Detectives
Robert Goren
- Portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio.
- Episodes: "One" - "Loyalty (Part 2)", "Rispetto" - "To the Boy in the Blue Knit Cap"
Robert Goren is a quirky, extraordinarily intelligent investigator and criminal profiler, known for his instinct and insight. Often, Goren's intuition, rather than solid evidence, turns out to be the case-breaker. Each episode, Goren typically employs his knowledge of an unusually wide range of topics, from theoretical physics, chemistry, and literature to history, psychology, and multiple foreign languages. Goren once served in the Army Criminal Investigation Division, stationed in Germany and South Korea, and worked in the NYPD's Narcotics Division before transferring to Major Case (in the first-season episode "The Insider", it is revealed that he worked on three undercover operations resulting in 27 arrests and convictions).
The Robert Goren character is very reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes; he notices tiny-yet-important details ignored by others, and possesses broad, almost encyclopedic knowledge. Frequently, Goren obtains crucial information and confessions by psychologically manipulating and provoking suspects and their associates. Mental illness seems to run in Goren's family: his mother suffered from schizophrenia and his biological father was a serial killer. During the series, Goren's history, coupled with his unorthodox style, became a source of trouble within the NYPD, spawning rumors and accusations that he was mentally unstable. In particular, this view was held by the Chief of Detectives, who suspended him for six months without pay after he embarked on an unauthorized undercover infiltration of a prison's mental ward. In the season 7 finale, he lost his brother Frank (Tony Goldwyn) to his archnemesis Nicole Wallace. In the course of the investigation, he realized that his mentor, Dr. Declan Gage, had orchestrated the deaths of his brother and Wallace. During season eight, he begins to recover after the events of season 7. In "Loyalty", Goren and Eames are pulled off a pair of homicides by Ross, who informs them that the FBI has taken an interest in the case. Ross is later murdered as well, their prime suspect is taken into custody by the FBI, provoking Goren into a physical altercation that leads to his suspension. He continues to investigate on his own and eventually learns of a plan by the FBI to allow GPS-tagged weapons to be distributed to terrorist camps in Somalia, so that the camps could be easily targeted and wiped out. He is then fired by Eames, who had recently been offered a promotion to captain of the Major Case Squad; she subsequently quits instead.
Alexandra Eames
- Portrayed by Kathryn Erbe.
- Episodes: "One" - "Loyalty (Part 2)", "Rispetto" - "To the Boy in the Blue Knit Cap"
Alexandra Eames is the quiet, practical partner who generally seems to mesh well with Goren despite the noticeable personality differences between the two. She worked in the NYPD's Vice Division for four years before transferring to Major Case. Her character is much like the screen portrayals of Holmes's partner Doctor Watson: a lesser equal, overshadowed by the charismatic presence of a prodigious partner. While still an assertive and no-nonsense cop and the senior partner of the pairing, much of Eames's dialogue consists of sarcastic, pun-heavy observations delivered at dramatically opportune moments (much like Law & Order's Detective Lennie Briscoe character).
There are occasional hints of a strong affection, and even jealousy, between the two partners, but their relationship has never become romantic. Their working relationship is more formal than that of the lead detectives in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit –Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay)– who typically address each other by their given names and have strong emotional interplay. Goren and Eames typically address each other by surname, but when either Eames or Goren is particularly stressed, she calls him "Bobby". She is a legacy officer: her father and late husband were both cops. In the third season, Eames embarked on a surrogate pregnancy for her sister and brother-in-law and, before her maternity leave, was assigned to desk duty at the police station; her work in the field with Goren was covered by G. Lynn Bishop. Recently, Goren and Eames' working relationship has become more strained, as she has become fed up with what she sees as Goren's habit of taking her for granted, expecting her to run interference for his off-beat tactics and style with both co-workers and superiors without acknowledging her contributions. These feelings boil over in the episode "Purgatory", after Goren embarks on a secret undercover mission for his superiors, and fails to inform her. Eames takes Wheeler's place starting in the episode "Major Case". In the episode "Loyalty," she and Goren are pulled off a pair of homicides by Ross, who has been working undercover for the FBI on a case involving one of the victims. When Ross is subsequently murdered, Goren soon gets into a physical altercation with the prime suspect, leading to his suspension and Eames' decision to covertly help him with his own investigation. She is offered a promotion to captain of the Major Case Squad on the condition that she fire Goren, but after doing so, she puts her badge and gun on Ross' desk and resigns.
Eames returns to the NYPD and the Major Case Squad at the start of Season 10, again partnered with Goren. They are brought back to duty at the request of the new squad captain, Joseph Hannah (Jay O. Sanders), who has been a friend of Goren since their initial training at the police academy. Since the end of Criminal Intent, Eames has appeared twice on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , holding the rank of Lieutenant and commanding a task force formed jointly by the NYPD and the federal Department of Homeland Security.
G. Lynn Bishop
- Portrayed by Samantha Buck.
- Episodes: "Pravda" - "Mad Hops"
Bishop is introduced in the episode "Pravda" as the temporary partner of Det. Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio), [2] assigned to the Major Case Squad of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), due to Det. Alexandra Eames volunteering to serve as a surrogate mother for her sister's baby. Her character was only a temporary replacement and was not seen after Eames returned from maternity leave. Bishop and Goren often seem to have a lack of chemistry between them. She finds it difficult to keep up with Goren's many unorthodox ways of solving a case, something Eames had gotten accustomed to. Goren exacerbates the situation by making unfavorable comparisons between Bishop and Eames.
Mike Logan
- Portrayed by Chris Noth.
- Episodes: "Stress Position", "Grow" - "Last Rites"
Logan is a troubled detective who formerly worked in the detectives squad of Manhattan's 27th precinct (from 1990 to 1995, on Law & Order). He was banished to the NYPD's career graveyard (Staten Island) after publicly punching a homophobic politician who had murdered a gay man whom Logan had grudgingly come to respect; however, Logan redeemed himself by solving a dirty-cop murder-conspiracy case (the NBC TV movie Exiled: A Law & Order Movie ). He was transferred from Staten Island to the NYPD's Domestic Disputes department. Logan first appeared on Criminal Intent in the fourth-season episode "Stress Position", through his romantic involvement with a nurse employed at a prison being investigated by Goren and Eames. At the beginning of season five, he was officially transferred to the Major Case Squad at the behest of Capt. Deakins, in the episode "Grow". In addition, Logan was involved in the "officer-involved shooting" used to fuel the career-ending conspiracy against Capt. Deakins. After solving a 16-year homicide case in the episode "Last Rites", dissatisfaction with the corruption and overall inflexibility of the justice system drove him to leave the force.
Carolyn Barek
| Det. Carolyn Barek | |
|---|---|
| Law & Order character | |
| First appearance | "Diamond Dogs" |
| Last appearance | "The Good" |
| Portrayed by | Annabella Sciorra |
| In-universe information | |
| Title | NYPD Detective |
| Family | Father Mother 2 brothers 1 sister |
| Partner | Mike Logan |
| Seasons | 1 (Season 5) |
Det. Carolyn Barek is partnered with Detective Mike Logan throughout the fifth season of the show. Annabella Sciorra abruptly departed the cast at the end of the season and was written out in the sixth season.
Carolyn Barek is a criminal profiler from Brooklyn's Cobble Hill, and spent two years post-9/11 with the FBI. In addition to English, she also speaks Polish, Spanish, Italian, Creole, Russian, Cantonese, and Yiddish. Barek's badge number is 6141. [3]
Barek previously worked without a partner, which accounts for her habit of talking to herself while examining a crime scene. [3] She hints that her mother was strict; when a girl who abuses heroin dresses in front of her and Logan in the hospital, she tells Logan her mother would have killed her if she dressed or undressed in front of complete strangers. [3] Barek is Catholic and, in contrast to Logan, she believes that even the worst sinner deserves forgiveness. Barek's father was a carpenter who was in a union. Barek admits to having a former boyfriend with a gambling problem, and spent two years trying to help him before ending the relationship. [4]
She and Logan do not always see eye to eye, but she supports him when he needs it. For example, she publicly backs him when he accidentally shoots an undercover cop. [5] She also notices when he falls ill, and takes him to a healer; the healer reveals that Logan came into contact with poison ivy, which he is allergic to, and inadvertently helps them solve the case. [6]
Barek does not appear on the show after the end of the fifth season. She was replaced by Megan Wheeler. No reason for her apparent departure is stated by the show, but in the sixth season, it is hinted that she and Logan did not part on good terms: When the new captain, Danny Ross sarcastically mentions to Logan that he can get Barek back if Wheeler does not work out, Logan responds by rolling his eyes and grimacing. [7]
Annabella Sciorra reprised her role as Barek in the 22nd season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , for the episode "Hunt, Trap, Rape, and Release". Barek, newly promoted to lieutenant and placed in command of the Bronx SVU, joins forces with Captain Olivia Benson and her team to find a serial rapist whose victims live in both Manhattan and the Bronx. [8] When one of her detectives is revealed to be the rapist, she believes her NYPD career to be over; instead of forcing her to retire, though, Deputy Chief Garland transfers her from SVU to Homicide and urges her not to draw any attention to herself.
Megan Wheeler
| Megan Wheeler | |
|---|---|
| Law & Order character | |
| First appearance | "Tru Love" |
| Last appearance | "Major Case" |
| Portrayed by | Julianne Nicholson |
| In-universe information | |
| Family | Margo Jane Wheeler (daughter) Colin John Ledger (ex-fiancé) |
| Partner | Mike Logan Zack Nichols |
| Seasons | 6, 7, 8 |
Megan Wheeler becomes a detective in the Major Case Squad when she replaces Carolyn Barek as Mike Logan's partner. She transfers in with the new captain, her mentor Danny Ross. She had worked undercover for three years—including assignments on vice, drugs, and white-collar crime—and handled a money laundering probe with Ross. [9] [10]
During an investigation, Wheeler recalls how her mother had to become a waitress to support both of them when Wheeler's father abandoned them. It is later revealed that Wheeler's father, a lawyer connected to the American Mafia, disappeared 20 years before and is either in hiding or dead—killed by the mob. Her father had allegedly been getting a cut of mob profits, which helped pay Wheeler's private school tuition; but the arrangement ended after a change of mob bosses. [11]
When Wheeler first joins the Major Case Squad, Logan questions whether someone as young as her would be capable of handling major homicide cases, and he remarks that she is his first partner to have freckles. Ross replies that, in her three years undercover, "no one ever made her." [9] However, the age difference proves useful when Wheeler is familiar with the shorthand used by adolescents in text messaging one another. However, she is shown in the same episode to be unable to hear the ultrasonic ring tone used by a teenage suspect to sneak a cell phone into school, a frequency that it was claimed few people over age 30 can detect. [9] She gets engaged to a businessman named Colin Ledger (played by Nicholson's husband, Jonathan Cake). [12] Eventually, however, Ledger is arrested by the FBI for fraud, money laundering, and racketeering. [13]
At the end of Season 6, Wheeler tells Logan that she is going to Europe to teach a course on American police procedure (This story explained the absence of Julianne Nicholson, who was taking maternity leave). [14] During her absence in Season 7 she is replaced by Detective Nola Falacci. Wheeler returns to the Major Case Squad in "Contract".
After Logan leaves the squad and retires, [13] Wheeler is assigned a new partner, Zack Nichols. Ross mentions to Nichols that Wheeler seems to have had issues with her previous partner and her ex-fiancé and is not ready to trust him. [15] She says that Ledger is facing 12 years in federal prison and that she is pregnant with his child, coinciding with Nicholson's second pregnancy. She also says that she won't let him know about his child. [16]
Wheeler faces another crisis when internal affairs accuses her of being Ledger's accomplice. Later, she says that the Bureau wants to call her as a witness at his trial, which she fears will affect her job. Ross reassures her that the situation isn't her fault and that no one really thinks that she's corrupt. [17]
Wheeler made her last full episode appearance of Season 8 in "Passion", to coincide with Nicholson's pregnancy. Alexandra Eames takes her place in the last two episodes of the season. [18] Her final appearance of any sort is later in 2009. She can briefly be seen in "Major Case", discussing a case in Ross' office, when her water breaks and Eames takes her to the hospital. After being accompanied by Eames at the hospital, it is revealed that she has a sister who stays with her while she gives birth. She names the baby "Margo Jane Wheeler". [19]
In Season 9 Wheeler is replaced by Serena Stevens. [20] Her exit is initially unexplained. However, in the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 15 episode "Gambler's Fallacy", aired in 2014, Detective Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish) uses Wheeler's ID and badge to remove a gun from an evidence room. Detective Nick Amaro (Danny Pino) later says that "Detective Wheeler retired four years ago."
Nola Falacci
- Portrayed by Alicia Witt.
- Episodes: "Seeds"–"Senseless"
Nola Falacci served as Logan's partner for a short time while Wheeler was in Europe teaching American police procedure to European police officers. She is characterized as brash and short-tempered; Capt. Ross tells Logan that she is "not a people person". She is happily married with three children.
In the episode "Contract", Logan tells Wheeler that Falacci is now a training officer for the CIA at the agency's headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, having felt hamstrung at Major Case.
Zack Nichols
| Det. Zack Nichols | |
|---|---|
| Law & Order character | |
| First appearance | "Rock Star" |
| Last appearance | "Three-In-One" |
| Portrayed by | Jeff Goldblum |
| In-universe information | |
| Family | Dr. Theodore Nichols (father) Unnamed mother Unnamed brother Rita (cousin) |
| Partner | Danny Ross (offscreen) Megan Wheeler Serena Stevens Alexandra Eames |
| Seasons | 8, 9 |
Zachary Nichols is portrayed by Jeff Goldblum.
Nichols is a police detective with the NYPD Manhattan Major Case Squad. He was introduced in the show's eighth season to replace Detective Mike Logan (Chris Noth). During that season he and his partner Detective Megan Wheeler were featured in half the episodes shown, alternating with Robert Goren and Alex Eames; the next year, during the show's ninth season, he and his new partner Serena Stevens were the only detectives featured. Neither Nichols nor Stevens returned for the tenth and final season; however, their characters were not specifically written out or addressed in any way during the final season.
Detective Nichols was once partnered with Captain Danny Ross in the NYPD's Anti-Crime task force. However, after the 9/11 attacks, Nichols left the police force for seven years. Ross remarked that during this period, his only clue to Nichols' whereabouts was a postcard from Cleveland. [21]
Detective Eames begins partnering with Nichols after Nichols' partner, Megan Wheeler, went into labor and gave birth. Together they investigate Henry Muller (Dylan Baker), a forensics scientist with the NYPD who murdered a teenage girl. Nichols' investigation of Muller, who has clout from within the department, puts Nichols’ career in jeopardy and causes conflict between him and Ross, who comments that he himself risked being suspended almost every month while he and Nichols were partners due to the latter's unconventional, risk-taking behavior. Nichols ultimately gets Muller to confess, however, getting himself and Ross back into the NYPD's good graces. [22]
Nichols becomes full-time partners with Detective Serena Stevens, who is introduced in the second part of the two-part Season 9 premiere episode "Loyalty". Both detectives work under the command of Captain Zoe Callas during this season, after Ross is killed while taking part in an FBI sting operation. [23]
Nichols is the child of two psychiatrists, but shunned their profession; becoming a police officer was a form of rebellion. [24] Nichols and his father, Dr. Theodore Nichols (F. Murray Abraham), do not speak for years afterward. They reconcile when Nichols asks his father for assistance with a murder investigation involving a suspect with dissociative identity disorder, which happens to be the elder Nichols' specialty. [25] Nichols also mentions having an older brother although the character is not shown. [26]
He carries a Kahr K9 as his sidearm, a pistol authorized by the real-life NYPD for many years. The department discontinued use of the weapon because it could not be modified to function on a trigger pull of 12 pounds, as mandated by internal regulations to reduce the chance of accidental discharge by officers.
Nichols attended a public grade school, [27] but as a teenager went to Emerson Academy, an exclusive college-preparatory school. There, he learned to play piano. [28] He also had a relationship with a young woman named Lenore Abrigaille (Mili Avital) that ended when she descended into mental illness. [27]
The following are the medals and service awards worn by Detective Nichols.
 | American Flag Breast Bar |
 | World Trade Center Breast Bar |
 | NYPD Excellent Police Duty |
 | NYPD Unit Citation |
Serena Stevens
| Detective Serena Stevens | |
|---|---|
| Law & Order character | |
| First appearance | "Loyalty (Part 2)" |
| Last appearance | "Three-In-One" |
| Portrayed by | Saffron Burrows |
| In-universe information | |
| Family | Kira (daughter) |
| Partner | Zack Nichols |
| Seasons | 9 |
Serena Stevens is the replacement for Detective Megan Wheeler, who left as partner of Zack Nichols at the end of season eight ("Major Case") and for Detective Alexandra Eames, who left with her partner Robert Goren for the remainder of the ninth season after the two-part-premiere, "Loyalty".
Before transferring to New York, she was with the Chicago Police Department. During her childhood, Stevens briefly lived in Islamabad with her father, a Marine stationed at the American embassy, and learned to read Urdu and Arabic.
She is a fan of the Chicago White Sox. [29] She hints at being somewhat of a baseball fan when she recognized a dead person as a former baseball player and starts telling Nichols stats regarding his short-lived major league career. [30] She has an eight-year-old daughter named Kira. [31] [32] [33]