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| “ | Vic Mackey kills cops! He... he deals drugs! He beats suspects! You know what he did yesterday? He... he screwed my ex-wife with the sole purpose of making this investigation seem like a personal vendetta. He may have assassinated a gang leader. And that's just all in one day! I wonder what he's going to do today! I wonder what he's going to do tomorrow! This guy! ...This guy is just pissing... he's pissing all over us! He's pissing on you! What does it taste like? Chief, what does it taste like, 'cause you know what, it tastes like piss to me. | „ |
| ~ Kavanaugh rants about the kind of man Vic Mackey is. |
Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh is the main antagonists in the television series The Shield.
He is a lieutenant in Internal Affairs that becomes corrupted in his efforts to bring down Vic Mackey and his team.
He was portrayed by Forest Whitaker, who also played Rawlins in Bloodsport, Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, Jack Wander in Street Kings, Saw Gerrera in the Star Wars franchise and Bumpy Johnson in Godfather of Harlem.
Biography[]
Past[]
Kavanaugh believed in absolute obedience to the law to the point he turned in his own partner when he violated it. Kavanaugh was once married to a woman named Sadie, but the two were divorced as a result of her severe mental illness and his own unwillingness to continue taking care of her. Despite this, he continued to wear his wedding ring and, for a long time, was still in love with her. At some point, Kavanaugh transferred to Internal Affairs and began investigating other cops for corruption full-time.
Season 5[]
Kavanaugh's initial investigation involved a meeting with Councilman David Aceveda, who grudgingly agreed to assist him in hopes of sending Mackey to prison. He informed Kavanaugh of Detective Terry Crowley's deal with Feds and his own belief that Mackey murdered him in retaliation. Kavanaugh began by targeting Vic's ex-wife, Corrine. At first, he tried to get information out of her by befriending her and posing as the father of one the autistic children who attended the school her son Matt went to. However, Corrine became suspicious of his behavior and later identified him as a police officer. She reluctantly cooperated under instructions from Vic, who didn't want his kids growing up without a mother. Lem, caught stealing heroin during a bust, reluctantly agreed to wear a wire to uncover evidence on Vic. Through this, Kavanaugh discovered a plot to traffic pharmaceutical drugs to the Russian Mafia and take money under the table. When it appeared the deal had gone through and that Vic had committed murder, Kavanaugh's task force swooped in and handcuffed the team. However, instead of a crime scene, Kavanaugh discovered that he had unwittingly destroyed a top secret sting operation. He also learned that the Strike Team's bugged room had been discovered and used to feed him false information. After listening to Vic and the Team boasting about how, "We'll beat Internal Affairs next year," an outraged Kavanaugh destroyed his hotel room.
Now even more determined to put the team away, Kavanaugh set up shop in the Barn, commandeering the Captain's office and plastering it with graphic photos of the Terry Crowley murder scene. He also tried to coerce a confession from Vic by forcing him to revisit the Crowley murder scene and describe what happened in front of Terry's weeping brother. Vic was unfazed, however, and calmly stuck to his original story. Kavanaugh then widened the investigation to include Councilman David Aceveda for alleged collusion with Mackey and The Strike Team. During a raid on a Salvadorian hand grenade factory, Lem heroically saved Kavanaugh from an active grenade tossed in his direction by throwing it away seconds before it exploded. Kavanaugh responded by continuing to pressure Lem into testifying against the Strike Team. Lem indignantly refused to turn his back on his fellow cops as Vic confronted Kavanaugh's cold treatment.
Sadie, Kavanaugh's ex-wife, faked a rape incident as a means of bringing her and Kavanaugh back together. When Kavanaugh learned the truth, she pleaded with him to bend the rules for her, saying that she loved him and wanted to come home. Kavanaugh refused, revealing that he had long ago chosen his career over his marriage. He arranged for her to be charged with filing a false police report and remanded to a State psychiatric ward. Viewing their disturbingly private moment on closed-circuit television, Vic remarked that they had found Kavanaugh's weakness. Kavanaugh eventually noticed that the security camera in the room was turned on. Realizing that his conversation with his wife was being observed by his enemies led him to rush out of the interrogation room in a rage. He found Vic and Lem tiptoing out of the observation room. The now enraged Kavanaugh realized that Lem had never been helping him and ordered Lem to be arrested for possession of heroin with intent to distribute. As Vic and his fellow officers watched in horror, Lem was handcuffed by Julien Lowe, placed in lockup with other criminals, processed, and sent to a detention center.
Sadie later killed whatever hopes of reconciliation still remained by engaging in a torrid sexual encounter with Vic Mackey. After they both lewdly taunted Kavanaugh with the X-rated details of their encounter, the Lieutenant's former scorn for Vic Mackey gave way to a consuming hatred that blinded his judgment and caused him to discard what was once a very strict moral compass. Enraged, Kavanaugh began to break the law himself. Kavanaugh went over to Corrine's house and attempted to seduce her to pay Vic back for what he did. When Corrine rejected his advances, Kavanaugh attempted to force himself on her, but did not go through with it. Kavanaugh also secretly made a deal with imprisoned drug lord and cop killer Antwon Mitchell, hoping to use his knowledge of the Strike Team in order to destroy them. To counteract this, Vic made his own deal with Antwon, to protect Lem in prison if Vic helped fund Antwon's gang. Kavanaugh sabotaged this arrangement, and Antwon swore he would have Lem killed regardless of the prison he was sent to.
He also investigated the Strike Team's financial statements and sabotaged Vic's budding romance with his lawyer, Rebecca Doyle. Kavanaugh then had the Strike Team's assets frozen, as well as those of Corrine. Although this move was meant to prevent them from paying Lem's bail, Vic managed to pay it anyway, using stolen drug money. But the chief, frustrated with the number of complaints against Kavanaugh, coupled with the lack of results, ordered him to complete his investigation in 48 hours, and find someplace else to do the paperwork. When Lem did not report for processing, he attempted to have the Strike Team arrested for aiding and abetting a fugitive. He had the Team followed at all times and even persuaded Aceveda to leak false information to Vic, saying that Lem had revealed the Strike Team's involvement in the Armenian Money Train Robbery. This ultimately led to Shane killing Lem to protect the team from going to prison. After Lem's death, Kavanaugh openly implied Vic was involved (which he wasn't), and this made Vic angry enough to fight Kavanaugh right there at the crime scene.
Season 6[]
| “ | You corrupted everything around you. Turned a good man like Lemansky into a thug and a thief. And you got him killed for it. I tried to become you for a minute, but... it wasn't worth it. I'll take my loss, go back to my life. But I won't be the one hearing my dead friend's screams in my head. | „ |
| ~ Kavanaugh to Vic in prison. |
Kavanaugh's actions during the events of Season 5, coupled with the death of Lemansky and yet another fight with Vic in the police station, ruined Kavanaugh's reputation. He was ordered by Chief Johnson to drop his investigations into the Strike Team over Lem's murder. Desperate to destroy the man he now viewed as a two time cop killer hiding behind a badge, Kavanaugh informed Claudette and Phillips that Vic had hired the Salvadoran drug dealers who killed Lem, using Emolia Melendez as a go-between. This granted him a temporary reprieve, and the Lieutenant falsely proclaimed that he had proof that Vic had Lem killed. In order to put a stop to Vic, Kavanaugh manipulated a woman named Emolia to lie about Vic in exchange for witness protection.
Vic paid a visit to the Lieutenant's residence and taunted him. Kavanaugh attempted to play Vic by lying to him that there were units at Vic's home waiting to arrest him. This allowed Kavanaugh an opportunity to break into Vic's home and plant "evidence" that would implicate him in Lem's death. However, Dutch was skeptical, as he did not believe Emolia's testimony and deemed that the evidence in Vic's home to be simply too good to be true. In an attempt to protect his case, Kavanaugh requested that Dutch be removed from the investigation, citing that Dutch's past relationship with Vic's ex-wife may have resulted in a conflict of interest. Corrine Mackey learned of the charges against her ex-husband and angrily confronted Kavanaugh, formally accusing him of sexual assault and demanding to press charges.
Claudette stated her belief that "only the truth can save this place." Together, they began to take a good hard look at Emolia's story. Soon, Kavanaugh was no longer able to carry his guilt anymore and ultimately confessed to his crimes while Claudette was interrogating Emolia. Kavanaugh was laughing while in custody, which Claudette was baffled by. Kavanaugh explained that he was laughing at the irony of it all, as he was convinced that he had framed a guilty man. Claudette told Kavanaugh that he used to be better than Vic, and Kavanaugh claimed he still was. Kavanaugh was immediately stripped of his badge and arrested for the many crimes he had committed, and ultimately pled guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence. Vic and Aceveda almost went to blows because Aceveda convinced the team that Lem had betrayed them, to which Aceveda claimed: "Kavanaugh played us both. I had no choice."
The last time Kavanaugh was seen was when Vic visited him in prison. Vic taunted Kavanaugh about having thrown away his morals only to lose their private war anyway, but Kavanaugh remained unfazed. He was finally at peace, free from Vic's corrupting influence. Kavanaugh proclaimed: "One day the Universe will take out its trash." Vic responded: "Looks like it already has." Kavanaugh was never seen again, though his presence would loom over the final season.
Season 7[]
| “ | I killed Crowley to protect me and my guys. I shot him with Two-Time's gun to divert suspicion, but Aceveda knew. So did Kavanaugh - the I.A.D. Investigator who was after us. They just couldn't prove it. I was too good. | „ |
| ~ Vic mentions Kavanaugh when he confesses to his many crimes. |
Kavanaugh's investigation, though over, ultimately contributed to the downfall of Vic. Vic ultimately confessed to all of his crimes for immunity and sold Ronnie out to save his wife. Ronnie was enraged with Vic when he was arrested, since Vic swore he would not betray him. Kavanaugh's words from season 5 to Ronnie proved to ultimately be true: "They're gonna bring you down for a mistake you were too smart to make."
Kavanaugh was mentioned by name by Vic when he confessed to his crimes. It is unclear if Kavanaugh's sentence was reduced after he was proven right about Mackey, but since Vic was innocent of Lem's death, this is not very likely.
Personality[]
| “ | What I do is stop cops from breaking the rules. I can't stop them if I can't stop myself. | „ |
| ~ Kavanaugh explaining his limitations to his ex-wife, and foreshadowing what he would become. |
Kavanaugh is a serious, stern and dedicated police officer. He was so dedicated to upholding the law that he turned in his own partner and refused to give his ex-wife leeway after filing a false police report to get his attention. A self-righteous careerist, Lieutenant Kavanaugh's investigation into Vic Mackey and the Strike Team was caused by LAPD Chief Johnson's desire to prosecute "a posterboy for corruption." By giving the Chief what he wanted, Kavanaugh hoped to gain promotion. But Kavanaugh's fatal flaw was letting Vic get to him, which drove him to break the very rules he was hired to prevent other cops from breaking. He has degrees in both criminology and psychology, and frequently played mind games with people under surveillance to find out what their motivations were. Lieutenant Kavanaugh revealed himself to be a determined and resolute investigator, sometimes to the point of obsession. Throughout Season 5, the Lieutenant became increasingly stressed and humiliated by the strain of chasing a much smarter opponent, and gradually came apart at the seams.
Kavanaugh was also somewhat unhinged, as he had a bizarre way of testing people by offering them gum and had manic tendencies and would throw violent tantrums when confronted with facts he didn't want to hear or when his plans failed to work out as intended. From the beginning of his investigation, Kavanaugh found himself repeatedly outmaneuvered and humiliated by his primary target, Detective Vic Mackey. This threat to Kavanaugh's oversized ego caused his pursuit of Vic to become very personal. In his attempt to take down Vic, Kavanaugh himself became guilty of sexual assault, planting evidence, and pressuring witnesses to commit perjury under color of law. These crimes ultimately caused him to lose his badge, his pension, and his freedom. Kavanaugh was a terrible liar and his attempts to play Vic at his own game ultimately failed. That being said, Kavanaugh was the only person Vic ever truly feared, and was probably the most formidable enemy the Strike Team ever faced.
Trivia[]
- Kavanaugh is easily the most virtuous of the major antagonists on The Shield (especially when compred to the likes of Armadillo and Margos). While he was corrupt and sanctimonious, he ultimately wanted to imprison a criminal. By stooping to Vic's level, though, he ruined any credibility he had and lost everything.
- During the writing of Season 4, series creator Shawn Ryan conceived the idea of a "pretty virtuous Internal Affairs detective," who would become "hell-bent on bringing [Mackey] to justice." During the making of Season 5, Ryan was convinced that he was "making it tough for the audience. They're not going to be sure who to root for." Ultimately, Ryan realized that the audience was still overwhelmingly rooting for Vic.
- Forest Whitaker, Kavanaugh's actor, claimed that he was baffled by how much the audience hated his character. Whitaker claimed people would see him on the street and yell "Leave Mackey alone!" Whitaker always responded: "But I'm the good guy!"
- In his obsession with sending Vic to jail, Kavanaugh started to resemble Captain Ahab chasing the White Whale.
- Kavanaugh was indirectly responsible for Curtis Lemansky's death, as he leaked false information about him to the other members of the team in the hopes that he could obtain a confession.
- Forest Whitaker was one of several high-profile guest stars that appeared on The Shield in its later seasons, alongside Glenn Close, Anthony Anderson, Laura Harring, Franka Potente and Laurie Holden.
 Villains
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