Odor in The Court - Production

Production

"Odor in the Court" marked the end of one the show's most on-again/off-again storylines: Who killed Fey Sommers, and with that Claire's career as a criminal. While that one may have run its course, the question of other storylines featured in this episode, including Wilhelmina's "planned" pregnancy, the Betty/Henry/Gio triangle, Amanda's search for her father among them, are still up in the air. In an interview with USA Today, producer Silvio Horta notes that "The strike basically killed everything." "We're still going to do it, and we hope it's this year. But the reality is, we don't know what's left of the season. We're in limbo."

For actress Judith Light, being in courtrooms is nothing new, for this is the third time in her television career in which her characters found themselves on opposite sides of the law on a TV series, her first being on One Life to Live where she played Karen Wolek, whose role spawned one of the show's most-remembered storylines in which her character became a prostitute after she became bored with her life as a housewife. On trial, Karen saved her friend Victoria Lord from being convicted of killing her pimp by admitting that she had been a prostitute to the entire town, including her faithful husband, who would later divorce her. The second time around, Light became a recurring regular on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where she plays Judge Elizabeth Donnelly, who served as an Bureau Chief ADA in the Manhattan District Attorney's office before being appointed to the bench in Season 7. Light was at the time a recurring regular on that series when "Betty" was still filming and after its ending continues in that role.

A pair of fellow shows produced by ABC Studios got referenced in this episode, as Hilda and Justin mentioned Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice respectively.

As for the perfume, the Los Angeles Times did an article about whether a fragance like the one described in this episode can actually be dangerous

This is the second episode, after "Sofia's Choice", to start at the climax of the episode and then flash back to what happened earlier.