Mike Logan (Law & Order)
Encyclopedia
Michael "Mike" Logan is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 in the police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...

 and legal drama
Legal drama
A legal drama is a work of dramatic fiction about crime and civil litigation. Subtypes of legal dramas include courtroom dramas and legal thrillers, and come in all forms, including novels, television shows, and films. Legal drama sometimes overlap with crime drama, most notably in the case of Law...

 television series Law & Order franchise
Law & Order (franchise)
The Law & Order franchise is a number of related American television series created by Dick Wolf and originally broadcast on NBC, all of which deal with some aspect of the criminal justice system...

, played by Chris Noth
Chris Noth
Christopher David "Chris" Noth is an American actor. He is known for long-running television roles as Det. Mike Logan on the police procedural and legal drama television series, Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and as Big on Sex and the City. For the latter role, he has been...

.

History in the franchise

Logan initially appeared on Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

from the show's pilot episode. He appeared in every episode beginning with the first season in 1990 until Noth's dismissal from the series in 1995. After appearing in the franchise telemovie Exiled
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie is a 1998 television film that is based on the Law & Order police procedural and legal drama television series; it originally aired on NBC. Written by Charles Kipps and Chris Noth, the movie revolves around Noth's Det. Mike Logan character...

, the character then guest-starred in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...

Season 4 episode "Stress Position
Stress Position
"Stress Position" is a fourth season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It reintroduces Detective Mike Logan back into the Law & Order franchise.-Plot summary:...

". Logan subsequently became a regular on Criminal Intent, starting with the first episode of season five, "Grow
Grow (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)
"Grow" is a fifth season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Plot summary:In the season premiere episode, Detectives Goren and Eames investigate the case of a city health inspector, found murdered in mysterious circumstances in an elevator. At first, the murder appears...

," which originally aired on September 25, 2005. Logan then left the series in the 21st episode of season seven, "Last Rites
Last Rites (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)
"Last Rites" is a seventh season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It also marks Det. Mike Logan's final appearance in the series.-Plot:...

," which originally aired on August 17, 2008.

Law & Order

Mike Logan was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 into a working-class Irish-Catholic family and spent 10 years attending Our Lady of Mercy. He is originally portrayed as a cocky chauvinist with a short temper. Later episodes, however, reveal a darker, more complex side to the character; it is gradually revealed that he had been abused
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...

 as a child, both physically (by his unstable, alcoholic mother) and sexually (by his parish priest, whom he later confronts and brings to justice). These early traumas lead to his rather cynical view of the church; he quips in one episode that "My mother beat me with one hand while she held a Rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...

 with the other. The next time I enter a church, it'll be in a pine box carried by six of my friends." When he was a young man, his pregnant girlfriend had an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

 against his wishes. As these trauma
Psychological trauma
Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...

s are revealed, his "short fuse" evolves into a deep-seated pathological anger.

In several episodes, his anger explodes; when his first partner, Max Greevey, is murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

ed by a suspect, Logan comes close to killing the perpetrator, relenting only at the last minute. The incident nearly costs Logan his job.

Logan's second partner, Phil Cerreta, is also shot in the line of duty, but he survives and takes on a desk job. In the following episodes, his partner is Lennie Briscoe
Lennie Briscoe
Leonard W. "Lennie" Briscoe is a fictional character on NBC's long running police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order. He was featured on the show for 12 seasons, from 1992 to 2004. He was created by Walon Green and René Balcer, and was portrayed by Jerry Orbach...

.

Logan has professed an intense dislike for upper-class professions, especially lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

s, accounting for his antagonistic relationship with ADA Jack McCoy
Jack McCoy
John James "Jack" McCoy is a fictional character in the television drama Law & Order, created by Michael S. Chernuchin and played by Sam Waterston since 1994. He is the second-longest tenured character on the show, after Lt. Anita Van Buren . On January 28, 2009, McCoy's character ended the longest...

. He has diverse political views; he is adamantly pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....

, supports gay rights, compares the Patriot Act
USA PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of the U.S. Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001...

 to George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

's Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...

,, is presumed to be pro-death penalty and, while he has at various points held slight prejudices against people of Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

ic and Japanese descent
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

, by 2007 shows unbridled disdain towards any form of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

.

Appearances post-Law & Order & pre-Criminal Intent

When Noth was fired from the show in 1995 over a salary dispute, the Logan character was written out; in the Law & Order universe
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....

, Logan is transferred from Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 Homicide to the Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...

 Domestic Disputes squad in 1995 for publicly punching a homophobic
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...

 politician who had been tried for the murder of a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 man (based on the Dan White
Dan White
Daniel James "Dan" White was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on Monday, November 27, 1978, at City Hall...

 case). He is replaced by Det. Rey Curtis
Rey Curtis
Reynaldo "Rey" Curtis is a fictional character on the TV drama Law & Order, created by Ed Zuckerman and played by Benjamin Bratt from 1995 to 1999.-Character overview:Curtis is introduced as homicide detective in Manhattan's 27th Detective Squad...

.

The Logan character was revived in 1998 and given his own TV movie, Exiled: A Law & Order Movie
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie
Exiled: A Law & Order Movie is a 1998 television film that is based on the Law & Order police procedural and legal drama television series; it originally aired on NBC. Written by Charles Kipps and Chris Noth, the movie revolves around Noth's Det. Mike Logan character...

. In the movie, Logan tries to get his old job back by solving the murder of a prostitute, in the process discovering that his old friend, Detective Tony Profaci, is involved in the crime. During the course of the film, he becomes a homicide detective again, but is kept on Staten Island, where he has little opportunity to pursue significant cases.

Criminal Intent

In 2005, the character was added to Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He was reintroduced in the fourth season episode "Stress Position
Stress Position
"Stress Position" is a fourth season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It reintroduces Detective Mike Logan back into the Law & Order franchise.-Plot summary:...

," where he helps the Major Case Squad's investigation of a case of prisoner abuse
Prisoner abuse
Prisoner abuse is the mistreatment of persons while they are under arrest or incarcerated.Abuse falling into this category includes:* Physical abuse: Needless beating, hitting, or other corporal punishment....

 involving corrupt corrections officers who torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

 Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 prisoners. Detectives Robert Goren
Robert Goren
Det. Robert "Bobby" Goren is a fictional character featured in the NBC-USA Network police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent, portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio....

 and Alexandra Eames
Alexandra Eames
Det. Alexandra "Alex" Eames is a fictional police detective with the NYPD Major Case Squad featured in the NBC-USA Network Law & Order: Criminal Intent, portrayed by Kathryn Erbe...

 question Logan's girlfriend, prison nurse Gina Lowe, about prison drug testing and her interactions with a murdered corrections officer. Later, the detectives deduce that Unit Counselor Kurt Plumm is planning to have Lowe killed; Goren and Logan attempt to escort her to safety but the prison goes into lockdown, trapping all three inside. Plumm and his partners corner Logan, Goren, and Lowe in a corridor, and Plumm implies that they intend to kill them. Goren convinces the other guards to defy Plumm, however, and one of the officers opens the gates to free the detectives and Lowe. Logan picks up one of the guards' discarded billy club and approaches Plumm menacingly, but he resists the urge to assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...

 the man. "That guy," Logan later says to Goren, "he would have been worth another 10 years in Staten Island." Also in the episode, Captain James Deakins
James Deakins
Captain James Deakins is a fictional character on the NBC-USA Network U.S. television series, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, played by Jamey Sheridan.On the show, Deakins supervises New York City's Major Case Squad...

 reveals that Logan's former superior officer, Lieutenant Anita Van Buren
Anita Van Buren
Lt. Anita Van Buren is a fictional character on NBC's long running police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order, portrayed by S. Epatha Merkerson. By episode count, she is the longest-running character on the show...

, had tried three times to get him transferred back to her command after his reassignment, all to no avail.

Deakins returns Logan to Manhattan as a detective under his command in the fifth season, when he is partnered with Det. Carolyn Barek
Carolyn Barek
Det. Carolyn Barek is a fictional character on the NBC-USA Network series, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, played by Annabella Sciorra.Barek is partnered with Det. Mike Logan , on the Major Case Squad of the New York City Police Department . Her badge number is 6141.A criminal profiler from...

. In a 2006 episode, he accidentally shoots an undercover police officer while investigating a homicide instigated by the officer's foster mother. He is cleared of official misconduct, but is troubled by having killed someone; he reaches out to police psychiatrist Elizabeth Olivet
Elizabeth Olivet
Dr. Elizabeth Olivet is a fictional character on the TV crime drama Law & Order. She was portrayed by Carolyn McCormick from 1991 to 1997 and in 1999. The character was revived in 2002, but made far less frequent appearances on the show....

, who had helped him come to terms with Greevey's death, for counseling.

In the fifth-season episode "The Healer
The Healer (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)
"The Healer" is a fifth season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Plot summary:In this episode, Detectives Logan and Barek investigate the murder of two sisters found wrapped in plastic cocoons and asphyxiated...

," it is revealed that Logan has a severe allergy to poison ivy
Poison ivy
Toxicodendron radicans, better known as poison ivy , is a poisonous North American plant that is well known for its production of urushiol, a clear liquid compound found within the sap of the plant that causes an itching rash in most people who touch it...

, which manifests itself as a rash, fever, and stomach pains.

In the sixth season, the Major Case Squad is handed over to a new captain, Danny Ross, and Logan is assigned a new partner, Det. Megan Wheeler
Megan Wheeler
Det. Megan Ann Wheeler is a fictional character portrayed by Julianne Nicholson on the NBC-USA Network series Law & Order: Criminal Intent...

. In the seventh season, he works with Det. Nola Falacci
Nola Falacci
Det. Nola Falacci is a fictional character on the NBC-USA Network series, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, played by Alicia Witt.-In Major Case Squad:...

, a temporary partner assigned to him while Wheeler is teaching American police procedures to officers in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

In the episode "Last Rites
Last Rites (Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode)
"Last Rites" is a seventh season episode of the television series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It also marks Det. Mike Logan's final appearance in the series.-Plot:...

", Logan goes head to head with Terri Driver, a corrupt ADA who had enhanced her own reputation by railroading defendants she had cause to believe were innocent. Driver, who is running for attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

, threatens to go after Logan's job and builds a case against Wheeler's fiancé, who is arrested by the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...

 for fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...

 and racketeering
Racket (crime)
A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes...

. Logan solves a 16-year-old homicide that Driver has been trying to bury, but the inflexibility and corruption of the justice system he sees in this case leaves him angry and disenchanted. A priest who first put Logan on the case advises him that, after over 25 years as a cop, it is time to do other things with his life. Logan nods his head and walks out of the room, but his decision is not revealed until the following season, when Ross mentions to Wheeler that her partner quit (retired) on her, referring to Logan. He is replaced by Zack Nichols. Ironically, Logan said to a fellow officer in one earlier Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

 episode Confession
Confession
This article is for the religious practice of confessing one's sins.Confession is the acknowledgment of sin or wrongs...

 that, "The next time I set foot in one of these places I will be being carried by six of my closest buddies." And in the L&O episode Bad Faith
Bad faith
Bad faith is double mindedness or double heartedness in duplicity, fraud, or deception. It may involve intentional deceit of others, or self deception....

, he revealed that he had been sexually assaulted by a priest.

Weapons

Mike Logan carries a Smith & Wesson Model 36
Smith & Wesson Model 36
The Smith & Wesson Model 36 is a revolver chambered for .38 Special. Like nearly all other "J-frame" Smith & Wesson revolvers, it has a 5-round capacity in a swing-out cylinder, and features an exposed hammer. It features a nickel-plated or blued finish and either wood or rubber grips...

 .38 Special caliber revolver in the original Law & Order series. In Law & Order: Criminal Intent, he still carried the Model 36 in his early appearances, but he later switched to a Glock 19 9mm semiautomatic pistol.

Crossover appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street

In the pre-credit sequence of the 1995 Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...

episode "Law & Disorder
Law & Disorder
"Law & Disorder" is an episode of the third season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC on February 24, 1995. The episode was written by Bonnie Mark and Julie Martin and directed by John McNaughton...

" (Season 3, Episode 15), Mike Logan hands off a prisoner (John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...

) to Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

 Detective Frank Pembleton
Frank Pembleton
Francis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton is a fictional homicide detective on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by Emmy Award winning actor Andre Braugher. He is a primary character of the show through the first six seasons...

 (Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...

), while they engage in friendly banter about which city, New York or Baltimore, is better.

Fictional work history

Squad Borough Division Partner Direct Superior
27th Manhattan Homicide Sgt. Max Greevey
Capt. Donald Cragen
Donald Cragen
Donald "Don" Cragen is a fictional character in the police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order and its spinoff Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, played by Dann Florek.-Character appearances:...

Sgt. Phil Cerreta
Det. Lennie Briscoe
Lennie Briscoe
Leonard W. "Lennie" Briscoe is a fictional character on NBC's long running police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order. He was featured on the show for 12 seasons, from 1992 to 2004. He was created by Walon Green and René Balcer, and was portrayed by Jerry Orbach...

 
Lt. Anita Van Buren
Anita Van Buren
Lt. Anita Van Buren is a fictional character on NBC's long running police procedural and legal drama television series Law & Order, portrayed by S. Epatha Merkerson. By episode count, she is the longest-running character on the show...

128th Staten Island Domestic Dispute Det. Tony Boyer Lt. Stober
Homicide Det. Frankie Silvera
1PP
One Police Plaza
1 Police Plaza is the headquarters of the New York City Police Department . 1 Police Plaza is located on Park Row in downtown Manhattan near City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge. Its block borders Park Row, Pearl Street, and Police Plaza...

 
Manhattan Major Case Squad Det. Carolyn Barek
Carolyn Barek
Det. Carolyn Barek is a fictional character on the NBC-USA Network series, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, played by Annabella Sciorra.Barek is partnered with Det. Mike Logan , on the Major Case Squad of the New York City Police Department . Her badge number is 6141.A criminal profiler from...

 
Capt. James Deakins
James Deakins
Captain James Deakins is a fictional character on the NBC-USA Network U.S. television series, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, played by Jamey Sheridan.On the show, Deakins supervises New York City's Major Case Squad...

Det. Megan Wheeler
Megan Wheeler
Det. Megan Ann Wheeler is a fictional character portrayed by Julianne Nicholson on the NBC-USA Network series Law & Order: Criminal Intent...

 
Capt. Danny Ross
Det. Nola Falacci
Nola Falacci
Det. Nola Falacci is a fictional character on the NBC-USA Network series, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, played by Alicia Witt.-In Major Case Squad:...

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