Episode 4 of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent airs tonight, and it will feature a scene of a mayor who smokes crack. It’s a plot line that many Torontonians may be familiar with, as it’s a (not-so-subtle) reference to the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford.
The episode, dubbed Crack Reporter, will focus on a stabbing on a crowded transit walkway. The detectives will be thrown into the middle of a heated mayoral race as they investigate the murder of a local journalist.
Omg I just saw the @lawandorderto teaser for this upcoming episode 👀
Toronto’s new Law & Order series has a crack-smoking mayor scandal https://t.co/Uh4AukbU12— Dr.VivianS (@DrVivianS) March 10, 2024
According to the Toronto Star, as the officers dig deeper into the murder, all clues lead back to a damaging video of Toronto’s mayor.
A clip of this episode can be seen in the series’ official trailer. The scene shows a news report of a crack-smoking mayor with a caption that reads, “Breaking News! Crack mayor! Video posted on account of slain reporter Tatiana Wynn,” apparently a fictional reference to the video of Ford smoking crack, which made headlines across the globe a little over a decade ago.
Ford was elected as Toronto mayor in 2010. In 2013, he was caught up in a ‘crack cocaine’ video scandal, after two Toronto Star journalists reported seeing Ford in a video of him smoking crack. The video was shopped around by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade, who were reportedly attempting to sell the video for $200,000. Months later, Ford admitted to smoking crack cocaine, and the infamous video of him doing so was publicly released in August 2016. Ford died in 2016 from a rare form of cancer.
As for tonight’s episode of Law & Order, viewers can expect moments of authenticity, as city council scenes were filmed in the real council chambers at City Hall.
The one-hour crime drama—which is based on real headlines from high-profile Toronto criminal cases—follows a squad of detectives who investigate high-profile crime and corruption in metro Toronto. It stars Aden Young as Detective Sergeant Henry Graff and Kathleen Munroe as Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman (apparently parts of tonight’s episodes were filmed at City Hall).
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent airs on Thursday nights at 8 pm on Citytv.
