RIP, Det. Vincent Riley.
The loyal “Law & Order” cop succumbs to a fatal gunshot wound in this week’s episode, permanently ending actor Reid Scott’s tenure in the procedural. Although news of Scott’s possible departure was announced in July, the plot twist is shocking: Many detectives have left the precinct since the series began, but most of them were off-screen exits — and decidedly bloodless.
Riley’s death is complicated in every way. From the opening of the episode, we see him working alone at the station late at night. He seems to have a lead on something and calls his partner, Det. Theo Walker (played by David Ayala) and Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy); nor pick up. Vince ends up near a bar and sees the guy he’s looking for as he walks through the door. When Riley calls him, the guy starts to run away, then turns and fires two shots into the detective’s chest.
Walker, who received Riley’s message, arrives a moment later, calls 9-1-1 and rushes to help his partner as he bleeds profusely in the street. Later, at the hospital, Walker is shaken when he tells Lt. Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) about the incident — and the fact that the suspect got away. Then Riley’s doctor enters the waiting room: “I’m sorry,” she says, “we’ve done everything we can”: Det. Vincent Riley is dead.
Walker is very emotional and Bradley is very pragmatic, as they break the terrible news to Riley’s wife and children. Afterwards, the lieutenant gently orders Walker to stay away from the murder investigation, lest his involvement spoil the possible court case.
“It’s not your fault, period.”
Meanwhile, Det. Robert Calvino (new actor/“Hightown” alum James Badge Dale) arrives to help. Calvino is a New York native and homicide cop, and Brady tasks him with getting Walker’s statement. Theo sadly says he was with “a friend” when Vince called, and he deeply regrets not picking up. “It’s not your fault,” Calvino reassures him, “period.”
There’s a little red herring – Riley had siphoned large sums of money from his bank account, but they were just guilt payments to the pregnant widow of a man he accidentally ran over and killed – but eventually the team realizes that the guy Vince was following is Ray Biller, the brother of a man the DA’s office prosecuted for murder three years prior. The murderer was convicted and sent to prison… where he was recently killed.
When Ray’s roommate says he was bragging about doing something big soon, and Price notes that the bar where Riley was shot is only a few blocks from his own apartment, it becomes clear: Biller was planning to kill Nolan, the ADA who locked up his brother.
The testimony that turns everything upside down
Vince’s brother Matt (Ryan Eggold) — completely recovered from his coma! – shows up at the arraignment to threaten Biller. Then he corners Walker in a bar and basically demands he say definitively that he saw Biller running away from the scene…despite the fact that Theo definitely didn’t get a good look at his face. So Walker changes his statement slightly, which scandalizes Price (of course) and delights Baxter, who is fighting the case, not least because they haven’t recovered the murder weapon and can’t definitively link it to Biller.
“I respect your principles, I really do,” Baxter says to his colleague in a voice that adds, “but they very often hurt my butt.” And he’s the boss, so he’s going to do what he wants: he puts Walker on the stand, and Theo testifies that there’s no way it wasn’t Ray who was fleeing the bar after shooting Riley. Shortly thereafter, Biller was convicted of murder.
The episode ends with Brady speaking lovingly about Riley as her name is added to a New York Police Department memorial statue.
Now it’s your turn. Will you miss Det. Riley? Let us know in the comments!
Gn entert
