In defense of: Nina Cassady

Mike Logan, Lennie Briscoe, Ed Green, Robert Goren, these are a few detectives that are held in high regard by Law and Order fans across the board. Nina Cassady...is not one of them. Quite the opposite really, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who actually does like her.

Who is Nina Cassady?

Season 17 was a bit of a transition period for Law and Order, with senior detective Joe Fontana retiring and Connie Rubirosa taking over as the new ADA following the tragic death of Alexandra Borgia. As a result of Fontana's departure, Ed Green was promoted to senior detective, and he was to be assigned a new partner. Lt. Anita Van Buren had someone lined up, one with considerable experience, but her higher-ups had someone else in mind. In stepped Nina Cassady, a relatively inexperienced officer who got the job due to her role in a shootout at a beauty parlor somewhat recently, hence the nickname "Detective Beauty Queen". The transition to detective was rocky for Cassady, and she never managed to fully connect with Green or Van Buren.

Cassady lasted just one season and never received any proper send-off. Despite being the first (and still the only) female detective in the show's history, she was never seen or mentioned again following the finale and the hate for her among Law and Order fans lingers on long after her departure.

Anyway, now that you know a little more about her, here are my arguments for why she really wasn't all that bad.

Reason 1 - Doubted from the beginning

Much of the criticism against Cassady stems from her lack of experience as a detective. I'm not going to dispute that, she was by far the most inexperienced detective in the show's run and she was prone to making rookie mistakes. Despite these shortcomings however, she never really got the chance to improve because of her boss's attitude towards her. You would think that Van Buren would have sympathized a little more with Cassady given that she had had her share of doubters as well, but that sympathy was nowhere to be found. From the very beginning, she looked down on Cassady's lack of experience and questioned her at every turn. Cassady may not have been perfect, but she was never going to reach her full potential in an environment like that. Which leads me to my next point...

Reason 2 - Elevated expectations

Cassady was thrust into a role she wasn't quite ready for. I don't blame her for taking the job, but it put a lot of extra pressure on her especially since the higher ups in the department believed in her enough to overrule Van Buren's. She was never going to be perfect from the jump, nobody would be, and I think that's part of why the Law and Order fandom soured on her.

Reason 3 - The writing

Season 17 was a bit of a rough patch for Law and Order. Not just for the departures I mentioned earlier, but also for the writing as a whole. The stories were too over the top, and the way some characters were written didn't land with me either. I think the idea of Nina Cassady as a character was actually intriguing. We're used to seeing seasoned detectives who always know what to do, so I thought it was a nice change of pace to see someone so fresh in the field. I thought the dynamic of Cassady gradually getting better and establishing herself as a legitimate detective in the eyes of her skeptical colleagues would make for a good story. The writing however, just wasn't good enough to convey that. The writing improved in subsequent seasons, but Cassady wouldn't be around to benefit from it.

In the end, Cassady's time on Law and Order came and went without much fanfare. Ultimately, I really don't think she was that bad. She was just the victim of bad writing and an awkward transition period.