Brian Cassidy
Brian Cassidy | |
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Detective Brian Cassidy is a fictional character played by
The stress of the Special Victims Unit is too much for Cassidy, and he transfers to the Narcotics unit in the middle of the season. Cassidy later returns in the
Winters had previously worked with creator
Character biography
Even though Brian Cassidy is a dedicated member of the Special Victims Unit, he lacks the language to describe sex crimes and the emotional maturity to deal with them.[1] He views his partner, John Munch (Richard Belzer), as a mentor.
Cassidy has a drunken one-night stand with fellow SVU Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) but wants to pursue a relationship with her. She turns him down, citing a policy of not having relationships with co-workers.[1][2] Years later, Benson expresses regret at the way she handled the situation.[3]
These factors and the stress of the unit wear Cassidy down. After Cassidy loses his temper at Benson in front of the squad, Captain
Cassidy returns 12 years later in the
In the episode "Undercover Blue", a prostitute accuses Cassidy of raping her while he was undercover four years prior. Investigation reveals the woman and her boss set Cassidy up to make money from suing the NYPD, and the charges are dropped. Because of the longtime consensual relationship Cassidy had had with a prostitute during his undercover stint, however, he is demoted from detective to officer, working nights at a Bronx courthouse. Benson's and Cassidy's relationship, until now a secret to SVU, is also forced into the open in this episode when Amaro and Munch go to Cassidy's apartment and find Benson there; in
In the episode "Internal Affairs",
At the end of Season 19's "
In "Chasing Demons", Cassidy testifies against a child molester he had physically assaulted during arrest. During
In "Facing Demons", the suicide of a 22-year-old man leads SVU to Gary Dolan (William Sadler), who molested the victim years before. While searching Dolan's apartment, Benson recognizes Cassidy as a boy in one of Dolan's photographs of the many Little League teams he coached. Benson reaches out to Cassidy to see if he has information about Dolan. Cassidy claims to know nothing, but after the visit, Benson gives an update on the case to Stone, who realizes Dolan must be Cassidy's abuser. Stone wants him to testify against Dolan, but he refuses, partly to avoid facing the memories of his abuse and partly to keep Benson from finding out about it. He does help Stone recruit another of Dolan's victims to testify, but the man's testimony is stricken from the record when he admits to drinking alcohol before testifying. Realizing Dolan will go free without any other survivors ready to testify against him, Cassidy, with Benson's encouragement and support, decides to tell the court what Dolan did to him.
Development
"It's amazing. I've wanted to come back for a long time but scheduling difficulties never really permitted it, so, with this storyline, with the [season 13] finale and now what we're doing with the two-hour [season 14] opening movie, it feels like this was the right time to come, so I'm glad I waited."
— Dean Winters, [8]
Although Winters previously worked with Dick Wolf on New York Undercover,[9] he credited fellow cast member Richard Belzer with getting him the job on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Belzer and Winters had first worked together when Winters guest-starred on Homicide: Life on the Street, where Belzer was a regular. Wolf invited Belzer to join the cast of his new Law & Order spinoff after Homicide was cancelled, and Belzer told Wolf he would only join the cast if Winters was his partner on the show.[8][9] Winters had a role at the same time on the HBO drama Oz and, while the SVU role was initially only supposed to last a few episodes, he was contractually obligated to Oz, and eventually departed SVU completely to focus on Oz.[9]
Winters believed that Cassidy was not unintelligent, but simply naive. He voiced early on a desire to executive producer Ted Kotcheff that Cassidy not be made into the "dumb blonde" of the unit because he did not believe there would be any in the Special Victims Unit.[1] Cassidy's character did not see much development, but Winters attributed this to the lack of time the character was on the show. His character appeared during the first half of the first season, when the writers were trying to flesh out all of the characters on the show. Had he remained on the show longer, Winters believed that the writers would have found much more for Cassidy to do.[10]
Winters was not bitter that the SVU role did not work out, and he wanted to return to the series for many years. During the
Awards and decorations
The following are the medals and service awards fictionally worn by Detective Cassidy, as seen in "Internal Affairs".
American Flag Breast Bar | |
NYPD Meritorious Police Duty |
Reception
After the premiere of SVU, Variety's Phil Gallo felt that Cassidy was not given much to do, and what he comes up with is an "irksome single note".[11] Entertainment Weekly's Bruce Fretts agreed that the audience did not get to see enough of Cassidy.[12]
Regarding Cassidy's return to the show, Brittany Frederick of Star Pulse said, "It was a pleasant surprise to see Dean Winters reprise his role as Detective Brian Cassidy last season; his character was with the show so briefly that we didn't really get to know him...Cassidy is an entirely different person now - as he should be after so many years absent - but there's an odd comfort in getting to see him again when the show could've easily come up with a random undercover cop to fill his role."[13]
References
Notes
- ^ a b c d Green, p. 157
- ^ "Closure". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Season 1. Episode 10. January 7, 2000. NBC.
- ^ a b "Above Suspicion". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Season 14. Episode 2. September 26, 2012. NBC.
- ^ "Disrobed". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Season 1. Episode 13. February 4, 2000. NBC.
- ^ "Trials". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Season 10. Episode 1. September 23, 2008. NBC.
- ^ "Rhodium Nights". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Season 13. Episode 23. May 23, 2012. NBC.
- ^ "Lost Reputation". Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Season 14. Episode 1. September 26, 2012. NBC.
- ^ a b c "Dean Winters" (September 19, 2012). "Dean Winters' Official "Law & Order: SVU" Season 14 Premiere Interview" (Interview video). Celebs.com.
- ^ a b c Green, p. 156
- ^ Green, p. 158
- ^ Gallo, Phil (September 19, 1999). "Variety Reviews: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit". Variety. Los Angeles, California: Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
- Time, Inc. Retrieved October 1, 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Frederick, Brittany (September 27, 2012). "'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit' Review: 'Lost Reputation/Above Suspicion' (14.01/14.02)". Star Pulse.com. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
Bibliography
- Green, Susan; Dawn, Randee (September 2009). Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Unofficial Companion. ISBN 978-1-933771-88-5.