by Grace Alexander

Created on: May 25, 2010

It’s been a wild 20 year ride for NBC’s hit series Law and Order; a ride that has spawned an amazing number of spin offs, and paved the way for later series, setting the bar for crime drama at a level many strive to match - but few succeed.

Tonight’s long awaited finale featured the greatest crisis of all - a bomber set on striking fear into the hearts of New Yorkers by targeting the location where their nearest and dearest spend so much time - schools.

A 13 year old boy was the initial suspect, but it turned out to be sheer idiocy in the kid’s part - his fingerprints on a pipe were easily explained when he said he found it in a field after seeing a video online - a video titled: “My Field Test - Total Success!”

The video linked to a blog with a frightening thrust - the bomber has a very specific plan, and the trustworthy Law and Order team is faced with trying to stop a horrific event from occurring. Lupo, Bernard, Rubirosa, Cragen and Cutter are on the case, with Van Buren and McCoy on the fringes of the action for once.

Not an easy job, particularly for the indomitable Van Buren; she’s distracted by an illness, and perpetual misdiagnoses, misread scans and failed tests have her on edge. Fortunately, her team is hot on the trail of students who claim to have been ‘branded’ by a former teacher who had performed an unorthodox science experiment.

The grand jury is asked to give a blanket subpoena to seize all documents and computers at a local high school in a ‘John Doe’ indictment. The jury balks, many of them parents and objecting to invasion of their children’s privacy, and the attempt to find the bombing suspect is shut down.

Van Buren is exasperated - the projected death toll if the blog bomber’s plan is carried out is staggering. In the meantime, she finds out about a fundraiser being held for her and tries to shut it down - to no avail.

The team starts looking at teachers accused - falsely or otherwise - of abuse towards students. This ranges from real abuse to a swat at an unruly student’s hair or even a female teacher booted for calling a student who tried to take her eye out with scissors a ‘bastard’… making the pool a large one.

No student rosters cross match, however, leading the team to consider maybe they have it backwards - the bomber might be a teacher slighted by a student, not the other way round. They start looking at ‘rubber rooms’ - where teachers in trouble are reassigned.

They find a teacher willing to talk. She has a harrowing tale of a male teacher who was wrongfully accused of molesting a student, lost his girlfriend, and was consigned to the ‘rubber room’ with no hope of ever attaining tenure as a teacher.

The team tracks down the former teacher who moved back home and is now substitute teaching. The SWAT unit moves into the school, evacuating and searching for the supposed bomber - shots have been fired and there is utter panic. The bombs are found and disarmed, but the bomber is still on the loose.

They corner the bomber in the library, where he is on the phone with his former girlfriend. A short skirmish, and they take him down. With only three non-fatal injuries, the last case on Law and Order is closed successfully.

Van Buren finally accepts the fundraising efforts, and introduces Gibson as her fiancée at long last. Her phone rings and she slips away from the crowd to return the call - it’s her doctor with good news.

Law and Order is sure to be in reruns for decades. Take the 20 year trivia quiz at NBC.com!

Learn more about this author, Grace Alexander.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.