"Steel-Eyed Death" is the thirteenth episode of the twentieth season of NBC's long-running legal drama ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

''.

Plot

A family of four is found murdered in their home. One of the killers is a boy experiencing symptoms of a type of

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

. In this episode, Detective Lupo admits he had PTSD and a drinking problem after seeing a horrible crime scene on a past Christmas.

Production

"Steel-Eyed Death" was directed by Michael Pressman and written by Christopher Ambrose, Julie Martin, and Richard Sweren.

Cultural references

Music by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n horrorcore rap artist KidCrusher is featured in the episode, including the songs "Killin' Shit" and "A Dirty Fuckin' Murder". The artist said he was told the episode was based on a horrorcore festival when he allowed his music to be featured in "Steel-Eyed Death". Upon learning the episode depicted

Juggalo A juggalo (feminine juggalette, or juggala in Spanish) is a fan of the hip hop group Insane Clown Posse or any other hip hop group signed to Psychopathic Records. Juggalos have developed their own idioms, slang, and characteristics. Th ...

s, he later claimed to be angry that his music was used. He said, "I am pretty pissed off to hear they based the episode on Juggalos and try to make us all look like criminals and real

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

s, and that we would kill kids." This episode is partially inspired by the Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III case. McCroskey, an amateur horrorcore rapper who was heavily inspired by horrorcore rap artist

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

and went by the name "Syko Sam", was accused of murdering four people in

Farmville, Virginia Farmville is a town in Prince Edward and Cumberland counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. The population was 8,216 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Prince Edward County. Farmville developed near the headwaters of the Appomattox R ...

. The victims were a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

pastor, his estranged wife, their teenage daughter (who had been dating McCroskey), and one of their daughter's friends.

Reception

"Steel-Eyed Death" drew criticism from Juggalos and fans of horrorcore hip hop music, who felt the episode unfairly equated the music genre and its fans with violent crime and murder. In its original American broadcast on March 1, 2010, "Steel-Eyed Death" was watched by 7.58 million average households over the hour, and received 1.9/5 aged between 18 and 49, according to

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

. The episode had outperformed ''

Life Unexpected ''Life Unexpected'' is an American teen drama television series that aired for two seasons from January 18, 2010 to January 18, 2011. It was produced by Best Day Ever Productions and Mojo Films in association with CBS Productions and Warner Bro ...

'' on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, which drew only 1.88 million households. "Steel-Eyed Death" had 0.98 million viewers less than the episode of '' 24'' that aired on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

that night which drew 8.56 million viewers.

References

External links

* Law & Order episodes 2010 American television episodes Television episodes about death {{Law & Order