[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Law & Order–SVU–Organized Crime crossover premiere event, “Gimme Shelter.”]
Law & Order, SVU, and Organized Crime kick off their seasons with a historic crossover event, and sure, it’s great to see everyone working together, but heading into the episodes, we have two simple questions: Will they set up Detective Amanda Rollins’ (Kelli Giddish) exit?
It’s not until almost halfway through the third hour that it appears to do just that. Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Detective Frank Cosgrove (Jeffrey Donovan), and Detective Jalen Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) lead the investigation after a 15-year-old girl is killed, and they discover she was part of a sex trafficking ring. Her murderer, Sirenko, kills one of Stabler’s CIs before setting off a bomb in a hotel holding a NATO event, but the person behind it all is Daniel Rublev, senior liaison to the president of Russia. Nicole, another girl who was trafficked, is the only one who can authenticate a video in which Rublev spoke about the whole world knowing how powerful Russia is, with something big and loud that will be all over the news.
As Rollins is leaving the safe house with Nicole and another detective, three men start shooting at them. When Nicole goes to run off, Rollins follows and is shot. But the other detective kills the shooter before he can put another bullet in Rollins.
Will Hart/NBC
By the time Benson arrives on scene, Rollins has been taken to the hospital. “Tell me she’s alive,” she says to the other detective. “I don’t know. There was a lot of blood. I tried to stop the bleeding. She was alive when she left,” he admits. But the EMTs were talking to her, which has to be a good sign, right? ADA Sonny Carisi (Peter Scanavino) arrives on scene soon after, and he’s, understandably, a mess. “Is she OK? Is she alive?” he demands. Benson admits she’s not sure, but “Amanda is a very strong woman, and if anyone can survive a gunshot wound, we both know she can.” He hurries off to the hospital.
Rollins’ surgery goes well, and she’s in stable condition, but all they can do is hope for the best, Benson later shares with Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy). And last we see her, with Carisi sitting by her bedside, Rollins is alive and it looks like she’ll recover.
But could this lead to her deciding it’s time to step back and leave SVU before she doesn’t make it home to her daughters one day? (Jamie Gray Hyder’s Kat had an exit along those lines, choosing to walk away after an injury.) It certainly seems possible … assuming the second episode of SVU isn’t going to see her suffering some serious complications from her wound.
Law & Order, Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC
Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC
Law & Order: Organized Crime, Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC