Mehcad Brooks, who made his debut as Detective Jalen Shaw at last week’s “Law & Order” crossover event, is a “huge fan” of John Oliver, despite “Last Week Tonight” host. wild criticism The show is “an absolute fantasy” that glamorizes law enforcement and serves primarily as a police recruitment tool.
“I think he’s an incredible satirist. He goes after institutions, and ‘Law & Order’ is an institution,” Brooks told TheWrap. “That’s his brand. But what really inspired me about a hit piece was that ‘Law & Order’ is an extremely dynamic recruitment tool for the police. Well, if, five to 10 years I, and there’s cops who look and think like Jalen Shaw, so cool.”
His character is a former lawyer-turned-cop who, in the season premiere, was often the voice of calm around his new partners Frank Cosgrove (Jeffrey Donovan) and Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni).
Brooks is the third black detective in the series (after Anthony Anderson and Jesse L. Martin) and he brings with him his real-life experiences with the police, including being stopped by the police for jaywalking and ending up in the emergency room. He spoke with TheWrap about the change he hopes to bring to the series and why his character is a “quiet wolf.”
TheWrap: Did John Oliver’s criticisms put you on pause before joining the series?
Mehcad Brooks: I don’t think anyone has more experience to understand the reality of what police brutality can do to us, your person, your consciousness, your psyche and your family. I am not saying that I am the poster boy for him, but I do understand it from my life experience. My first violent conversation with the police, I was 7 years old.
So I had my own thoughts and beliefs about what action I was taking, but at the same time, if you know there is a need for change, do you throw it at the building from outside the building? Or do you go inside the building and say, “Hey, here’s where we can make up the difference, where we can meet in the middle.”
African American people are not against the police. We are against police brutality. And if you can’t divorce those two things, you’re probably the problem.
When Shaw and Cosgrove first meet, Cosgrove is hot-brained and all action, while Cosgrove is over the book, but realizes they have more in common than they thought.
This is a great overview. And maybe it was art imitating life. Jeffrey and I are two big, big celebrities and we were both a little intimidated when we first met, but then we found out they were basically brothers from the same foreign mother who went on to raise two very different kids. were capable. [Laughs] So, you know, we’re long lost friends. I’m really enjoying the camaraderie that we have, the chemistry we have. Looks like some boy drama/comedy is going on.
Have you met Jeffrey before?
We were both on the USA show years ago and we met for a while, but we didn’t really interact. And then we met while studying chemistry. And it was all over there.
Does your character have any input into the background?
[Showrunner Rick Eid] Interacted with me and took out a lot of things from my life that informed the character and informed her decisions. I ended up in the hospital for jaywalking. I have seen that side of it, but I have also seen my parents’ side. My father is a lawyer. My mother is a journalist. I have met many good policemen. I have an uncle who was a homicide detective for the NYPD for 30 years. So I have seen both sides of it all my life.
I’m going to work, but I’m also fixing a few things on my own, realizing the difference between over-policing and over-policing and crime solving, frankly. Knowing that there has to be a happy medium in the middle.
You can’t disregard everything and you can’t blue back everything. And that conversation needs to expand, and that conversation needs to revive this country and hopefully, I can understand where the ellipsis is. And so, yeah, it’s been a great opportunity to really dive into the craft to recover. So it’s working wonders for me.
Is that also Shaw’s point of view? He seems to be the voice of calm and reason in the season premiere.
Yes, he brings sporting goods through the book. Yes he is calm. In fact, the etymology of his name. Jalen is Jalan, which, like Shalom, means peace and tranquility in Latin. And the etymology of “shaw” is wolf in Welsh, so he is the calm wolf. That’s him. And it sums everything up to what I do as a character, like how would a wolf play it? The best thing about a wolf is that he is calm all the time. Until he isn’t. Until it’s time to hunt. So when Jalen suspects someone to be guilty, there is peace. And you see that the chase is moving into space. And then when he learns that someone is guilty, the wolf comes out. So, it’s fun for me. It’s really fun for me. I am talking about it now.
Since this is a Dick Wolf show, did you have a conversation with him about being a “cool wolf”?
No, the interesting thing was, Rick was so inclusive in his process, he asked me if I had any ideas about the character’s name. And I wanted my character to be named after one of my uncles. But there was something that clicked in me and said, no, just stay out of that part of the process. Allow to name the character with the character name and it will inform what you do. And so we named him Jalen Shaw. Just felt right I looked up the etymology of those two names and here we are. I’m playing cool wolf.
What does the term “law and order” mean to you?
I am someone who believes that we need law and order. I just assume that that phrase has been hijacked in some way. And that law-and-order thing also looks like Steve Bannon going to jail. Law & Order also looks like an FBI raid on former presidents because they took classified material.
So it has to work at every dimension and level. It doesn’t matter what class you belong to, it has to work, no matter what caste you belong to, or who you know, who you don’t know, it has to work, no matter what caste you belong to. [of] your privilege. So, I think we need law and order, probably now more than ever. And there was something about it that was timely for me. There’s a part of me that really wants to go out there and help people, and I do and the ways that I can, but there’s a wolf in me that wants to protect people who have traditionally marginalized and I just can’t go out there and be somewhat cautious as an actor, but that part of my consciousness has a place to live in Jalen’s heart.
He views his character, Jalen Shaw, as a “quiet wolf… … The good thing about a wolf is that he’s quiet all the time. Until he’s not.”