LAW & ORDER: Reid Scott Teases Riley and Shaw Being ‘Diametrically Opposed’ in ‘Inherent Bias’

When LAW & ORDER’s Riley (Reid Scott) and Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) have very different takes on their apprehension of a suspect on the Thursday, April 10 episode of the NBC drama, it causes tension in the duo’s normally rock-solid partnership.

“Shaw and Riley are fantastic partners in that they come from completely different worlds, but they really complement each other so well,” Scott tells Give Me My Remote. “It is rare when they just outright disagree on something. Typically, what we’ve seen is they might come at things from a different perspective, different point of view, what have you. And they try to find a way to work together. But here, they are just diametrically opposed.”

“I love the message that it sends…the episode is called ‘Inherent Bias,’ and I think that’s a very real thing that we try to explore whenever we can in this show,” he continues. “And I think it raises a lot of questions about points of view. And can one person’s point of view be ‘wrong,’ if that’s their point of view, their vantage point, and they’re coming at something—whatever it is—from their given circumstances, from their experience? How can you say that their point of view is right or wrong?”

In addition to “Inherent Bias,” the series has also dug into shades of grey in recent weeks, too, with episodes centered on a postpartum-influenced homicide and a healthcare executive killed by a vigilante.

“I love those sort of ambiguous questions,” Scott says. “I love exploring those themes. I love when our show ends on a minor chord, where it’s not wrapped up nice and neat, and you do wonder, ‘Wow, where is this gonna go? What does this mean?’ I love any material that can spark a conversation.” 

“The episode that we did about the assassin, that was sort of based on the Luigi Mangione case…man,” he continues with a chuckle. “The response to that, when we didn’t give a verdict at the end of the show and just left it open-ended—wow. The fans have just absolutely gone off about it, in good and surprising ways. Some people really liked and appreciated the fact that we didn’t tell them what we think is right or wrong and sort of left it open to interpretation. And I was actually very surprised how many fans wanted a definitive answer. But I love that our show can have that effect. That is very cool.”

Wherever the show lands with the “Inherent Bias” resolution, the conflict between Shaw and Riley might not exactly be finished.

“I don’t know that it’s gonna really sort of color their relationship, completely, throughout, but we do our best to try to bring those moments along with us,” Scott notes. “We know that it’s not swept under the rug. It might not bubble up in every episode, but our writers do a fantastic job of threading these moments, these scenes, these character traits, through to other episodes, so that when it does come up again, the LAW & ORDER faithful know, oh, that’s a callback to this moment here.”

“They haven’t resolved that moment completely just like you do in a real relationship: You put something to bed, and it might seem like it’s done for a week, two weeks, months, whatever. But then out of nowhere, something triggers that, and you find yourself right back there in that moment,” he continues. “So we haven’t played with it at this point, but rest assured these issues will come up again. And I think that’s what makes for not only great drama, but it just makes for a very authentic and genuine partnership. That’s how these guys work. They’re not superheroes, they’re human beings.”

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LAW & ORDER, Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC

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