The Shocking Way the Law & Order Season 24 Finale Ended
Law & Order's Season 24 finale, “Look the Other Way," implied that a major character could be responsible for a heinous act.
Did a dedicated Law & Order crime fighter just take the law into her own hands?
That’s the shocking question fans were left scrambling with after the man believed to have killed Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun’s (Odelya Halevi) sister, and another victim, was shot down in the street shortly after getting acquitted for murder in the Season 24 finale, “Look the Other Way.”
The harrowing episode ended without revealing who pulled the trigger — and whether it could have been Maroun.
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It all began after a 19-year-old model, Georgia (Hazel Graye), was found beaten to death on the streets of New York City. Detectives Vincent Riley (Reid Scott) and Jalen Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) landed the case and quickly got to work trying to chase down suspects.
But the case took a surprising turn when Lieutenant Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) made the jaw-dropping discovery that DNA found on the victim’s body matched to another unsolved homicide from 12 years earlier — and the victim in that case was Maroun’s sister, Christina.
What happened to Samantha Maroun’s sister?
Maroun's sister Christina was killed in Queens 12 earlier, according to the Season 24 finale of Law & Order. The crime was never solved and Lt. Brady noted the case file was “pretty thin.”
At the time, detectives classified the killer as an anonymous John Doe, and without any further evidence to go on, the case went cold.
Investigators finally got a break in the homicides of both Christina and Georgia after Brady made the controversial decision to run the DNA found on Georgia through a public genealogy database, which turned up a “familial hit.” Investigators then tracked down the woman related to the person whose DNA was found on the victim.
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They learned that one of the woman's relatives, a handsome realtor named Carter Mills (Jordan M. Cox), was someone detectives had already interviewed in the new case. Mills had initially admitted to meeting Georgia outside an art gallery, but claimed that’s as far as their interaction went. But police found surveillance footage of the pair together on a later date and one of Georgia’s friends told police that Carter raped her that night.
Detectives surmised that she was killed three days later because Mills had been afraid she’d come forward with the rape allegations and was desperately trying to cover his tracks. They also found her blood on shoes in his apartment.
What happened to Samantha Maroun in the Law & Order Season 24 finale?
With a strong case against Mills, Brady personally brought the NYPD's findings to Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) and Maroun.
After giving them a basic rundown, she asked to speak to Maroun privately to reveal something “personal,” but Maroun assured her that she could speak freely in front of Price.
Brady dropped the case's stunning connection to Christina, which left Maroun reeling. She quickly fled to a nearby conference room to try to collect herself as Price followed closely behind.
“I’m OK,” she insisted. “I’ve just, a, been thinking about this day for years, you know, it’s finally here. It’s just out of nowhere.”
Maroun admitted that while it was “great news” that the killer had been identified, it wouldn't bring her sister back.
“I can’t imagine what this must be like. Just know that I am going to nail this guy on both murders," Price told Maroun, making it clear that he intended on handling the prosecution alone.
Maroun wasn’t content to just sit on the sidelines though, so they agreed that she could work on the case “behind the scenes,” but would have to leave the actual prosecution to Price.
But Maroun struggled to stay in the background, especially after a judge ruled to throw out the DNA evidence because of the method Brady used to match it to Mills. Without the DNA, Christina’s case fell apart, but the district attorney's office still felt there was enough evidence to tie Mills to Georgia’s murder.
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“There’s only one thing left to do and it’s to bury this piece of crap right here and now,” a determined Maroun told Price and District Attorney Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) after the setback. “This is our only chance. I’m going to head to my office, get to work.”
After spending hours poring over surveillance footage and evidence, Maroun found a possible eyewitness, a doorman who had passed Mills on his way to work on the night of Georgia's murder, just a block from the crime scene.
But when Maroun went on her own to talk to the doorman, he couldn’t be sure who he saw that evening, even after she showed him the video from that night. She insisted they needed him to “at least try” to identify him.
As the trial got underway, Maroun couldn’t resist coming to court and angrily faced off with Mills outside on the courthouse steps, forcing Price to insist that she stay away from the courtroom proceedings until the verdict.
The doorman — who managed to successfully pick Mills out of a lineup — was all set to take the stand, but when Price went to prep him the night before his scheduled testimony, the attorney learned that Maroun had stepped over the line to get the identification.
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The doorman informed Price that Maroun told him that prosecutors “knew for a fact” that Mills was the killer and also told him that the suspect would be easy to pick out of the lineup because he “looked like a model.”
Unsure how to proceed, Price confronted Maroun at her apartment. Maroun admitted that she may have “gone a little bit too far” with the witness, but implored Price to look the other way and call him to the stand anyway.
“Nolan, this is my sister we’re talking about, OK? My sister,” she begged. “So maybe, forget about the law and think about me, think about my family.”
Clearly tormented, Price sought the counsel of Baxter, who told him that maybe the “right thing to do is to actually look the other way.”
But the eternally moral Price couldn’t put aside his feelings of right and wrong and decided not to call the doorman to the stand.
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How does the Law & Order Season 24 finale end?
Without the doorman’s testimony, the jury found Mills not guilty and he was declared a free man as Maroun and Georgia’s anguished family looked on.
Later that day, Mills was gunned down outside. After visiting the crime scene, Price went to Maroun’s apartment. Maroun answered the door, still wearing the same clothes she had on in court.
“Please tell me you had nothing to do with this,” Price begged her.
A shocked and emotional Maroun stared at him, but made no reply.
“For God’s sake, Sam,” Price tried again before Maroun shut the door on him.
Fans were left to wonder whether Maroun had just been upset that Price thought she was capable of taking a life — or whether she had something to do with Mills’ death.
Season 24 ended with Maroun’s fate hanging in the balance in an intense cliffhanger that will keep fans guessing for months to come.
Although there won’t be an answer until Season 25, fans can catch up on all Season 24 episodes they may have missed of Law & Order, now streaming on Peacock.
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