Spoilers are ahead for Episode 18 of Law & Order Season 24, called “Inherent Bias” and available streaming next day with a Peacock subscription.
After Detective Jalen Shaw was missing from the past two episodes of Law & Order Season 24 in the 2025 TV schedule, “Inherent Bias” brought him back with a big part to play. Despite their close bond as partners, Shaw and Detective Vince Riley had different takes on what they thought they saw while chasing a suspect. That was certainly par for the course for this era of the show and raised the possibility of another unsatisfying ending. Notably, the victim of the week was a star basketball player and a decent part of the first half of the episode involved the world of basketball.
That was enough to remind me of when Mehcad Brooks guest-starred on Law & Order: SVU almost a decade and a half ago as an athlete in the sport. First things first, though!
Shaw’s Role In “Inherent Bias”
Jalen bided his time during "Inherent Bias" when it came to openly contradicting Riley’s claim that he’d seen the accused murderer – a Black man named Darius Cain, whose record was being used against him during the trial – tossing a gun into the river. In fairness, Shaw couldn’t say with certainty if the item was actually a gun, but he also clearly wasn’t as sold as Riley from the jump that it had been a firearm, and he believed Darius when he claimed that he’d tossed a hard drive and not a gun.
Throw in a witness testifying about technology regularly misidentifying people of color, and viewers saw the side of Shaw that – to quote Mehcad Brooks – processes ”his own racial trauma.” In fact, Brooks previously told CinemBlend about Shaw wanting to change the system that “punishes Black Americans more harshly than non-Black counterparts.” Is it any wonder that Shaw didn’t want to be hasty in judging Darius when he was already at the mercy of an unfair system with only circumstantial evidence?
Maroun offered some support for Shaw’s argument about the hard drive, while Price was confident that Darius was guilty. Riley didn’t take it well when Shaw broke down the ways that he might have been biased into mistaking a hard drive for a gun. The two detectives delivered opposing testimony, with Nolan relying on Riley’s take while the defense showcased what Shaw said.
All in all, I was glad to have Mehcad Brooks back for this episode. It just wouldn’t have hit the same if Riley was paired with Jesse Metcalfe’s Sergeant Danny DeLuca again, and I missed having Shaw around after a couple episodes without him. Plus, as much as it was hard to watch Hugh Dancy’s Price taking some shots at Shaw on the stand, the two actors killed it.
Mehcad Brooks’ Episode Of Law & Order: SVU
I’ll be the first to admit that the parallels between Shaw in “Inherent Bias” and Mehcad Brooks’ episode of Law & Order: SVU don’t really extend beyond both episodes starting with a “DUN DUN” and both featuring the Supergirl alum. Still, as soon as I saw that Shaw was back and the murder victim this week was a basketball superstar, I couldn’t help but flash back to Brooks' Law & Order franchise role from before he landed the part of Jalen Shaw.
He first appeared in the second episode of Law & Order: SVU Season 13, which was actually only the second after Christopher Meloni left the series as Detective Stabler and the first featuring Danny Pino as Detective Amaro. Called “Personal Fouls,” Mehcad Brooks guest-starred as star basketball player Prince, who struggled to come to terms with abuse he’d endured as a child at the hands of his coach.
Prince was finally motivated to come forward about his abuse when he saw that another young man was in danger of being abused by the trusted coach, overcoming his own feelings of shame to encourage others to do the same. The episode is available streaming on Peacock now, and worth checking out even if you just want to see how different Brooks’ performance as Shaw is compared to his performance as Prince back in 2011.
It remains to be seen how much Mehcad Brooks will be featured in the upcoming Law & Order crossover with Law & Order: SVU. Based on the preview for the two-parter, fans can at least count on seeing SVU’s Mariska Hargitay crossing over for a brutal murder that ties back to a Special Victims case from years ago. Tune in to NBC on Thursday, April 17 at 8 p.m. ET for Law & Order to kick off the crossover before it continues at 9 p.m. ET with SVU.
A mini crossover is in the works elsewhere in the franchise as well, with Mariska Hargitay slated to appear as a guest star early in Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5. All three shows are currently streaming on Peacock.
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