The 'Law and Order' franchise, namely prime-'Special Victims Unit', did often excel in episodes where there is a lot of emotional impact and where one cannot bring themselves to hate all the character that commit the crimes. Part of the original 'Law and Order', 'Special Victims Unit' and 'Criminal Intent's' appeal, and prime-'Law and Order' was the best at this, is again how it deals with tough themes and subject matters and tackles any dilemmas that come with them and solving cases.
One of the strongest examples of all the above is "Mother Love". One of Season 3's best and one of its most emotionally powerful, with memorable guest supporting turns, a powerful case and it was great to see Robinette shine. Always did like him as a character and always did wish that he lasted longer on the show, and he is a strong character when his material is particularly meaty like it very much is in "Mother Love" when his feelings on the case is the source of the episode's moral dilemmas.
Everything here in "Mother Love" is wonderful. Everything that made prime-'Law and Order' so great and what contributes towards its best is all evident here. It's slickly shot and tightly edited with no drabness or garishness in sight, even with the gritty tone. The music is not too melodramatic and is thankfully not constant.
All the performances are strong. Jerry Orbach, love Briscoe's one-liners, and Michael Moriarty, doing conflicted edge better than most of the actors playing the show's primary attorneys, are spot on. But it was great too to see Richard Brooks be such a powerful presence, and one can identify completely with his objection. Mary Alice and Douglas Turner Ward are agreed affecting as the parents and one cannot bring themselves to hate the responsible.
Case is both tense and incredibly heart-wrenching, the subject is a difficult and hardly out of date one now and it's dealt with tactfully and with sensitivity. It's beautifully scripted too, nothing came over as misplaced to me and it doesn't take itself too over-seriously that it becomes dreary. The moral dilemmas surrounding how to deal with the case and the issue with race is not one-sided in how it's explored and doesn't preach even with the amount of insight there is here. The dialogue in the legal scenes really makes one deep in thought and resonates emotionally quite some while after.
Summing up, wonderful. 10/10