Curtis Lemansky
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Curtis Lemansky, more commonly known as "Lem" or "Lemonhead", was a fictional police officer on the FX Network original drama The Shield. He was played by actor Kenny Johnson.
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[edit] Personality
Of the four members of the Strike Team, Lem was the one who followed his conscience the most. He was a good-natured detective recruited to the team by his best friend, Detective Shane Vendrell. Well-liked by many because of his loyal and altruistic personality, the character was originally conceived as the "muscle" of the Strike Team. Despite this, Lem and his fellow teammate Detective Ronnie Gardocki were not included in the plot to kill Detective Terry Crowley, possibly due to Lemansky's friendship with the doomed detective. Indeed, his initial reaction to the news of Terry's death was to angrily punch a nearby car window. This made Vic to pause in shock at Lem's anger at the death of his friend.
Lem's character would not be fleshed out until later in the first season, in the episode "Throwaway". The episode introduced much of Lem's personality, such as his strong sense of morality, his willingness to help others, and his status as the conscience of the Strike Team.
As the show progressed, Lem found himself troubled by the major activities he engaged in as a member of the Strike Team. Lem would often be the first to object to the illegal activities of the Strike Team (which led to one of the character's most famous lines, when he openly asked why the Strike Team could not just do their jobs as cops and not involve themselves in illegal activities). He was also a vocal objector to the Money Train Heist, a plan to rob the Armenian Mob money-laundering operation, but he ultimately went along with the decision for the sake of team unity.
Little is known about Lemansky's personal life; in season five his fellow detective Ronnie Gardocki implies that Lem's parents were "trailer trash" and were so poor that the Strike Team didn't even bother to ask them for help bailing their son out of jail when he was arrested by Internal Affairs.
His loyalty to the Strike Team would come to define Lem as the show progressed; ultimately, he was willing to protect them at the cost of his own freedom and career. As stated by the character on several occasions, he considered the Strike Team to be his "family" and would often put aside his moral objections towards various schemes for the sake of the group. When Kavanaugh attempts to make Lem rat out the Strike Team, he replies "You're asking me to betray my family." Even Kavanaugh goes out of his way to shake Lem's hand, saying that he would have loved to have Lem in his corner.
Lemansky's preferred weapon is the shotgun.
[edit] Name Controversy
Much like fellow character Officer Danielle Sofer, controversy over the character's name has been a subject of much debate among fans of the show. While the character's given name is "Curtis Lemansky", the character is generally referred to as "Lem" or "Lemonhead" by various characters on the show. This is a play both on the character's last name and the fact that actor Kenny Johnson has blonde hair.
The early episodes heavily use the "Lemonhead" nickname (also used by the writing staff, who still refer to the character by that name in the shooting scripts). However, in later season one episodes, the character is referred to by the shorter "Lem". Many fans of the show began to adopt "Lem" as the name for the character, partially because it was less silly sounding than "Lemonhead". Perhaps noticing this, "Lem" became the defacto name for the character from season two onward.
[edit] History
[edit] The Case of the Dead Rapper
Lem was first given the spotlight in the fourth episode of the first season, "Dawg Days". The episode saw Lem and patrol officer Danielle Sofer moonlighting as security at a local night club where two rappers and their gang-related entourages engage in a brawl. When Sofer is ambushed on the street by one of the entourage members, Lem and Detective Vic Mackey step in to try and defuse the war between the two rappers, culminating in Vic locking the two musicians in a freight container together for the night and telling them to either resolve their differences peacefully or kill each other off. The next morning Vic and Lem arrive to find that one of the rappers has murdered the other. It was at this point that Lem offers to dispose of the body of the slain rapper for Vic.
[edit] The Money Train
Lem was involved in the money train robbery and was the member of the Strike Team most fearful for their safety after the robbery was completed. He began to behave in an extremely paranoid way, particularly after it was discovered that some of the money was not only marked, but had been released back into circulation. Though he did mellow a bit when the money was purged of marked notes and a known criminal named Neil O'Brien given some of the tagged money, Lem's terror reached new heights when O'Brien was found murdered and the team was forced to dispose of his body.
Lem began voicing his concerns to his fellow Strike Team members, which led to a dramatic moment where Lem, without any warning, leaned over and began vomiting blood out of his mouth. Shocked, Lem confessed that the stress of hiding the money train loot and the group's various morally questionable actions had resulted in his developing potentially fatal ulcer problems. While Ronnie and Vic realized the severity of Lem's health problems and wisely backed off from attacking him for his critical comments, Shane refused to show concern for Lem and angrily attacked him for being scared.
However, when it was discovered that the Armenian mob had their identities and photos, Lem stole the remaining cash from the money train and burnt most of it, believing that he was protecting the team. Lem, as it turned out, believed that so long as the Strike Team possessed the money, the group would forever be hounded by those parties looking for the stolen loot. Lem's decision ultimately was the breaking point for his friendship with Shane Vendrell.
Shane refused Vic's attempt at a reconciliation with the team and Lem and accused Vic and Ronnie of hating Lem as much as he did. Lem quit the group as a direct result and this triggered a confrontation between Shane and Vic that led to the Strike Team dissolving.
[edit] Return To The Barn
After the team was broken up, Lem transferred to a different agency and began to work with juvenile offenders. However, he soon found himself missing his friends Vic and Ronnie. It was heavily implied that the two had came to a sort of understanding with Lem regarding his departure from the Strike Team after Shane's antics. As a result, Vic and Ronnie contacted Lem and revealed to him that Shane seemed to have developed a relationship with one-niner drug and gang lord Antwon Mitchell and that the entire team was at risk if Shane used the team to bargain a deal should he get caught by IAD. Afterwards, Lem began to pass relevant information to Vic that he obtained via his contacts with various juvenile offenders to ensure that Vic could stay informed to Shane's actions. Ultimately Vic convinced Lem to work with him in the newly reformed Strike Team in order to keep closer tabs on Shane, which created conflict with Lem since this meant that he would be unable to transfer back to the Barn due to the animosity still between him and Shane.
Things came to a head when Lem came up with information that led to a massive drug bust, severely crippling Mitchell's business. When his 14-year-old informant Angie suddenly wen missing after having provided information that led to the bust, Lem became immediately suspicious of Shane. He openly accused both Shane and Vic of working for Mitchell and being responsible for Angie's death. In order to prove himself, Vic let Lem back into his inner circle and arranged for his transfer back to the Barn. Vic also revealed some incrimating footage from a bug planted in Shane's car; this showed how he knew of an earlier confrontation between Shane and Lem that ended with Shane, once Lem had left camera range, openly lamenting the fact that the two former best friends had turned into mortal enemies.
[edit] Theft of Heroin
During the search for Angie, whom they learn was murdered by Antwon Mitchell, Lem raided a criminal informant's house in search of information. One of the residents of the home had a package of heroin and Lem stole it in order to provide leverage for information concerning Angie's disappearance. However, Lem's theft was seen by Emolia Melendez, a police informant, who subsequently reported it to Internal Affairs. The heroin was confiscated from Lem's car during the night and replaced with a fake bundle. Though this initially caused some trouble, the affair was put behind them and eventually the Strike Team came back together. Shane and Lem both reconciled after Lem nearly died at the hands of a trio of criminals who had intel on the location of an El Salvadorian drug kingpin.
[edit] Internal Affairs
In Season 5, the theft of the heroin would come back to haunt Lem. Using the brick as evidence, IAD Lieutenant Kavanaugh used this evidence as leverage to make Lem wear a listening device, primarily to gather evidence about the Strike Team's role in the death of a police officer, Terry Crowley. Kavanaugh stated he would imprison Lem for not only the drug theft but also for intent to sell the drugs, which would potentially land Lem in jail for 10 years. Kavanaugh also interrogated Lem about the murder of Detective Crowley. To Kavanaugh's amusement, Lem revealed that he was not involved in the plot. Kavanaugh decided to use this knowledge as a way to drive a wedge between Lem and Vic. Lem pretended to go along with Kavanaugh's plan, but managed to secretly tip off his friend Vic by staging a fight between the two that temporarily disabled the listening device and allowed him to inform Vic of what had happened. He also confronted Vic about Terry's death and when Vic hesitated before responding, Lem refused to let Vic answer the question, knowing that the answer would be Vic was responsible.
Despite this, Vic worked diligently to save Lem from Kavanaugh's clutches and ultimately convinced Lem that Terry's death was only indirectly Vic's fault due to him accidentally dropping his guard during the raid. With Lem's help, the team tried to outmaneuver Kavanaugh, which successfully resulted in Kavanaugh's humiliation during a botched sting operation. During a raid on a Salvadorian grenade factory, Lem heroically saved Kavanaugh from an active grenade tossed in his direction by rushing to grab the grenade and throwing it away from Kavanaugh seconds before it exploded. Kavanaugh responded to this act of selfless bravery by continuing to pressure Lem into turning against the Strike Team. Lem sharply refused to turn his back on his friends as Vic confronted Kavanaugh's cold treatment towards Lem, who could have easily let Kavanaugh be killed by the grenade but had risked his life to save him.
[edit] The Arrest
Things came to a head when Vic and Lem entered the security monitor room to have a private conversation only to see via the monitors, a rather private conversation between Kavanaugh and Kavanaugh's distraught, mentally ill ex-wife. Viewing their disturbingly private moment on the closed-circuit television, Vic remarked that they had found Kavanaugh's weakness. Kavanaugh eventually noticed the security camera in the room and the possibility that his conversation with his wife was being observed by his enemies led him to rush out of the interrogation room. While Vic and Lem fled the room before Kavanaugh could catch the two red-handed, the now enraged Kavanaugh ordered that Lem be arrested for possession of heroin with intent to distribute. Lem was handcuffed in front of his shocked fellow officers, placed in lockup with other criminals, processed, and sent to a detention center. Unknown to Lem at the time, Kavanaugh had seemingly arranged for him to serve time at the same prison as gang leader Antwon Mitchell, who wanted to have him murdered while in custody. Lem's bail was set at one-hundred thousand dollars while most of the Strike Team's assets were frozen under suspicion of lawlessness. This led the remaining three Strike Team members to turn to their friend Smitty to bail Lem out, using money they stole from a small-time pot dealer as bail money.
[edit] The Plea
Lem soon became weary of just not knowing what would happen to the others, and the fears started aggravating his ulcer problem. In a move to seal the rest of the team off from prosecution, he pled guilty to theft under color of authority to serve 18 months before parole of a 5 year sentence. Although he and the team came to realize that being sent to the same prison as Antwon Mitchell was an idle threat, they still had to deal with Mitchell's One-Niner gang being spread across almost all California prisons; Lem's life would be at risk either way. Further, even if Lem did manage to survive 18 months, he would have to be dealing with constant conflict with One-Niners, making it unlikely he would qualify for early release. As Vic struck a deal with Mitchell to keep Lem safe, Lem entered the official plea, much to Kavanaugh's dismay. As the investigation came to a close, Kavanaugh paid Lem a final visit to apologize and explained that he had always thought Lem would finally give up Vic; he never wanted Lem to go to prison. He told Lem that "any man would be lucky to have you in his corner."
[edit] Death
Soon after the plea was entered, however, Vic found that Kavanaugh had played his last card, starting an investigation of Lompoc Federal Penitentiary, which was causing Antwon to lose all the creature comforts he'd enjoyed. Additionally, Kavanaugh told Mitchell that Vic had been bragging about getting the better of Antwon, and a furious Mitchell told Vic that Lem was dead as soon as he came into the system. Desperate to save his friend from certain death, Vic convinced Lem to skip town on the eve of his court date, where he would plead guilty and be sent to prison. Vic prepared to transport the fugitive Lem to Mexico to hide after the group were told that Lem's original deal was now null and void and that the only way for him to receive any break in terms of sentencing would be if he gave up the Strike Team. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh convinced Councilman Aceveda to go to Vic and to lie about Lem agreeing to turn against the Strike Team in exchange for a new plea bargain in order to try and track the Strike Team to Lemansky. Vic refused to accept Aceveda's lie and continued to believe that Lem had not betrayed the Strike Team. Meanwhile, Lem was forced to abandon Vic's original plans for hiding him after he risked his freedom to help out a young child who had been left alone by his parents and had seriously hurt himself in his home's kitchen. Lem ultimately contacted Vic and arranged for a meeting with his friends, with Vic preparing the final details to get Lem across the border and into hiding.
However, Kavanaugh used Aceveda to imply to Vic that Lem had revealed information about the "Money Train". Upon learning this, Shane Vendrell secretly decided to kill his best friend using a stolen grenade in order to prevent Lem from implicating the team in any illegal activities. While Vic and Ronnie were occupied with losing the IAD officers tailing their vehicles, Shane, who was not being tailed, was able to meet up with Lem and whisk him away to an abandoned garage.
Shane made one last ditch effort to convince Lem to go along with Vic's plan to relocate him to Mexico but Lem flat out refused to go into hiding. Lem argued that fleeing to Mexico, cut off from his friends and isolated from the rest of the world would be worse than prison. With this declaration, Shane went through with his grim task. Changing the subject of conversation to the fact that his wife Mara was pregnant with the couple's second child, Shane brought Lem a sandwich to his car and quietly dropped a grenade in the front seat, killing Lemansky. When the smoke cleared from the explosion, Lemansky survived long enough to see Shane break down emotionally and beg for forgiveness.
[edit] Fall-Out From Death
Upon arriving at the abandoned garage where Lem's body was found, a distraught Vic, in a rare showing of grief, attempted to touch the dead body of Lem only to be stopped by both Ronnie and Dutch, who reminded Vic that touching Lem's body would contaminate the crime scene. As he moved away from his friend's body, Vic was cruelly taunted by an equally distraught Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh, in a bitter tone, repeatedly asked Vic if he was happy that Lem was dead (since Lem's death effectively closed the IAD investigation of the Strike Team). Vic responded by charging at Kavanaugh and the two men fought for a few seconds before being torn apart by the various patrol officers who had arrived at the crime scene in respect for Lem.
Claudette assigned Dutch, her "best detective", to investigate the murder with it implied that Claudette suspects that Lem was murdered by the El Salvadorian mob. Salvadorians had recently began to use grenades to kill their enemies and the Strike Team had successfully shut down several of the syndicate's operations.
As Vic was led away by Ronnie and Shane, Vic vowed to find and kill those responsible, a plotline expected to figure prominently into season 6. As Vic walks off camera, the shot focuses on a clearly distraught Shane following Mackey. Season 6 is set to begin with the Strike Team ruthlessly hunting Lem's killer and Shane struggling with the repercussions of killing his friend.
In the 15 minute "promosode" for Bud.TV it was revealed that Lem did not receive a motorcade or police funeral. Instead Claudette was forced to hold all officers on overtime so that no one could attend. This is similar to the manner of funeral that former Assistant Police Chief Gilroy was given.
[edit] Trivia
- The character of Curtis Lemansky was not a part of the original series pitch for "The Shield". The character was created by Shawn Ryan specifically for actor Kenny Johnson after Johnson auditioned for the role of doomed Detective Terry Crowley.
- A recent commercial hyping the upcoming sixth season of "The Shield" states that Lem's date of birth as 1963-7-14 and the date of the character's death as being 2006-03-21, which was also the airdate of the episode where the character died.
- Lemansky carried a Beretta 92FS as his main sidearm.
