, appears back at home after losing her cell phone. Using the stolen cell phone as a guide, the detectives link the case with a bigger terrorist scheme, which could put lives in danger. Meanwhile, Lt. Van Buren begins to seek treatment for her cancer.

Viewer FAQ

Where does Great Satan sit in the Law & Order guide?

S20E03 is listed hour 436 of 545 — hour 3 of 23 in season 20, season 20 episode 3.

When did Law & Order S20E03 air?

Great Satan aired 2009-10-09 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 20

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