Brian Cassidy
| Brian Cassidy | |
|---|---|
| Law & Order character | |
 |
|
| First appearance | "Payback" (season 1) |
| Last appearance | "Downloaded Child" (season 15) |
| Portrayed by | Dean Winters |
| Time on show | 1999–2000, 2012–14 |
| Seasons | 1, 13, 14, 15 |
| Credited appearances | 27 episodes (total) |
| Succeeded by | Monique Jeffries |
| Information | |
| Title |
NYPD Detective Police Officer (Season 15) |
| Partner | John Munch |
Detective Brian Cassidy is a fictional character played by Dean Winters in the American crime drama television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on NBC. A recurring cast member during the first season, Cassidy is a young and inexperienced detective with the New York Police Department's Special Victims Unit, and the original partner of John Munch (Richard Belzer). 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 thirteenth season finale working undercover for a pimp the SVU detectives are investigating.
Winters had previously worked with creator Dick Wolf, but he was offered a role on SVU through Belzer, though the role proved to be temporary due to Winters's commitment to Oz. As Winters only remained with the series for thirteen episodes, his character never had much of a chance to develop. Winters wanted to return to the show for a long time, though, and felt the time was right during the thirteenth season finale. Critics were generally negative about Cassidy during the character's initial tenure on the show, but some were glad to see his return in "Rhodium Nights".
Though Cassidy is a dedicated member of the Special Victims Unit, he lacks the emotional maturity to deal with sex crimes and the language to describe them. 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), and expressed a desire to pursue a relationship. Benson turns him down, however, citing a policy of not having relationships with coworkers. Years later, Benson expresses regret at the way she handled the situation. This and the stress of the unit wear Cassidy down and, after an outburst in the squad room directed at Benson, Captain Donald Cragen (Dann Florek) sends Cassidy to check up on a teenage rape victim Cragen encountered when he worked in Homicide. After she tells him in detail how she had been systematically violated by her abuser and then gang-raped, Cassidy decides he lacks the stomach to deal with sex crimes, and transfers to the NYPD's Narcotics Division. Munch later laments that he felt abandoned when Cassidy became the latest in a long line of partners who left him.
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