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| “ | After Jo, I had no one. And you you're the son I never had. When I saw you at your mother's funeral, you broke my heart. I wanted you to engage again. So I gave you a puzzle. To solve. To play. | „ |
| ~ Gage's confession |
Declan Gage is a supporting antagonist of the Law & Order: Criminal Intent season six premiere "Blind Spot", and later the overarching antagonist of the season seven finale Frame. Gage is a retired profiler and the mentor of Detective Robert Goren, later having a mental breakdown resulting in his own murder plot after the collapse of his life and his belief he could "free" Goren with the ultimate murder case of his career.
He was portrayed by John Glover, who also portrayed Dr. Jason Woodrue in Batman & Robin, Alan Raimy in 52 Pick-Up, Verad Kalon in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Lionel Luthor and his Earth-2 counterpart in Smallville, Theodore Maddox in Fear the Walking Dead, Mr. Sivana in Shazam!, and The Riddler in Batman: The Animated Series.
Biography[]
Background[]
Gage was one of the earliest FBI profilers and taught Goren all he knew. He was also an abhorrent family man, having a daughter named Jo Gage who he exposed to all his work out of hating she wasn't a son. Gage otherwise neglected and undermined Jo in spite of her desire for his approval, and Jo's mother later killed herself when Jo was seven. Gage was also a sexist in a way by believing women couldn't be serial killers. Gage fixated heavily on an unidentified serial killer and rapist of women known as "The Sebastian Killer", continuing to investigate even long after Sebastian's dormancy. Gage's decompensation resulted in the destruction of his career, but he still consulted with Goren when Goren wanted support to improve his own investigating skills.
Blind Spot[]
Sebastian appeared to return after the rapes and killings of three more women by a highly similar M.O., so he became involved. Jo was also involved when two women she associated with were some of the victims, but Gage dispatched her involvement yet again. Detective Alexandra Eames was kidnapped, and Gage was framed with Eames' phone being found in his possession and the third murdered woman being found in his car, resulting in Gage's arrest. Eames escaped successfully, and analyzing the crime scene revealed the killer was actually Jo. She wanted Gage's attention with the ultimate comeback in his career she wanted to be a part of, but when he engaged with Goren more, she framed him for attempting to kill Eames to prove her knowledge and skill. Jo was arrested, pleading to Goren to have Gage interview her, Gage completely unaware by her confession since he himself was in interrogation.
Frame[]
| “ | She tried to seduce me, Bobby! I think you and I may be the only two men who ever said no to her. | „ |
| ~ Gage gloating about manipulating Nicole Wallace |
Jo's revelation as a killer destroyed Gage, and he quit profiling for good. But he was permanently set over the edge when Jo refused to see her at the institution she was placed in, so she bit off her own tongue and went into a coma from her blood loss and shock. Gage obsessed over and projected onto Goren, believing Gage kept Goren from a life due to himself and other problematic people in Goren's life, so Gage made a deranged plan to kill everyone he blamed for Goren's own collapse and challenge Goren to a "puzzle". Gage solicited serial killer Nicole Wallace, Goren's arch-nemesis who wanted a new partner and tried and failed to seduce Gage, to kill Goren's drug addicted brother Frank in an M.O. she used before. Gage then faked his own poisoning and dared Goren to look deeper into the crimes without giving himself away. Goren got a message from Gage to got to a hotel room, where Wallace's heart was left in a box. The evidence was stacked against Goren in an effort to frame him as a dare to get him to solve the case, but it nearly pushed Goren himself to unraveling completely. Once Gage was identified, and Jo's hospitalization was discovered, Goren confronted Gage in interrogation. Gage, hanging by his own mental threat, confessed to everything, gloating about getting the best of Wallace in particular. Hen then pitifully told Goren he felt Goren didn't see what life he had left and that he was "free" from the "dead weight" Frank, Wallace, and Gage were to him. Gage would later be imprisoned for his crimes.
