Greetings,
Let me make this abundantly clear. When I speak of Mike Logan here, I only speak of the Mike Logan that appeared on the original Law & Order, not...whoever the heck that was who was on Criminal Intent. More on that later, but I just wanted to get everyone started on the right track. Now let's discuss my first crush-worthy character on this beloved series. First, but certainly not last.
Mike Logan was portrayed by Chris Noth from 1990 to 1995. He was your basic working class New York cop with an Irish Catholic background and perhaps maybe a slight issue with his temper. Just a little. No, actually, he might kill you. I'm not even kidding about that. Logan was the first loose cannon we got on the show. He tended to not think before acting, which got him into quite a bit of trouble over the years.
Of course, there always seems to be a reason for such behavior. In Logan's case, he was physically abused by his mother, who was an alcoholic, and sexually abused by a priest. But all of these things from his past have certainly served to shape Logan into the man that he became, for better or worse. He had much disdain for religion, not to mention the political views that went hand in hand with them, and there was much acrimony between himself and lawyers, even the D.A.s he was supposed to be working with. And, when it came to his cop techniques, he sure did stop at nothing to catch the bad guys. Nothing at all. This is kind of what led to his departure.
In the 1995 episode "Pride", he might have roughed up a homophobic politician and gotten himself banished to Staten Island, which is apparently a fate worse than death to Manhattan cops. Apparently, Briscoe even said he was "sentenced to 3 to 5 years" there. Wow. My apologies to the people of Staten Island, just in case it's not that bad there. Anyway, this leads us to the 1998 TV movie, Exiled, where we get to see what had been up with Mike Logan. In the confines of this movie, he is investigating the death of a prostitute which may involve some dirty cops. What a shock for this series. To be fair, I haven't actually seen Exiled in a very, very long time. For some reason, this was not included in my Law & Order Complete Series DVDs. Don't know why.
So, this TV movie was the last time we saw him, up until a fourth season appearance on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, where he became a permanent cast member the following year. But we aren't talking about that, remember? Okay, fine, I'll just say this. When I first heard that they were putting Logan on this show, I was excited. But that was before I realized the plan. I was not crazy about the whole every other week thing, which robbed me of half my time with Goren and Eames, and I had this feeling that Logan had changed. I don't know what it was, but he just didn't feel as strong or dark as he once had been. Sure, he still had his classic brown leather jacket, but it was as though, for years, someone had been putting him in expensive suits, driving him around in fancy cars, giving him pricey Scotch and making him date vapid chicks obsessed with clothes. Not that I'm judging anyone or their career choices. Good for him for portraying yet another character that has become iconic...I guess. Still, a little Logan is better than none at all.
Look, Chris Noth is a very talented actor. I like him, and I'm glad he has had so much success. But, whatever he has done or ever will do, to me and many others, he will always be Detective Mike Logan. I certainly hope he doesn't mind. And that this doesn't make him upset. Because, you know, like I said, he might kill me.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
