I’m not sure where Chicago PD would be if Hank Voight didn’t blur the lines. It’s exciting television. It’s not what we want from our real-life cops, but it’s certainly what we want from our fictional ones. But, this procedural just made a twist.
At the end of season seven, beginning of season eight, Chicago PD tackled Black Lives Matter and other procedures that police need to improve on. It only lasted half the season. Then, there was the significant return of Voight (Jason Beghe) at the end of season eight. I can’t say I was complaining. That’s the Voight I love. While what he was doing was wrong, he always did it for the right reasons, but usually, no one else was caught up in his rouge police work unless they chose to be.
Sure, Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) almost crossed the line a lot last season, but she never did. She even pulled Voight back when she found him, so for him to say he “tried to pull her back, over and over again” is such crap. At the moment in question, Hailey didn’t cross the line, nor did she want to. Instead, Upton wanted to call it in. And then she shot Roy in a good shoot, but she has to have this weigh on her because Voight covered up. I like when Voight goes rouge to protect his people, but it doesn’t seem like he can cross that line again. Not after what he’s done.
The acting on this show is superb. I loved when Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) confronted Voight. He didn’t know exactly what he would find out, but he knew something happened that night Hailey proposed to him. It shows just how well Jau knows her. He also brought up a good point. He and Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) used good police work to find Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati). Voight used his methods, and not only did he not find Kim, but a man also died, and it’s destroying Hailey. The writers are signaling to us that Voight can’t go down this path anymore. But then what do they do with him? Voight is at his best when he’s doing whatever it takes to get a suspect or find a victim. He’s been a little boring otherwise, unless the writers have something up their sleeve. The look on Voight’s face shows that he knows what he did. He’s trying to defend it and rationalize it, but they could have called it in even after Hailey shot Roy.
Speaking of tremendous acting skills, Tracey was on point. I don’t want to see a character fall apart in front of my eyes, but you have to appreciate how well an actor does it when they do. It started with her not being able to sleep. Then she had memory loss because of the lack of sleep, and then she totally lost it when the witness committed suicide on her watch. That was not her fault. It wasn’t on her at all, but she was holding in so much guilt that she couldn’t take it anymore. This was undoubtedly Upton’s big episode like NBC has been promoting, and they did not disappoint.
But where do she and Jay go from here? While Hailey did nothing wrong, Jay looks to be questioning the woman he loves or wondering how exactly he’s going to help her out of this mess. The writers finally gave us Upstead, and now their love will be tested.
The pivotal parts of the episode were Haily falling apart and the confrontation between Jay and Voight at the end, but there was an entire case going on in between that was also quite intense. But, of course, it’s always intense when kids are involved.
Adam Ruzek and Hailey picked up a call and were led to an abandoned house where a boy was tortured. And this wasn’t the first time the guy had done it. They pulled up seven bodies from the quarry. This case probably had a lot to do with Upton’s downfall. Even if you aren’t going out of your mind, tracking down a serial kid killer would wear anyone down.
Luckily, the team was able to save two victims. And no one crossed the line to do it. And it was still a good case to watch, but you have to admit the personal stuff going on throughout the episode was a big part of what made it so good.
Where do you think Upstead goes from here? Tweet me @PrimetimeDrama or @MandyTTCarr or comment below.
