Flipped scripts? Imperioli’s character gets heat for a whacking, but not on ‘The Sopranos’

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, May 7, 2006

Michael Imperioli is used to having his character involved in some mischief, mayhem and occasional murder — but not on “Law &Order.”

It’s usually his character on “The Sopranos,” Christopher Moltisanti, who’s up to no good.

Imperioli reprises his guest role on “Law &Order” as Det. Nick Falco at 10 p.m. Wednesday on KING-TV, Channel 5. Falco is the partner of Dennis Farina’s Det. Joe Fontana, but in Wednesday’s episode Falco is the subject of a murder investigation.

“He’s in a bit of trouble,” Imperioli said in an NBC press release. “The last time we saw this character he was going to night school, which he’s still doing, but he was married and had kids. In the interim his wife left him and took the kids. He’s kind of hit hard times.”

In the episode, Falco wakes to discover the woman he took home the night before slashed to death in his bathroom. Detectives Fontana and Green (Jesse L. Martin) and Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) “proceed with a thorough investigation in the hope that their colleague did not commit the crime, but they grow increasingly skeptical of Falco and suspect a cover-up when they learn the detective is conducting his own unauthorized investigation,” NBC says.

Imperioli first visited the show for the last four episodes of the 2004-05 season.