‘Law & Order’: Reid Scott Says Riley Will Be ‘Reconciling’ With That Tragedy ‘for the Rest of His Life’

As Reid Scott told TV Insider ahead of the Thursday, April 2, episode of Law & Order, “the ramifications of an accident itself are massive.” He wasn’t exaggerating.

In “Fate’s Cruel Joke,” while chasing a person of interest in the case and driving a bit recklessly, Riley (Scott) accidentally hits a man. TV Insider spoke with Scott about the aftermath of that and how Riley handles it. Warning: Spoilers for Law & Order Season 25 Episode 16 ahead!

While IAB rules it an accident, Riley’s still torn up when the man dies.

“It’s something that really plays on his psyche. And he’s already, to a certain degree, a bit fragile in that he’s a recovering alcoholic who was estranged from his family for a time because of those issues. And this actually is the thing that spirals him out for a bit,” Scott tells us.

Following that tragedy, Riley falls off the wagon, then, while drunk, tells Pride (Hugh Dancy) that he lied about seeing a weapon in the hand of the person he’d been chasing when the accident occurred. He says he wanted to make his actions appear to be justified because he knows he was being reckless. He wants to tell the truth. Price reminds him he was doing his job and he didn’t want this to happen; it was an accident and he can’t let that destroy the rest of his life. Riley declines to let him call his wife or sponsor and leaves. The episode ends with Riley attending an AA meeting.

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Scott does think that Riley thinks he was being reckless. “He holds himself to an incredibly high standard and thinks — in the fog of war as it were, things are very muddy and you’re making decisions in a split-second timeframe. And this just goes to show that even that split second lapse of judgment can have devastating consequences,” the star explains. “And I think he thinks he should have known better or that he misjudged and he’s not allowed to misjudge, especially when it has these kind of consequences. It’s not like he destroyed property. It’s not like there was just someone minorly injured. He killed a man. And I think this is something that he is going to be reconciling for the rest of his life and that’s going to imprint on him and his character moving forward throughout the life of the show.”

Scott also notes that Riley falling off the wagon is “something that I think strikes everyone as very out of character. They really seen him as a bit of a self-righteous soldier in the last few seasons. And this case gets the better of him because of the tragedy that occurred at his own hand. And it’s just too much for him. He cracks and he lets people down. He misses a court date and he really falters and no one really knows how to reach him. So by the end of the episode, we see Riley back in AA and realizing that he’s got a lot more work to do on himself.”

The actor loves that we’re seeing this different side of his character in what he calls a “standout” episode. “It’s something that we don’t get to see a lot in our heroes,” he says. “I love playing those moments. And I love the message that it’s saying, that these people are not superheroes. They’re not impervious to real emotional trauma and real tragedy, and they’re dealing with issues just like every other human being out there. It was a very emotional episode to play.”

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Looking ahead, Scott thinks that Riley’s “going to be OK. He’s right back on the job. He’s clear of all wrongdoing. I think he’s sort of reinvigorated to follow his program, but like a true soldier, he sort of buries himself in the work. He gets right back on the horse and he gets right back to doing this incredibly hard, dangerous, important job.”

But don’t expect him to open up to his partner, Walker (David Ajala), or lieutenant, Brady (Maura Tierney). Rather, he’s going to keep it to himself.

“I’m sure it’s going to come out here and there,” says Scott. “The actor in me loves playing those moments and continuing those threads. And our writers do a great job of doing that as well without compromising the driving engine of our show, which is to follow these detectives case by case without getting too mired in past incidents. But I think something like this, you have to honor it and you have to continue it a little bit. I think you’ll see it baked into Riley and how he probably just now doubles and triples down on his vigilance and his rigor and his adherence to code.”

What did you think of this episode? Let us know in the comments section below.

Law & Order, Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC