Chicago PD: Season 1 - Episode Three - "Chin Check"

"Chin Check"
Written By: David Hoselton
Directed By: Sanford Bookstayer
Episode #: 03

Plot: So Pulpo is safely in custody and the Intelligence Unit are after a different sort of menace to the Chicago population: arms dealers. The Unit is watching a stakeout, and Ruzek ends up killing a guy, after which he is sent to see a department counsellor – it’s his first on-the-job shooting – whilst Lindsay and the others discover a bunch of armour-piercing bullets that have been stolen from an armoury in Canada. 

And now, obviously, being smuggled across the border. It turns out that a salesman who crosses the border often is at the heart of the operation, and the bullets are being hidden inside boxes of medicine. Not a bad scheme until Voight and co break it up. Lindsay’s pretty good at interrogation.

It turns out that Ruzek has told his fiancée that he was dragged from the academy to do paperwork at command, not join a unit where he’s gonna be shot at every second hour of every day.  Ruzek tells the counsellor that he’s fine, and returns to work. He tries to sit at Willhite’s desk, which doesn’t please Dawson one bit.

Olinsky goes undercover and ends up leading the rest of the unit to a warehouse – of course, all shady work in every cop drama is done in a warehouse – in a scene that shows how much savvy the obviously-veteran undercover operator has. At said warehouse, there’s a pretty serious gunfight. There’s been some spectacular action scenes throughout Chicago PD’s first three episodes, and this was one of the best.

Voight continues to try and keep D’Anthony, the kid from Pulpo’s apartment, out of trouble, by asking a gang leader to leave the youngster alone. All Voight gets is an offer to buy D’Anthony out of trouble – not cheaply – and so resorts to using some techniques that I’m pretty sure aren’t in the Chicago PD Police Manual. Olinsky helps, and doesn’t seem upset by what they’re doing. He and Voight are obviously both old school.

Halstead visits a house and an older couple, and it’s not entirely clear why, but the fact that the ex-combat Marine goes postal on a man and his son soon thereafter gives something away. It’s someone’s birthday – someone who isn't alive anymore. And Lindsay has her own personal issues: Voight’s son, Justin, is getting released from jail, and Voight’s asked her to be a one-woman welcoming committee.

Ruzek picks his engagement party as a good time to spill the beans to his fiancée about working with Voight’s unit. She seems pretty horrified and disappointed that he’s okay after shooting someone, and treating it like it was no big deal. The me or him line that Ruzek spouts doesn’t sit well with her.

Dawson’s wife, Laura, wants to meet Jasmine, the prostitute whose information led to the safe return of the couple’s son, and Dawson is worried. He thinks his wife is jealous, or something along those lines, but it turns out she only wants to give Jasmine a keepsake for her help in returning Diego safely.

My Thoughts: The backstories and tendencies of the main cast are becoming clearer now, and it’s obvious that Voight and Olinsky have similar policing views. Lindsay has a familial connection with the Voight clan, as evidenced by her back-and-forth with Justin, and Halstead seems like he’s going to be the haunted, conflicted one. Hey, every cop show has one.

I give Ruzek’s relationship with his fiancée ten episodes at best. She obviously thinks he’s changed since joining Voight’s crew and shooting people, and it’s my bet that they end up on the rocks.

It’s hard to think of Voight as a dirty, unlikeable cop – despite those scenes where he’s obviously taking money from bad guys – because he’s going to so much trouble to protect D’Anthony, even if his ways of getting the desired results are a little less than approved police procedure. 

The fact that he hasn’t been classified as good or bad yet is interesting, and there’s plenty of evidence to say he’s dirty…and plenty to say that he’s good, and there’s something else going on.