Spoilers ahead for Episode 21 of Law & Order Season 22, called "Appraisal."
The Law & Order team had a birthday to celebrate in "Appraisal" as Cosgrove turned 50, but the episode wasn't exactly a party for him as he and Shaw investigated the murder of an artist and disappearance of her art dealer. Cosgrove took a bullet in the process of saving the dealer in the very same episode that he shared that he had a job offer in private security in Florida. Given that this was the last episode before the finale, I initially thought the show was building his possible departure up as a cliffhanger, but in a surprise twist, getting shot helped convince Cosgrove that he needed to stick around.
When Cosgrove and Shaw were searching a suspect's car, Cosgrove opened up and said that his first partner at the NYPD (presumably not Anthony Anderson's Kevin Bernard) had left the force, moved to Florida, and was making big bucks in private security. Shaw asked if he was tempted to take the job offer from his old partner, prompting Cosgrove to note that he's not getting any younger and the job's not getting any easier. Turning 50 was certainly an excuse for him to be reflective, and being hounded by a crowd of civilians wanting to defund the police probably didn't make a lucrative job in Florida sound worse.
Throw in a gunshot wound that could have meant the death of both Cosgrove and the art dealer if he hadn't been wearing an ankle holster with a second weapon, and it would be hard to blame him for considering leaving the force. I genuinely thought that Law & Order was using this storyline to create some suspense about Jeffrey Donovan's future on the show, but the bloody twist of taking a bullet in a dirty warehouse had the opposite effect on Cosgrove than it might on most. At the end of the episode, after he was key to Price and Maroun getting a guilty verdict for the killer, he told Shaw:
It turns out we do make a difference once in a while.... It means I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. Sometimes it takes getting shot in the chest to realize we got the greatest job on Earth.
Based on Shaw's expression, he might not 100% agree about the benefits of getting shot, but he certainly seems happy enough that Cosgrove isn't going anywhere. And given that Law & Order settled the question of Cosgrove wanting to leave in the penultimate episode of Season 22, I think it's a safe bet that he's not departing in the finale, which presumably means that he'll be back on NBC in the fall... or whenever the 2023-2024 TV season starts in light of the WGA writers strike.
Of course, that's assuming that Jeffrey Donovan doesn't decide to leave over summer hiatus like Anthony Anderson did last year, but my money is on more of Cosgrove – and hopefully Shaw, considering what Mehcad Brooks brings to the show – in Season 23. If anything, Cosgrove being shot and toying with the idea of leaving New York in Episode 21 has me convinced that the character isn't going anywhere in Episode 22 or beyond. Law & Order was renewed for Season 23 back in April, along with Law & Order: SVU getting the order for Season 25 and Law & Order: Organized Crime getting a Season 3.
All three shows are available streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, but there's still one more episode left this season before fans have to resort to streaming old ones. Tune in to NBC on Thursday, May 18 at 8 p.m. ET for the Law & Order Season 22 finale, followed by the SVU Season 24 finale at 9 p.m. and Organized Crime at 10 p.m. before summer hiatus begins.
