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This Law & Order Episode Helped Mehcad Brooks “Heal” His Own “Abandonment Wound”
“It’s rare and also an opportunity that’s filled with gratitude when you can go to work and heal a part of your own past and your own history through your job," Mehcad Brooks told NBC Insider.
The line between fiction and reality blurred for Mehcad Brooks — who plays Law & Order’s tough yet compassionate Detective Jalen Shaw — after a new episode brought up memories of the actor’s own “trauma.”
In the powerful Season 24, Episode 5 installment of the series, titled "Report Card," Shaw was haunted by memories of his own time in the foster care system when a 13-year-old student, who was bounced from one foster home to another, was charged with murdering his teacher.
The emotional storyline also hit close to home for Brooks, who was able to work through his own “abandonment wound” in the process of filming the episode.
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Law & Order episode helped "heal" Mehcad Brooks
“It’s rare and also an opportunity that’s filled with gratitude when you can go to work and heal a part of your own past and your own history through your job," Brooks told NBC Insider of the "Report Card" episode of Law & Order. "And I think that this is one of those moments that touched on that for me.
"Shaw has a deep feminine wound, as I do," Brooks continued. "Shaw has an abandonment wound, just as I do. And so I was able to explore some of his wounds and some of the things that triggered him to trauma that also happened in my life as well. So I think it was a wonderful and rare opportunity for me to take a look at my own life and take a look at his life and work through some issues together.”
While Brooks didn’t go into detail about his past, the episode's storyline was clearly cathartic for the talented actor, who is also known for his work in the film Mortal Kombat, and in television hits like Supergirl, Desperate Housewives and True Blood.
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Who are Mehcad Brooks' parents?
Brooks, whose father is former NFL player and Cincinnati Bengal Billy Brooks, opened up about his childhood in 2021 to the Austin American-Statesman, where his mother, Alberta Phillips, used to work as a journalist. Brooks lived in Austin with his mom and attorney stepfather Gary Bledsoe. He recounted days spent riding his bike through the eclectic Texas city and excelling at sports and in the arts.
“Dinner at our house was like being on the Senate floor,” Brooks joked of the family’s regular discussions on politics and social justice. “You had to cite your sources, too. ... It was like watching the clash of the intellectual titans.”
Brooks grew up to play a character who faces moral and ethical dilemmas each week on Law & Order — and the "Report Card" episode was no exception.
Reid Scott praised Mehcad Brooks' "lights-out performance"
Reid Scott, who plays Shaw’s partner Det. Vincent Riley in the crime procedural, told NBC Insider that Brooks delivered a “lights-out performance” as the conflicted detective in the episode.
“It was a treat for me just to be opposite of what he got to do,” Scott said in a joint interview with Brooks before Season 24 kicked off. “It was very cool.”
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Brooks returned the praise, saying he was “very blessed” to share the screen with his frequent scene partner, and commending Scott for his powerful performance earlier this season in the episode titled “Big Brother.”
“I’ll return the compliment, it’s a treat just to watch him work as well,” he said.
“We’re having a good time,” Scott added.
Since the start of Season 24, Riley and Shaw have been adjusting to their blunt new boss, Lt. Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney), but, according to Brooks, the transition has been easier for Shaw, who is willing to “evolve."
“We do that in our own personal lives as actors, as journalists, as people in society, but I also think Shaw has a lot of experience adjusting and evolving," Brooks explained. "And I think if there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s adjusting to change."
Details revealed about Det. Shaw’s troubled childhood
Shaw’s ability to adapt could have something to do with the instability he faced in his own life during his childhood. The veteran detective opened up about his own brief bout in the foster care system in the "Report Card" episode, after feeling an emotional pull toward the young suspect in the case.
A 13-year-old boy, who was bounced from one foster home to another after losing both of his parents, was accused of fatally shooting his middle school teacher.
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The teen, Anthony Turner, had written lyrics to a rap song threatening the teacher’s life. When the teacher discovered Anthony's link to the song, he threatened to report the kid. Fearing he would be removed from yet another foster home, Anthony went to find the teacher, and brought a gun. He told Shaw that he only meant to “scare” the teacher and that he didn’t think the gun was loaded, but it “went off” when the teacher tried to grab the weapon, ultimately killing him.
When Shaw learned that the school principal received a report that Anthony came to school with a gun that same day, but he failed to search the teen's backpack, warn the teacher or call police to prevent the violence, he suggested that prosecutors go after the principal with criminal charges.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) agreed to charge the principal and give Anthony a deal resulting in only 10 years behind bars in exchange for his testimony. But while Anthony was on the stand testifying, Shaw received a ballistics report that found that the teen's fingerprints were on the bullets, meaning that Anthony not only knew the gun was loaded but had loaded the weapon himself. With this new knowledge, Shaw confronted the teen outside the courtroom.
“You know, when I was your age, I didn’t feel like I had anybody to talk to. Nobody to confide in, nobody to trust. You ever feel like that?” he asked the young teen. “Everybody needs somebody in their corner in this life. Everybody. And what I need is, I need some honesty about the bullets. Now, did you really think that the gun was empty? Tell me the truth.”
“Yeah, I already told you,” Anthony lied.
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After Shaw confronted Anthony with the new fingerprint evidence, the teen ultimately admitted loading the weapon.
“I was scared, man,” he said. “I didn’t want to get kicked out of my foster home.”
With the ballistics report directing contradicting the teen’s testimony on the stand, Shaw was conflicted about what to do with the new information. He knew that if he handed over the information to prosecutors, Anthony would lose his deal and likely face life in prison for the shooting.
As he was mulling over the decision at a local bar, Riley met up with his partner.
“Why are you so intent on helping this kid? Is this some kind of savior thing?” Riley asked.
“If it was, would that be so bad? Trying to help a young brother out who’s never had anybody in his corner and no one ever looking out for him?” a clearly conflicted Shaw replied.
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Riley was able to see the situation more objectively and pointed out that Anthony not only shot his teacher in the chest, but then lied about what happened.
“He played you man,” Riley told him. “He lied to your face, he lied to prosecutors, he lied to the jury. I mean, look, I’m sorry to be blunt, ok, but I’ll just say it. There are some kids that are just beyond saving.”
Det. Shaw opened up to his partner, Riley
Shaw eventually opened up about why the case was so personal for him, explaining that he had once been in Anthony’s shoes.
“You know, when I was his age, my father was stationed in the Persian Gulf, which means I had to stay with my mother. She was a musician and she struggled with drugs. She relapsed and when that happened, they split me and my brother up,” he told Riley. “We went to separate foster homes.”
Shaw lived with a “really nice family” for about a month, he said, but it didn't last.
“It was actually pretty nice, especially considering what I had just been through with my mother, until one day, they just decided they didn’t want me anymore,” an emotional Shaw remembered. “I come home from school and they tell me I’ve got to just — I take my things and go. I was lucky, my father came home the next day and he was able to take care of me, you know.”
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While Riley was sympathetic and acknowledged “that kind of thing leaves a mark,” he also made it clear that the teen murder suspect had made his own choices in life.
“You’re not Anthony, man,” Riley told Shaw. “I don’t care how long you ever would have spent in foster care, there’s no way that you would have picked up a gun and shot your teacher in the chest and then lied about it. There’s no way, ok?”
After talking it out with Riley, Shaw handed the report over to prosecutors and, as predicted, they revoked the teen's deal and opted to try him as an adult for murder.
Shaw picked Anthony up from the juvenile facility to take him to court.
“Where we going?” the confused teen asked.
“To court,” Shaw replied.
“But I already testified,” Anthony said.
“Yeah, I know you did kid, but now you’re going to trial,” Shaw told him.
“Why?” a desperate Anthony asked.
“Because they reinstated the murder charges, that’s why,” Shaw told him before instructing him to “get in the car.”
After buckling the young teenager into the back seat and taking one last look at him, Shaw closed the door and then saw his own reflection in the car window just before the screen faded to black.
To keep up on all the latest Season 24 drama, watch Law & Order on Thursday nights at 8/7c p.m. on NBC or stream episodes on Peacock.
— Reporting by Stephanie Gomulka
