Chicago PD: Season 1 - Episode Eight - "Different Mistakes"

"Different Mistakes"
Written By: Bryan Garcia
Directed By: Fred Berner

The Plot: There’s a bloody massacre at a Triad gambling den, which is quickly assumed to be a professional hit job. After bragging to some of his academy classmates in Olinsky’s earshot, Ruzek is busted back to patrolman, working with Burgess for the day, whilst Atwater gets to work with Intelligence.

Halstead is sent into another Triad gambling den and is accosted by someone who appears to be an undercover cop – at least, he has a badge and a weapon – and it is soon revealed that Voight’s old partner, Jimmy Shi, is involved. Shi is a Vice squad cop in Chinatown, and as much as Voight doesn’t want to believe it, the rest of Intelligence believe that Shi is dirty, and committing these robbery/shootings for the money they’re lifting from each scene.

Except that whilst Shi and his squad is being questioned, another gambling den is hit. There’s a copycat squad out there, trying to frame Shi’s team for the robberies, when the cops are trying to catch those responsible. The bad guys seem to have cracked the squad’s two-way radios. A sting operation is put into place, and following what’s now apparently a mandatory – but still very cool – car chase and shootout, the perps are apprehended.

Halstead is then free to pester Jin about tracing Ronnie Rodiger’s credit card, and when Jin reveals that Ronnie has bought some questionable things – including toys – Halstead is certain that the man he suspects is a paedophile and a murder is going to commit another one.

Ruzek and Burgess get into the middle of a burglary, and Ruzek is nearly stabbed. A new cop, Detective Sumner, joins the squad – at the same time as Gradishar’s replacement, a slimy-looking guy called Edwin Stillwell, looks Voight up. Lindsay tries to get drug-addicted Nadia clean, but there’s a setback when Nadia falls back into her old habits.

The closing scene is of Voight meeting Maurice Owens, and just as Maurice hands over a wad of cash – a sizeable wad, for all that – there is a rush of police cars and a team led by Stillwell swoops in, and arrests both men. The look on Stillwell’s face suggests there’s trouble ahead.

My Thoughts: Right off the top, Stillwell is bad news. Gradishar was obviously annoying for Voight but she appeared to be doing her work with IA for the right reasons, but I get the feeling that Stillwell is a different sort of animal altogether, and might not be against fabricating evidence or using some shady connections to out Voight. You can tell it’s going to be a battle of wills between those two.

The new cop, Sumner, arrives too conveniently around the time that Stillwell arrives, and whether that’s meant to make us think that she’s going to be an IA mole or not, I don’t know, but the simple fact that she’s been foisted upon Voight, as opposed to the rest of the squad, who he personally selected, should make things interesting.

I get the feeling that two personal situations – Halstead and the Rodiger family and Lindsay’s quest to get Nadia clean are both gonna come to a head pretty soon.

Ruzek spends his day on patrol, which is interesting, and he seems to have some sort of chemistry going with Burgess. He’s obviously getting married, but the relationship with his fiancée hasn’t been explored much, so maybe she’s on her way out?

As for Voight being arrested...well, that's a pretty good cliffhanger! Who knows what it means?