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What’s Going on with Maura Tierney’s Jessica Brady on Law & Order?
For the first time, Law & Order fans got a glimpse into Lt. Jessica Brady's life away from the precinct.
Law & Order’s Lieutenant Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) knows just how to handle a difficult suspect in the interrogation room, but when it comes to navigating challenging relationships within her own family, it seems more complicated.
Fans got their first glimpse at Brady’s life away from the precinct — and her struggle with an adult son with an addiction problem — in Season 24’s “Time Will Tell” episode as the team tackled a case that explored the lengths a mother will go to in order to save her own child.
As it was revealed in the episode, some time before joining the 27th Precinct, Brady made the heartbreaking decision to distance herself from her son Leo after giving him “a hundred chances” to turn his life around.
But after seeing a mom, played by Stranger Things’ Cara Buono, plead guilty to murdering a high school headmaster to keep her presumably guilty daughter from heading to prison for the crime, Brady decided to give her son another chance.
Who are Lt. Jessica Brady’s sons on Law & Order?
Fans first learned about the strained relationship between Brady and her son Leo when her other child, Ryan Brady, played by Steve M. Robertson, surprised his mom outside the precinct during the murder investigation.
Although Ryan initially tried to play it off as just a casual visit, Brady’s well-honed detective skills quickly picked up that there was more to the drop-in, and Ryan confessed that he did have an ulterior motive.
“Leo just got a show on the books, in the Village. It would be great if you could come by and check it out. He’d really appreciate it,” Ryan told her.
“I’d really appreciate it if he got clean,” Brady replied.
Ryan insisted that Leo had been sober for two months and although Brady told him she hoped he was right, she wasn’t willing to welcome Leo back into her life. “We’ve been down this road before,” she told her son.
“I get it. He’s not perfect,” Ryan conceded.
“I’m not expecting him to be perfect,” Brady replied. “Your brother has to grow up now if he wants a chance at a decent life.”
Ryan begged for his mom to “just cut him a break” and give his troubled sibling another chance.
“Give him a chance? A hundred chances. Like I’m the problem here?” she shot back, before telling Ryan that she had to go back to work.
Brady skipped out on her son’s show, but she began to rethink her stance after seeing the extreme lengths Lisa Dumont (Buono) was willing to go to for her daughter Emily (Carmen Flood).
Emily confessed to killing her headmaster in a fit of rage after she was denied special testing time accommodations at her high-pressure high school, something she and her mom felt was need due to her anxiety. Other, richer, students at the school had been granted the accommodations, and the reasons were not always legitimate.
Lisa later fell on the sword for her daughter, giving her own confession to the murder on the stand. She later pleaded guilty and accepted a 20-year prison sentence to save her daughter.
After leaving the courtroom, Brady decided to reach out to her son and left him a heartfelt voicemail.
“Hey, Leo, it’s me, mom. Haven’t seen you in a while," Brady began. "And I really don’t feel great about that, so I was wondering if you wanted to get a bite this weekend, or something? Give me a call when you can. Ok, bye.”
To see if it's ever revealed whether Brady and her son Leo are able to mend their fractured relationship, watch Law & Order on Thursdays at 8/7c p.m. on NBC or stream it the next day on Peacock.
