[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Law & Order Season 25 Episode 6 “Brotherly Love.”]
Can Riley (Reid Scott) — and Price (Hugh Dancy) — trust Matt (Ryan Eggold) to be a key witness in a case again on Law & Order? After all, last time Riley’s brother was supposed to do just that, he lied on the stand and ended up in prison for the charges already stacked up against him. But in the latest episode, Matt seems ready to do the right thing — only for a shocking series of events to occur.
The episode starts off with the brothers reunited now that Matt’s out of prison. But it doesn’t take long for things to get tense; Matt calls out a lack of trust when Riley questions just how he’s making good money when he wants to pay for dinner. It turns out that he’s working as a waiter at a restaurant, and Riley meets his boss at the dinner. Declan raves about Matt as an employee. Later that night, Declan is killed on his way home.
When Riley asks Matt if Declan had any enemies — he was found with a switchblade next to him, suggesting he was concerned about a threat — his brother says he doesn’t know anything. Matt also makes sure Riley knows how much it meant to him that he came to dinner the night before.
While at first it seems like Declan was loved by everyone, they soon discover he cut another business owner out of a deal, slept with married women, and was in serious debt. It’s the last one that turns out to be the motive for his murder: He was a gambler, and he owed a lot of money.
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Matt reluctantly tells Riley that he played some poker games with Declan (it violates his parole), and at one, he saw the guy who runs the nights, Shane, threaten to kill the victim if he didn’t pay up. The other witness, a basketball player, refuses to testify, and the same is true for everyone else (including a judge and a Hollywood producer) present. Shane claims to have an alibi when they bring him in, but he used AI to fake photos and is caught on video tossing something that looks like a gun near the crime scene right after the 9-1-1 call. Price refuses to use Matt as a witness. But Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) argues it’s worth a shot and tells him to take the chance since it’s all they’ve got.
The day before Matt’s set to testify, he calls Riley about someone following him, seemingly trying to send a message. Riley offers to have a patrol officer sit outside his house, but Matt brushes it off. Riley then wonders if he’s going to get cold feet again and makes it clear that he’d better be in court when Price calls him. But he’s a no-show when he’s called … and then Riley finds out he’s in the hospital because he was stabbed. The doctor warns Riley that he’s lost a lot of blood and there’s damage to his lungs. He’s not sure if Matt will make it.
Riley feels guilty that he didn’t believe Matt that he was being followed. Then, he sees the stabbing on video, and the person responsible matches the description Matt had given him. With facial recognition software, they’re able to ID him, and Riley has to be told to stop by another officer when the guy fights back during the arrest.
When Riley visits Matt in the hospital, he’s developed a bacterial infection. Riley apologizes for not believing him, listing things he wishes he’d done, but Matt just tells him he wants to testify. And so he does just that from the hospital bed. After he testifies to what he saw and heard, Shane’s lawyer, Delahunt (Alimi Ballard), suggests that he’d do everything possible to help his brother, but Matt won’t have it. His testimony is basically one big speech about how proud he is of Riley.
“Detective First Grade, that means he’s the best of the best,” Matt says when Shane’s lawyer first brings up Riley. And when Riley’s character is called into question, Matt immediately jumps to his defense. “Are you kidding me right now? No way, not even close, Vinny’s not like that, he’s the most standup guy I know,” he says. “Just to be clear on this, my brother would never ask me to lie for him, never. For you to suggest he would tells me you don’t know my brother. He’s so much better than that.” It’s heartbreaking, especially watching Riley listen, because we have a sinking feeling about where this is going.
After Shane is found guilty of murder in the second degree, Riley’s called to the hospital. Because of complications due to the bacterial infection, they’ve had to medically induce a coma. It doesn’t look good. Riley goes in to see his brother. “You did good, Matty. You did really good,” he says, crying, and kisses his head. “I love you.”
But Law & Order isn’t about to kill off Matt, right? Scott and Eggold — who’s so good in the role — are great onscreen together, and it would be a shame to lose the possibility of more in the future.
What did you think of Ryan Eggold’s return as Matt? Do you think Law & Order is about to kill off Riley’s brother? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Law & Order, Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC
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