Danny Ross

Law & Order character
Capt. Danny Ross
Time on show	2006-2010
Preceded by	James Deakins
Succeeded by	Sarah Brooks
First appearance	"Blind Spot" (Season 6)
Last appearance	"Puntland (Part 2)" (Season 9 Premiere)
Portrayed by	Eric Bogosian

Capt. Daniel Ross is a fictional character portrayed by Eric Bogosian in the NBC-USA Network^[1] series Law & Order: Criminal Intent. It is unknown if he is related to Jamie Ross, a character from the original Law & Order.

In Major Case Squad

He is introduced in the episode "Blind Spot" as the successor of Capt. James Deakins (Jamey Sheridan). He is given the position of captain of the Major Case Squad as a reward for a successful three-year stint as head of the NYPD's Joint Task Force on International Money Laundering.

Ross takes a more "hands-on" approach to the administration of Major Cases than Deakins. He often goes out into the field, especially for arrests, and occasionally participates in direct interrogations of suspects. He is far less tolerant of the unorthodox methods of Det. Robert Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio), and used his prior relationship as supervisor to Det. Megan Wheeler (Julianne Nicholson) at the Joint Task Force to keep close watch on "loose cannon" Det. Mike Logan (Chris Noth). In the episode "Rock Star", he remarks that he was at one time partners with Logan's replacement, Zach Nichols (Jeff Goldblum). He frequently lectures his detectives on being kept "in the loop" and updated on every development of each case. In the episode "Purgatory" he assigns Goren to go undercover without telling Eames. In the episode Betrayed he runs interference and can not believe that his ex-girlfriend is a two time killer. In "Major Case", he says to Nichols (who risks ruining his career over a murder case) that he himself came close to being suspended at least once a month while they were partners, due to Nichols' behavior.

Captain Ross, and Detectives Goren (Vincent D'Onofrio) & Eames (Kathryn Erbe) will be leaving the Major Case Squad after the season 9 premiere 2-part episode, "Puntland".^{[citation needed]} Ross will be replaced by Sarah Brooks (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio).^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Ross is divorced and has two sons, ages 15 and 11. He is very protective of them; during a case involving a teacher having an affair with one of her students, Logan asks him what he would do if he found out a teacher was having sex with either one of his sons. Ross replies that he would "break them in two...male or female." In another episode, ("Albatross") Ross and his sons witnessed a murder during a re-enactment of the famous duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Ross keeps his kids busy by having them collect the video cameras of all the other witnesses so they wouldn't be near the body. In the season 7 opener "Amends," Ross reveals that his oldest son Jeremy, age 15, has been caught sleeping with a girl, and that Ross' ex-wife wants him to have a talk with his son. Despite being divorced, Ross maintains something of a friendship with his ex-wife, Nancy, and her new boyfriend, Todd. In a 2006 episode, the whole family is seen eating Thanksgiving dinner together before Ross is called away to a crime scene. In the second Nichols/Wheeler team episode, "In Treatment"; Ross mentions to Zach Nichols that he has a cousin Rita who for twenty years now sends him cat toys for Christmas, over him saying she was pregnant, though she wasn't. Though Nichols was right about Wheeler being pregnant.

During several episodes, there are moments that point to a growing relationship between Captain Ross and Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Rodgers. In "Untethered", Ross and Rodgers can be seen getting into an elevator dressed for going to the theater. It is again hinted at when Capt. Ross asks Rodgers for information on Det. Goren. When Goren confronts Ross with this, he shouts at Ross "Did your girlfriend tell you this?!" (CI: "Frame")

Ross frequently makes cultured references to cases. In the episode "Neighborhood Watch", after his detectives close a homicide involving a very ignorant murderer, he refers to the killer as "the banality of evil," quoting the sub-title of a famous book by political theorist Hannah Arendt. In another case, when a prime suspect believed to be a KGB agent was revealed to be a fraud living in Brighton Beach, he calls him a "Brighton Beach Walter Mitty," referring to the main character of a classic short story by James Thurber. He also refers to the influential Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon in a case involving several unreliable witnesses involved in a computer crime, calling it "cyber-Rashomon."

Ross is Jewish, and in one episode ("30") addressing the killing of a civilian by the Israeli military, Logan asks Ross if he is, for the purposes of the case at hand, "a Jew first and a cop second?" Ross does not answer the question directly, instead he glares at Logan and lectures him on Hamas, PLO and Israel - the latter of the group Ross refers to as "we."

Notes