"Thirty Balloons"
Written By: Craig Gore & Tim Walsh
Directed By: Karen Gaviola
Written By: Craig Gore & Tim Walsh
Directed By: Karen Gaviola
Riding in a new squad car, Atwater and Burgess are called to a
residential address where a girl has cut herself across the stomach with a
glass bottle and when the two cops try to intervene, she goes crazy, attacking
Atwater. It takes Burgess and a Tazer to calm her down. As they quell that
disturbance, their patrol car, which the District 21 commander was supposed to
use as a show car in an upcoming parade, has been damaged. They take it to a
mechanic friend of Atwater’s and wait for it to be repaired.
At the hospital, it’s revealed to the Unit that the girl went crazy because some of the drugs she’d smuggled into Chicago had burst in her stomach, getting into her blood stream, and causing a cocaine-induced psychotic break. Doctors pulled thirty condoms full of cocaine from her stomach, and it’s quickly determined that the girl was not alone, that she was part of a drug smuggling ring that’s used a group of young students to transport drugs.
Checking dorm rooms across the city, Voight’s squad realise that all the girls have been captured. Ensuing, is a desperate and disturbing chase to find the kidnapped girls before they are killed by the drug smuggling ring. Jin provides intel via phones that an EMT is in league with the smugglers, and Voight uses his now-patented interrogation techniques on the uncle of the smugglers – apparently the patriarch of a crime family, and well known to Voight – and finds a disembowelled body: one of the girls.
Olinsky and Ruzek stake out at the location – there’s some interesting lessons handed out to the still-inexperienced Ruzek from the wise Olinsky, and a funny scene in a supermarket, where they’re shopping for supplies – until the dealers arrive, with two more girls in tow. Instead of following protocol and letting the rest of the team know, Ruzek bursts into the building and, despite that, ends up saving the mules and arresting the drug dealers. Even so, Ruzek falls foul of Olinsky, who believes Ruzek went against his wishes.
Elsewhere, their patrol car is fixed and a local disturbance has been quelled, but before Atwater and Burgess can get it back to the District, a brick lands on it, falling from a construction site, and they must face Sergeant Platt’s wrath.
Voight’s struggles with his just-released son, Justin, continue. It turns out that the guy he’s been hanging around with since getting out of prison has a pretty serious record. Lindsay is at home when Voight comes around with this information, and she promises to sort things out, but when she goes back into her apartment, it’s revealed that she is drinking with Halstead, who is scared that Voight’s around, because Voight warned him previously that Lindsay was off limits, leading to a frank moment between Lindsay and the father-figure in her life.
Even so, Lindsay promises to look after Justin's friend, and there's a confrontation between the two at a bar at the end of the episode. At the same time, Dawson meets with Voight's IA contact, who offers Dawson her business card. Reluctantly, he takes it.
My Thoughts: A depressing episode where too many of the “good guys” don’t die, but well written and there’s probably a lot of truth to this fictional story. The scenes where the parents are told of what their daughters have done are heart-breaking, and incredibly well acted.
Lindsay and Halstead are developing some good chemistry, despite Voight declaring her off-limits to the ex-Marine. Not sure whether that spells doom for a possible Lindsay-Severide coupling.
We’re still no closer to seeing Lindsay open up to anyone about her shadowy past, despite obviously growing closer to her partner, and I have a feeling that Justin’s going to get her into a fair bit of trouble before it’s all said and done. The frustration that Voight shows when he realises he can’t control his son is completely – and interestingly – at odds with the cop side of Voight, who seems to be able to control everything going on around him.
At the hospital, it’s revealed to the Unit that the girl went crazy because some of the drugs she’d smuggled into Chicago had burst in her stomach, getting into her blood stream, and causing a cocaine-induced psychotic break. Doctors pulled thirty condoms full of cocaine from her stomach, and it’s quickly determined that the girl was not alone, that she was part of a drug smuggling ring that’s used a group of young students to transport drugs.
Checking dorm rooms across the city, Voight’s squad realise that all the girls have been captured. Ensuing, is a desperate and disturbing chase to find the kidnapped girls before they are killed by the drug smuggling ring. Jin provides intel via phones that an EMT is in league with the smugglers, and Voight uses his now-patented interrogation techniques on the uncle of the smugglers – apparently the patriarch of a crime family, and well known to Voight – and finds a disembowelled body: one of the girls.
Olinsky and Ruzek stake out at the location – there’s some interesting lessons handed out to the still-inexperienced Ruzek from the wise Olinsky, and a funny scene in a supermarket, where they’re shopping for supplies – until the dealers arrive, with two more girls in tow. Instead of following protocol and letting the rest of the team know, Ruzek bursts into the building and, despite that, ends up saving the mules and arresting the drug dealers. Even so, Ruzek falls foul of Olinsky, who believes Ruzek went against his wishes.
Elsewhere, their patrol car is fixed and a local disturbance has been quelled, but before Atwater and Burgess can get it back to the District, a brick lands on it, falling from a construction site, and they must face Sergeant Platt’s wrath.
Voight’s struggles with his just-released son, Justin, continue. It turns out that the guy he’s been hanging around with since getting out of prison has a pretty serious record. Lindsay is at home when Voight comes around with this information, and she promises to sort things out, but when she goes back into her apartment, it’s revealed that she is drinking with Halstead, who is scared that Voight’s around, because Voight warned him previously that Lindsay was off limits, leading to a frank moment between Lindsay and the father-figure in her life.
Even so, Lindsay promises to look after Justin's friend, and there's a confrontation between the two at a bar at the end of the episode. At the same time, Dawson meets with Voight's IA contact, who offers Dawson her business card. Reluctantly, he takes it.
My Thoughts: A depressing episode where too many of the “good guys” don’t die, but well written and there’s probably a lot of truth to this fictional story. The scenes where the parents are told of what their daughters have done are heart-breaking, and incredibly well acted.
Lindsay and Halstead are developing some good chemistry, despite Voight declaring her off-limits to the ex-Marine. Not sure whether that spells doom for a possible Lindsay-Severide coupling.
We’re still no closer to seeing Lindsay open up to anyone about her shadowy past, despite obviously growing closer to her partner, and I have a feeling that Justin’s going to get her into a fair bit of trouble before it’s all said and done. The frustration that Voight shows when he realises he can’t control his son is completely – and interestingly – at odds with the cop side of Voight, who seems to be able to control everything going on around him.
The Atwater/ Burgess story was obviously in there for some comic relief during a bleak episode, and to show that not all Chicago cops are involved in gun battles and drug mule searches, but it felt like they jammed the squad car storyline in there because, well, they had to. Whereas, last week, their scenes at the hoarder’s house didn’t seem at all forced.
Dawson meeting with the IA cop who's been at Voight for Maurice Owens is an interesting move. Obviously Dawson and Voight had friction between them during their introductory episodes on Chicago Fire, but surely, now that they're colleagues, Dawson wouldn't report on Voight? Or maybe he would...adding another intriguing layer to the show.
Platt’s scenes are still fantastic, her lines witty and sarcastic – and awesome. Amy Morton is a real find. Her interaction with everyone in the Unit is fantastic. You kinda hang on every word, waiting for her next incisive snipe. It's great!
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