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Chicago P.D. 4×14 “Seven Indictments” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Case Summary: When an LGBTQ building is burned to shreds and a body’s discovered, the Intelligence unit must find the culprit. They must also learn whether it was an accident or purposely done. After a few of the team members hear that they should be cautious of Rixton, they take matters into their hands to find out what happened with the gang unit he previously worked with. Antonio briefly returns, but Ruzek is back for good.

Review | Analysis: “Seven Indictments” had a great flow to it and kept me intrigued the entire time. It was especially great to see moments where the team fought for justice while standing up for the LGBTQ community. We’ve dealt with races on this show, but we’ve never actually dealt with the LGBTQ community, so it was a pleasant change. On another note, one of the things I’ve loved about this show is how honorable the men truly are. And honor doesn’t mean perfection, but it means having the courage to stand up for what’s right, even if that means admitting they were wrong. Additionally, the team’s admiration towards those less fortunate continues to be an absolute blast to watch.

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Chicago P.D. 3×20 “In a Duffel Bag” and 3×21 “Justice” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Case Summary: “In a Duffel Bag” the Intelligence unit’s surprising find sends them off on a seemingly never ending quest, but also manages to reveal a part about Voight’s past we would’ve probably otherwise not have known. In “Justice” after Roman’s shot through the car door, Kim goes to trial when the kid she shoots claims he’s innocent.

Review | Analysis: Chicago P.D. gave viewers a bit sneak peak of what Chicago Law will look like if the pilot’s picked up, and it made for an interesting episode. For the most part, despite the fact that it wasn’t my favorite, “Justice” kept a great balance between the case and the heart within the unit. And though it actually felt like it was a two hour long episode, it was fascinating to be uncertain of what’s ahead. While we don’t always know who the killer right away, the issues “Justice” brought up continuously kept me on the edge of my seat. The series has yet to cover police brutality in depth and I’m still waiting for the episode where it showcases what it’s truly like.

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Chicago P.D. 3×19 “If We Were Normal” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Case Summary: When a disheveled female is found hiding out from a man she attempted to stab, the Intelligence unit learns she was held captive and sexually assaulted. When they eventually find the man responsible, they also learn he’s married to a woman who’d gone missing years ago with a different identity and he’s murdered another. After finally convincing Madison that she’s actually Jamie Lynne, she agrees to testify against the man she believed was her husband, and Ruby, who’s now pregnant with Drew’s child decides to keep him/her in order to have one good thing come from her horrifying experiences.

Review | Analysis: The Intelligence unit and specifically Olinsky once again prove to be some of the most empathetic officers on television. Chicago P.D. has some of the most compelling ensemble casts on television and as viewers, we constantly find ourselves missing our favorites. Thankfully for me, there’s not a single character whose centric episodes I don’t appreciate, and thereby, I often find myself grateful for whatever we’ve gotten. It was beautiful to be reminded of the kind of father Alvin Olinsky truly is — not only to his own girls, and the unit, but to the victims. Elias Koteas exudes such warmth in his performances, it’s no wonder people tend to feel safer around Olinsky.

To be quite honest, I’m still trying to figure out if “If We Were Normal” is a proper episode title because it doesn’t seem to fit with everything that went on. In fact, some of the subplots, despite the fact that they were entertaining, didn’t belong in the episode either.

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Chicago P.D. 3×18 “Kasual With a K” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Case Summary: When a crime breaks out at a Battered Women’s Shelter, it’s up to Intelligence unit to figure out who’s behind the crimes. And with the help of the head woman in charge Jessica surviving, it becomes much easier.

Review | Analysis: Chicago P.D. is great for a number of reasons, but the reason I’ve stuck around for this long is because of how well the women are treated. And especially because of how well women treat one another. For the most part, “Kasual With a K” was a well written episode, but it wasn’t one of my favorites — leaving me with very little room to analyze.

It’s always fun to get more information on our main characters and it’s especially fun, if it involves sharing the information with another member of the unit. But, what makes it funnest (can’t remember the last time I’ve used this word, lol!) is when it’s shared between a couple. However, am I the only one who was actually expecting Erin to share something more tragic? Sophia Bush had said that it’s a piece of information she had assumed about her character, but given what we know about Lindsay’s past, I was expecting this news to be heart shattering adding on to the darkness we know she’s lived through. Given how empathetic she generally is towards women who have been mistreated, abused, or raped, I had sort of made the assumption that she’d gone through one of them as well which is why she’s so fervently devoted to justice. And while of course you don’t have to go through something yourself to be passionate about it, we’ve always known that her childhood was dark, but the question’s always been how dark?

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Chicago P.D. 3×12 “Looking Out for Stateville” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Case Summary: Hank’s prison pal Eddie is now a C.I., but the problem is he’s greedy and untrustworthy so when the drug bust is done, he chooses to backstab the team landing himself back in a cell. Fun times.

Review | Analysis: I’ve sorely missed episodes that focused on Antonio Dawson and the partnership he’s got with Voight therefore, in that area the episode was remarkable. In another sense, the last time I was this disappointed with this series was when they decided to kill off Nadia for the sake of unnecessary character development. Sometimes it’s easy to be objective, but other times when you watch too much TV, you get tired of the same old thing every single time. The rift between Kim and Adam was handled with very little grace and the two deserved much better.

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Chicago P.D. 3×11 “Knock the Family Right Out” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Never go into a case without backup.

Case Summary: When a local family’s home is invaded as they’re all drugged with ‘laughing gas’ to continue sleeping, their 14-year-old daughter is raped, and the Intelligence unit gets involved to find the culprit/s. And later when they find a man that could potentially be involved during an undercover night out, another female claims to have been raped in the same way, but it turns out she’s only trying to free her partner from Intelligence.

Review | Analysis: The series picked up its pace this week with an engaging case that had all of Intelligence at the top of their games, and perhaps even a bit too much. It’s never easy to listen to rape victims talk about what they’ve been through, and it’s even worse to know that a woman would be a part of the villain team. Women should love and support each other, not the other way around. Though as far as storytelling goes, Tawny’s involvement was a fine way to shock the audience. “Knock the Family Right Out” worked wonderfully as a whole because for what seems like the longest time, no one felt disconnected. Even Platt’s wedding plans fit in for it gave Kim the opportunity to open up her actual thoughts on the delay. And because Kim got to play around with Intelligence this week, it all correlated smoothly with the running theme of honesty throughout the episode.

Honesty is the act of telling the truth — it’s having the strength to confront what’s inside, and even the nobility to admit when you’re wrong. Within the case we were presented with two females: one who chose to reveal what really happened and another that deceitfully put the life of innocents at risk in order to carry on her dastardly duties. And with Lindsay, admitting that her rash decision wasn’t wise is yet another example which rings true to the theme of practicing rectitude. But perhaps when it comes to honesty, the truth about Kim’s feelings surfacing may have just been my favorite part of the episode. Continue reading →

Chicago P.D. 3×08 “Forget My Name” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Stakeouts are fun?

Episode Summary: When a friend of Antonio’s who now works for the NSA gives him a number that leads to a huge narcotics transport, Halstead and Lindsay go undercover in patrol only to find a dead body. The body then leads to a bigger case dealing with government products to which NSA agent wants no part of until he finally gives in. Mouch asks Burgess to figure out Platt’s ring size in order to propose to her. Atwater does Captain Whitaker a favor.

Review | Analysis: “Forget My Name” was a solid episode, but generally cases that don’t heavily involve one of our own don’t leave a lot of room for discussion. The episode was the perfect opportunity to involve Antonio in a bit more, but essentially, it felt as though he was a bit more sidelined when it should’ve been the exact opposite. In other words, let’s talk about the dynamics.

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Chicago P.D. 3×07 “A Dead Kid, a Notebook, and a Lot of Maybes” Recap

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This episode featured some of the best performances we’ve seen all season leaving me completely enamored while reminding me why I love this series so much.

Episode Summary: When Colin’s body is found next to a homemade bomb the team believes it’s a suicide, but when they’re given his journal of personal drawings pointing to a revenge scheme, they’re led to another kid, Ethan Jones, who reveals a lot more than any of them imagined. Jay’s connection with Ethan allows him to open up about his past. Adam and Kim’s date night is crashed by Olinsky and Michelle who need to place to stay. And Roman is understandably taking Andrew’s death hard.

Review | Analysis: I’ve always said that the cases closely involving members of the Intelligence unit end up being the most riveting. Frankly, if there’s one thing that’ll always keep me coming back to Chicago P.D. it’s the unbelievably talented group of actors and actresses that continuously leave me floored. Jesse Lee Soffer was at the top of his game this week — we’ve seen him do some commendable work, but in “A Dead Kid, a Notebook and a Lot of Maybes”, Soffer’s work is indescribable. This week’s episode also gave us some great developments between other members of the units and it’s always intriguing to see the differences in relationships on the series.

It’s fantastic that the episode’s theme once again focused on protecting children reminding us that sometimes, a hero can be anyone. And if that’s not enough, what most characters have done this week is given their all to make sure someone else feels safe enough to be lean on them.

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Chicago P.D. 3×05 “Climbing Into Bed” | 3×06 “You Never Know Who’s Who” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Insert some cool one liner about the episode here.

Episode Summary: Ruzek accidentally gets involved in a wrong case, and because he forgot to run it by Voight, it threatens his place in Intelligence. Olinsky gets the test results. Erin and Jay take their relationship to the next level. Roman, Platt, and the entire team make Andrew’s last few days the best he’s ever had.

Review | Analysis: To be quite honest, I’m not sure how I feel about this week’s episodes — particularly the cases. While they normally always grip me, I found myself unable to focus on the story that was being told. Additionally, while I was moved to tears with the story of Roman, Andrew and the unit, it’s not something I can discuss. I wish I could talk about how beautiful it was, but I’ll cry through this entire review and while it’s okay to write through happy tears, sad ones like this aren’t easy. My heart hurts so bad when children lose their battle with cancer, there’s no way I could possibly write about it. Perhaps realizing the series will be killing him off is what made the episode so difficult to watch let alone write about. I hope you all understand. That said, this review will focus on dynamics and individual character storylines.

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Chicago P.D. 3×04 “Debts of the Past” Recap

Spoilers Ahead

Another great episode reminding us of the fantastic relationships on the series.

Episode Summary: Back in prison, Beckett learned that 2 million of his money was taken by the cops which explains why he’s now out to get to them all. After turning against each other momentarily Alvin and Voight later put their differences aside when it’s clear that the witness was the one who’s taken it. Burgess learns about another engagement from Ruzek’s past. Lindsay’s ready to move back home. And Alvin’s wife wants him to get a paternity test on Michelle.

Review | Analysis: Thankfully this week’s episode wasn’t involving children or teens too much. And thankfully Voight’s grandson is okay. Though it wasn’t fun to watch Alvin and Voight second guess one another, it’s great to know neither of them are the ones who took the money. Mostly, I’m just bummed Mouse’s “semi Stark” board wasn’t welcomed. I’m all for keeping tradition, there’s wonder and beauty in keeping things simple, but c’mon, Olinsky — the system would’ve saved y’all a lot of time. Not to mention it’d also save paper and ink. Trees are important too.

I imagined the case was going to be handled in a lot differently than it was. That said, I don’t have much to say on it all other than it was pretty thrilling to watch — especially towards the end where their plan worked in favor of them perfectly. “Debts of the Past” took the theme of partnerships and authenticated what it means to be loyal. Loyalty doesn’t mean no arguments or questioning, it means coming up stronger despite those things — it was proven to be most true with Alvin/Hank, Jay/Erin, Alvin/Michelle, and hopefully Adam/Kim.

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