The 'Law & Order' Season Premiere Rips from the Headlines. All of Them

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 19, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 19, 2024 |

Spoilers

Law & Order returns this week with its 23rd season premiere, marking the third season since its revival. That first season was rocky, but the second found its groove and a welcome return to form, while the third season premiere builds upon the good work of last season.

But first things first: Jeffrey Donovan’s Detective Frank Cosgrove has been replaced by Reid Scott’s Detective Vincent Riley, who fits into the universe seamlessly. There is a tense early scene, however, where Detective Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) disarms a Black suspect and removes his knife, much to the consternation of Det. Riley, who is back on the homicide beat for the first time in three years. “Don’t you ever play hero on my tab again,” Riley instructs Shaw.

There’s a subtle suggestion that race is a factor here — that Riley would rather have shot the Black suspect than deal with the consequences of an injured partner. However, later in the episode, confronted with a similar encounter with a white suspect, Reid shoots and kills him when the suspect points his weapon toward Detective Shaw. Turns out, Reid is just a by-the-books kind of cop who doesn’t like cowboys.

As for Cosgrove, his exit is explained vaguely and succinctly:

Riley: Hey. I gotta ask. What happened to Cosgrove? I knew him back in the day. Good cop.
Shaw: Great cop. He just got jammed up.
Riley: On what?
Shaw: Being too honest about things that people aren’t too honest about these days.
Riley: It is not a great time to have an opinion, is it?
Shaw: It is not.

That’s it. Cosgrove apparently got booted for speaking his mind. As for Donovan, the only official explanation for his exit from the series was “creative differences,” but I wonder if the writers weren’t speaking on his behalf in that exchange?

As for the episode itself, because of the strikes, the series hasn’t aired an episode since last May. Apparently, the writers decided to rip from every headline since then. There’s Israel/Palestine, Claudine Gay, plagiarism accusations, Donald Trump’s gag order, and even a character seemingly inspired by Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid.

When the episode begins, the President of L&O’s recurring Hudson University is ranting on the phone with his wife about being accused of plagiarism for missed citations when he spots some hoodlums spray painting the Star of David on a wall. The University President is then stabbed to death by an unknown assailant, who leaves a note behind that reads, “Traitor.”

Who could it be? Is it the Jewish faculty member who was fired for speaking out about the University allowing Palestinian student organizations on campus? It is not, but put a pin in that one. Is it the Celebrity turned college student using her platform to criticize the University for subsequently shutting down a pro-Palestinian student organization the university felt had crossed a line?

No. But it is the Celebrity’s friend, Cam Lawson, who it turns out was not influenced by the Celebrity to kill the University President but by an outspoken Faculty Member who had “suggested” Cam kill the University President and gave him a knife with which to do it. But before we even learn of that, the Celebrity is assassinated while giving a pro-Palestinian speech by the Jewish Faculty Member, who is subsequently shot and killed by Detective Riley for pointing his gun at Detective Shaw. Small world?

Cam Lawson cuts a deal for ten years to testify against the Faculty Member accused of brainwashing him into murdering the University President. The Faculty Member denies playing a role in Cam’s decision to murder the University President, but she hurts her defense when she says that she is “proud” of Cam for murdering the Jewish, Free-Speech advocating University President.

The jury, nevertheless, returns a not guilty verdict. To sum: A man is murdered, the Faculty Member who allegedly “brainwashed” the college student into perpetrating the murder goes free, and the only people pissed off are the parents of the college student over the fact that their kid — who stabbed the University President multiple times — had to go to jail for ten years.

“Well, at least it’s over,” D.A. Price says outside the courtroom while witnessing a fight break out, presumably between pro-Palestininan activists and pro-Israeli activists. “It’ll never be over,” says ADA Samantha Maroun. Ain’t that the truth! It’s impressive all the same that the season premiere could tackle so many political issues without taking a political position on any of them. That’s the L&O way.

Riley: It is not a great time to have an opinion, is it?
Shaw: It is not.