The following contains major spoilers from Law & Order Season 23, Episode 12, "No Good Deed," which debuted Thursday, May 9 on NBC. It also contains discussion of sexual assault.

It won't shock any TV viewer to know that Law & Order has been on the air for 500 episodes -- it's one of TV's longest-running dramas. What is surprising is that the 500th episode is not a special event. Season 23, Episode 12, "No Good Deed" is like any other Law & Order episode. The special element is that it finally does what the show has needed to do since Sam Waterston left as District Attorney Jack McCoy.

"No Good Deed" actually risks veering into trope territory, as the case of the week is related to one that Jack's deputy Nolan Price handled in his past. But what happens works to the show's advantage, because Price and his new supervisor Nicholas Baxter take center stage -- and get the character development that both characters have desperately needed. "No Good Deed" sets Law & Order up for success... not only in the rest of Season 23, but for the future.

Law & Order Season 23, Episode 12 Tells a Simple Story

That Simplicity Allows for a More Complex Second Act

Law & Order has never been known for overly complicated stories because of its bifurcated format, but even by that standard, "No Good Deed" is very straightforward. Viewers will know what happened within the first 15 minutes and just be waiting for the police to prove it. Even once the episode moves into the "Order" phase, the guest characters are very simply drawn. When therapist Angela Hart is murdered, suspicion initially falls on her boyfriend -- as they predictably had a fight before her death -- before pivoting to the convicted rapist that she was treating. The bad guy is very bad. The defense attorney wants to blame the boyfriend. The judge is clearly favoring the defense. Every person in the case of the week has a clearly defined character type and role, and once again Law & Order chooses a negative ending when it doesn't add anything to the story.

Normally, that would be one-dimensional storytelling; audiences experienced that with Law & Order Season 23, Episode 11, "Castle in the Sky." However, "No Good Deed" has a justifiable reason for simplifying things down that far: because the case of the week is really just one giant dramatic device. The real point of the episode is that it provides Nicholas Baxter an excuse to step out of the District Attorney's office and into the courtroom, and from there a showcase for the relationship between Baxter and Price, which has vacillated back and forth ever since Baxter took over.

By clearly identifying Shawn Payne as the killer and making him a terrible character -- although he's nothing compared to the heinous villains on Law & Order: SVU -- the script draws the audience's attention away from the particulars of the plot and onto Price and Baxter. Viewers know without a doubt that they want the prosecution to win and can thus share in Baxter and Price's frustrations as they struggle in front of the judge. Thus when those frustrations boil over for both main characters, everything makes sense. There wouldn't be time to explore Baxter or Price, or to give Tony Goldwyn and Hugh Dancy the meaty scenes they deserve, if the case wasn't so simple.

Law & Order Finally Lets Nolan Price and Nicholas Baxter Loose

Hugh Dancy and Tony Goldwyn Deliver a One-Two Punch

Audiences have been waiting for Nolan Price to explode for quite some time -- because the new Law & Order has always been in need of a character who will light a fire under the venerable old format. Hugh Dancy is an incredible actor, but has felt restrained by the model that this show has to follow. When Nicholas Baxter was introduced in Season 23, Episode 7, "Balance of Power," Dancy got a more than able sparring partner in Tony Goldwyn, and his character Price had a reason to be ticked off. But Law & Order seemed not to be sure what it wanted to do with either character beyond a few mildly annoying arguments, and the hope for a great inciting incident faded away.

That moment comes with a bang in "No Good Deed" and then some, as both Price and the audience finally understand what Baxter is all about. First, there's the fun of watching Baxter in the courtroom; Tony Goldwyn played the President of the United States for years in ABC's critically acclaimed Scandal, so he is an immediate and natural fit when it comes to witness examinations and having the presence to make the legal manuevers interesting. That also means audiences can watch Dancy in the second chair, which is not an easy spot to be in; there's very little to say and a lot of reacting. Yet Dancy communicates a whole arc going through Price's head while he's sitting still. He's not passive; he's making clear how Price is trying to read Baxter at the same time he's keeping up with the trial.

Nicholas Baxter: I think your perception of me is starting to affect our relationship.

When the two characters have it out in Baxter's office following some damning testimony from a defense witness, it's the best scene in Law & Order Season 23, without a doubt. This is the passion and the idealism and the real conflict that this series needs. It needs to have a personality of its own, the way that Chicago Justice had a point of view led by Peter Stone. Price finally gets to stand up for himself and what he believes in, and Baxter is finally able to show for sure that he's not just the anti-McCoy for the sake of having the anti-McCoy. He gets, for the first time, some clear definition as a boss, as a lawyer and as a human being. And it goes without saying, but Hugh Dancy and Tony Goldwyn make a really great team together, now that they're able to spread their wings. The moments in which both characters explode -- Price on Baxter and Baxter on the judge -- are worth standing up and cheering for, because they're clear proof of how wonderful these actors are and how great these lawyers can be.

Was Law & Order's 500th Episode Worthy of the Milestone?

Season 23, Episode 12 Could Pave the Way for 500 More

Nolan Price: I'm just trying to do my damn job. That's the truth.

It's a relief that Wolf Entertainment and NBC didn't make a big deal out of Law & Order's 500th episode, because that lets the episode just be itself, without any added expectations or fanfare. Most milestone hours are heavily promoted and jam-packed productions -- and in many cases they should be. Chicago Fire's 100th episode is still one of its best episodes. But it's very easy to make a big, loud, overly complicated thing that becomes more about the event than just telling a good story. If the ethos of Law & Order is being the most traditional of traditional crime dramas, then it makes sense that this landmark episode would be just another day at the office.

And it paves the way for a much brighter future in Season 23 and maybe even beyond. If the show can build on this episode and continue to invest more in its characters, it will get the personality it needs. There are ways to respect the series' strict format and still make interesting characters; just look at Jerry Orbach's iconic Detective Lennie Briscoe or what Sam Waterston did with McCoy. The writers just need to give the characters room -- and not the typical "very special episode" kind of room where a character's friend dies or they do something that gets them in trouble. If they can trust these talented actors, and lean into the things that these actors can do, there will be genuinely interesting things that happen naturally. Even the moment when Mehcad Brooks' character Jalen Shaw throws a chair in the interrogation room is great, because audiences are surprised to see it and left wondering if there's a story behind it.

It's just those extra moments that will help Law & Order stand up against the more character-driven procedurals that have become the new normal. "No Good Deed" is not the most dramatic episode, or the most complex, or the most "ripped from the headlines" -- but it is the exact episode that Law & Order needs to unlock its full potential, let its actors take their game to where they can easily go, and pave the way for a few more seasons of crime drama.

Law & Order airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. on NBC.