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Warning: spoilers ahead for the fall finale of Law and order Season 22 called “The System”.
The focus shifted to Detective Jalen Shaw for the fall finale of Law and order Season 22, when a man who was wrongfully imprisoned after Shaw made a false confession escapes and goes into hiding. A man who was innocent of the crime he was charged with continued to commit crimes on the run and Shaw had to face his worst nightmare that it was part of the system that created the problem. Actor Mehcad Brooks broke down how his character will change after “The System” and what Shaw really thinks of Price after what happened between them.
The man who escaped was Troy Booker, who had been in jail awaiting trial for over a year after Shaw accidentally gave him the impression that confessing was his only chance of ever seeing freedom again. He was also under the influence of marijuana at the time, which Shaw also didn’t know. The case took a turn for the worse after it finally went to trial (and the guard who was shot in the escape died), and Price eventually received a guilty verdict. However, Shaw was clearly wracked with guilt that everything could have been prevented.
When Mehcad Brooks spoke to CinemaBlend about The System, I asked if Shaw’s shaky faith in the system would affect him in the long run, and the actor shared:
Yes, I think every black male up to a certain age has a distrust of a system that was created centuries ago. Shaw’s goal was to break down that system and add a different perspective and maybe a safety net for some people looking for reprieve and relief from that system. And I think he becomes this unwitting guardian in some ways of this system—he’s made a false confession, the wrong person is in jail, people are hurt because the wrong person is in jail—and it’s a terrible situation when you look at his face But when you look at it, when it comes to the question, “Well, why does Shaw do what he does?” It’s existential.
Shaw came to the team of Law and order with a unique perspective as someone who left his career as a lawyer to join the NYPD and try to improve the system. While he has done everything in his power since coming in as a substitute for Anthony Anderson’s Detective Kevin Bernard“The System” was the first time his hard work really backfired, and the criminal justice system made things worse instead of giving Booker his day in court in front of a jury.
Almost all of the characters were deeply sympathetic to Booker even in light of the guard’s death, with Price arguing that it would be morally and ethically wrong to bring the highest charge of murder, even if legally justified. DA Jack McCoy (co Sam Waterston is making franchise history in season 22) insisted on the most serious charge, and after more facts were discovered and he refused a plea deal, Booker was convicted. Mehcad Brooks explained why all of this will affect Shaw:
It’s like, ‘Damn, what did I do? I wanted to be that champion of change, and now I’m a guardian of a system that’s designed to destroy people like Troy Booker or Khalif Browder or one of the thousands of people who are in prison for something they did or simply because they couldn’t make a guarantee. Yes, it will affect how it moves in the future. I’ll leave it up to the audience to decide if Shaw should have cared more when it came to a teenager who seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But going forward, it’s going to have to be at the heart of Shaw’s personal experience and how he goes about collecting accolades and how he goes about doing the rest of his work, for sure.
If there was one element of the case that almost everyone agreed on, it was that the system failed Booker by keeping him behind bars for 18 months without a trial. Although no one forced the man to try to run or fight the gun, the whole mess would never have happened if Shaw hadn’t inadvertently made the false confession and if he hadn’t had to wait.
As much as Price didn’t want to press the most serious charge against Booker, he argued the case as best he could. Price’s prosecution eventually resulted in a conviction, which didn’t exactly help Shaw’s feelings of guilt. After Mehcad Brooks confirmed that the case shook his faith in the system, he shared whether it also shook his faith in his colleagues:
There is certainly a mutual respect between him and Price. I think he understands the criminal justice system as a whole. He understands that. He understands that Price works within the DA’s office. He understands all of that, but I also think he has a lived experience that’s different than Price, so he has a different perspective on a system that they’re entangled in that Price could never have and never will have. . Price is not tasked with fighting his dignity against a system that has existed for centuries, Shaw is tasked with this personal challenge in his own life.
Although Shaw can understand Price’s position better than most because of his background as a lawyer, Price can never understand Shaw’s position as a black detective whose efforts to make positive change in the system and keep young black men out of prison do not they give results. as he wished. Price may want to get over what happened, while Shaw knows the people affected can’t. Mehcad Brooks went on to share that Shaw respects his other co-stars as well, saying:
To answer the question, I think he respects his colleagues. I think he respects the prosecution. He clearly respects his partner. At the same time, he realizes that he has a different lived experience and a different perspective than they ever could about the system they are fighting to protect and correct.
The “system” didn’t exactly deliver Law and order to a happy ending for 2022, but showed Shaw as a character in a way that hadn’t happened yet. Even as the show developed the partnership with Cosgrove and found a way to incorporate him into the team as if he’d always been a part of it, the fall finale is the episode that really shines more light on what drives him.
See what’s next Law and order when season 22 returns on Thursday, January 5 at 8:00 PM ET on NBC at 2023 TV Premiere Scheduleovertakes Law & Order: SVUreturn (after Goodbye Kelly Giddish as Amanda Rollins) at 9 p.m. and Law and Order: Organized Crime (who spent the first half of season 3 pushing Belle to her breaking point with Stabler) at 10 p.m. To catch up on some past episodes of the long-running procedural, you can stream the series with Peacock subscription.
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