Chicago PD: Season 2 - Episode One - "Call It Macaroni"

Written By: Matt Olmstead
Directed By: Mark Tinker

The Plot: To sync up with Chicago Fire – which had it’s own jaw-dropping premiere a night ago – events have jumped six weeks forward from when Voight and Stillwell found Sheldon Jin lying dead in a snowy park. Voight is being grilled about the circumstances of the murder. For reasons unknown, Intelligence have been forbidden to look into the case, but they do anyway. Voight’s worried that CPD are coming for his badge and roars down Ruzek in a tense scene.

Halstead receives a letter that’s taken six weeks to come across from his old precinct. It’s a note and a USB from Jin, which Halstead hands to Voight. On it is evidence that implicates Stillwell in Jin’s murder. Voight goes to the IA cop and Stillwell suggests Voight bury the case or Stillwell will bring Voight down as well, based on recordings of all their conversations – presumably including the ones where Voight spoke about a partnership that sounded pretty corrupt – and it appears that Voight decides to do just that.

Until he meets with Jin’s mother, who tells Voight that her son’s greatest wish was to do the sort of work he did with Voight’s team, and that chances the sergeant’s mind. He turns the information that incriminates Stillwell over to the department and watches from afar as the IA cop is arrested for Sheldon Jin’s murder.

The rest of the squad are working on an armed truck heist from a CI who is known to Olinsky from the old days, and as the squad is trying to unravel that mystery, Nadia, now working as the receptionist, gets a series of calls from someone called Bunny, who wants Lindsay. There’s obviously something going on there, judging by the look that comes across Lindsay’s face when she hears who is on the other end of the line.

It turns out that the heist was aimed at getting back a piece of DNA evidence, a t-shirt, but CPD wasn’t made aware of it due to suspected corruption. The shirt was being independently transported to a non-PD lab for independent testing, and, clearly, the whole thing was set up to remove a piece of evidence that could put a murderer away.

True to his word, Stillwell forwards his information to the Chicago PD and Voight is called in for a hearing. Before he goes, he addresses his team, admitting that he was working with IA, posing as a dirty cop, but that he never went after police. The team are shocked for different reasons. Halstead seems to approve, and shakes Voight’s hand, and Dawson seems the same, but Lindsay is horrified, and appears to take the revelation as a betrayal. At least judging by the look on her face.

Ruzek and Burgess are a couple, but keeping things very low-key at work. Burgess is working with a new cop called Roman, who seems capable but is very steadfast in his hatred of working with female partners, and we later learn it’s because he fell in love with his previous partner, and apparently she didn’t feel the same way in return. Ruzek seems less interested in hearing his girlfriend’s complaints about her new partner than getting Burgess into his bedroom.

The bad guys are – of course – apprehended, but not before there’s a huge shootout and Halstead is forced to kill one of the brothers who are working together to extort money for the evidence. Later, Olinsky is visited by a CI, who reveals that the surviving brother has put a bounty on Halstead’s head of one hundred thousand dollars.

Voight is called to CPD headquarters. Prior to heading there, Voight wanted a particular high-ranking cop there on the panel, and Voight asks for a quiet word with that man. It turns out that Jin had a lot of dirt on a lot of cops, including the gentleman now having a conference with Voight. Hence, Voight wiggles out from a seemingly impossible jam, and, later at Molly’s, his team exalts.

The identity of Bunny is revealed as Lindsay goes to a bar: it’s her estranged mother, and Lindsay is none too pleased to see her.

My Thoughts: Well, I had a feeling Jin had been offed by Stillwell, and it was good to see Voight manage to get Stillwell locked away for the murder and avoid being taken down himself. That, thanks to Jin.

It’s obvious now that Voight has the ability, like so many headlining characters, to escape just about any situation that he’s in, even vaguely illegal ones. We don’t know how doctored the evidence was from Stillwell, but it doesn’t matter.Voight is back. Thank God, too, because it seems like there’s even more bad guys in Chicago this season than last.

Only because there’d been reports that Lindsay’s estranged mother would make an appearance this season did I think that ‘Bunny’ was her mother, and you can tell that there’s some serious friction between the two. Also, it’s eerie how similar Markie Post and Sophia Bush are alike.

Not sure how to feel about Ruzek and Burgess. The one scene between them was awkward because Ruzek seemed more interested in going into the bedroom than listening to the problems Burgess has with her new partner, Roman, who looks like he’s going to be an interesting one.

As for Halstead and his death mark…that’s pretty serious. One hundred thousand grand is nothing to sneeze at. A great opening episode that sets up a few very interesting stories for the coming season. Looking forward to seeing how Halstead deals with having a price on his head.

Chicago PD: Season 1 - Episode Fifteen - "A Beautiful Friendship"

Written By: Michael Batistick
Directed By: Mark Tinker

The Plot: The fifteenth and final episode of the season. Lindsay finds herself being railroaded by Charlie Pugliese, who has some sort of information that would make her life (and that of her best friend’s) very difficult. Exactly what the info is, so far, we're not made aware, but from the look on Lindsay's face, it's damaging.

Dawson comes back to work early, and his wife isn't happy about it. So much so that they have a heated argument on the phone.

On the job, the Unit is investigating the theft of water-gel explosives from a construction site. A tip from a CI of Halstead’s identifies that Charlie, Lindsay’s friend, is involved, but Halstead decides not to tell his partner that yet. Instead, Halstead helps Ruzek and Atwater on another job that provided them the name of the  behind the construction site robbery (and the murder of the security guard), a man named Kevin "Red" Radner and Charlie is involved.

Halstead encourages Lindsay to tell the truth, so she reveals the whole truth to Voight, and Charlie and his compatriots are arrested, and the water-gel explosives are secured. At that point, Charlie reveals the ace up his sleeve: he claims to have information about a murder, one that implicates Lindsay’s best friend, Annie – who is also the mother of Charlie’s young son. Lindsay counters, promising to protect her friend, and suggests to Charlie that if he wants any future with his son, he’d be wise to stop.

To that end, Charlie reveals that Radner was the triggerman on the security guard murder, and gives up his location.  But Nadia makes a timely reappearance, and remembers the warehouse in question – Voight’s squad don’t – from her days as a prostitute. The team swoop in, but are spotted and a shootout ensues. Lindsay and Halstead pursue in their car and Lindsay shoots out the tyres, and kills Red whilst Halstead takes care of the driver.

Voight learns that Jin is the mole and confronts the tech wizard about it. Voight is seething, though Jin reveals that Stillwell is using him, blackmailing him and threatening to expose his father’s gambling debts, so Voight lets him go.

Dawson goes home and finds that Laura has left with their children, presumably as a result of their earlier argument.

As Atwater joins Intelligence, Burgess is partnered with a lazy and disinterested partner who would prefer to sleep on the job rather than catch crooks.  She requests Platt to assign her a better partner, and when Ruzek goes to Burgess’ apartment, to console her after missing out on intelligence, things escalate between them and look set to end in the bedroom.

The final scene of the season is Voight arriving at a snow-covered location, presumably a park or something, where Stillwell is looking over Jin’s dead body.

My Thoughts: It wasn’t a huge surprise to learn that Lindsay’s old friend was a bad guy. What we know of her life – drug-addled teenager than Criminal Informant for Voight – before she became a cop, but the interesting thing was what he had on her. Turns out, it was information on a murder that Lindsay's best friend committed years before.

Lindsay sticking up for a friend, but it’s another example of how loyal she is. Sophia Bush does a great job balancing her steely edge as a cop with her empathy for her friends. I thought we’d maybe see Severide make an appearance, but alas, the crossovers will have to wait for another year.

Epic ending. Didn’t see Dawson’s wife leaving – it sort of came out of nowhere, off the back, presumably, of that one argument – and I certainly didn’t think we’d see Jin’s dead body at the very end. I figured he’d be flipped by Voight to look into Stillwell. So the real question now is who killed him? Hopefully we don’t have to wait too long into the premiere of Season Two to find out! If it’s gotta be a choice between Stillwell and Voight, I’m leaning towards the IA guy, but it could, of course, be completely unrelated.

Chicago PD: Season 1 - Episode Fourteen - "The Docks"

Written By: Craig Gore & Tim Walsh
Directed By: Nick Gomez

The Plot: Pulpo has escaped. Belden is dead and so are two other CPD officers. Dawson survives, but is off to hospital in a critical condition and the rest of the Intelligence Unit spearhead the manhunt for Pulpo. Voight’s taking it particularly personally, vowing revenge on the gangster for killing Willhite, shooting Dawson and maybe even killing Belden.

To that end, Voight tells his squad that Pulpo, when captured, is to be delivered to him and Olinsky – no questions asked. Halstead is uncomfortable with such a request, but seems destined to comply nonetheless.

A body found in the alleyway is revealed to be one of Pulpo’s henchmen. A plan is hatched to get at Pulpo through his lawyer. Ruzek uses a CPD officer who speaks Spanish to impersonate Pulpo to the lawyer, delivering a death threat. It works, and the lawyer gives up that Pulpo needs fake IDs to make his escape, and reveals an old client can do that, and actually has.

Voight’s team get the fake names and soon Pulpo’s wife’s assumed identity. She is picked up with her son at a gas station but Pulpo isn't with them. It’s determined that she’s gone there as a diversion to through the Chicago PD off her husband’s trail. But all is not lost, because the Unit learns Pulpo is tight with some Russians, who own a nightclub in Chicago.

The Intelligence Unit raid the club and recover some computers. Otis from Chicago Fire makes an appearance to translate the Russian computers, revealing that the Russians have agreed to smuggle Pulpo out of the country in a shipping container.

That’s where Pulpo is detained. Voight and Olinsky, unbeknownst to the others, head out to the docks to kill Pulpo. Halstead realises what they’re going to do and consults with a recovering Dawson, who thinks Voight and Olinsky might be at the docks. Halstead goes there and after a tense standoff between the cops, it is agreed that Pulpo will be taken into custody and given is day in court.

During the pursuit of Pulpo, Jin turns Sumner into a scapegoat, causing her to be fired by Voight, who seems pleased to be rid of her. In Sumner’s place comes Atwater, after Voight basically tells Burgess that she didn’t get the vacant spot because she’s sleeping with Ruzek.

Elsewhere, Lindsay has to deal with her former friend Charlie in an effort to find out why he’s back in Chicago.

My Thoughts: A great episode, but surprising that they wrapped up the Pulpo arc an episode before the end.

Also surprising that Pulpo didn’t die. I mean, he’s killed cops and kidnapped the kids of cops, and Voight obviously feels very strong about that. Pulpo didn’t die, which was a surprise given who he’s killed and what he’s done. I figured he’d be sent to the bottom of Lake Michigan but somehow Halstead managed to talk Voight and Olinsky down.

Maybe it’s a turning point for those two old-school cops? It wasn’t a huge surprise to see Dawson pull through, and just as well he did, because Pulpo might’ve gone swimming with a "Chicago Necklace" around his neck, otherwise.

Voight dropped the hammer on Burgess, choosing Atwater to replace Sumner in Intelligence because he thinks – wrongly, as it turns out – that Burgess is sleeping with Ruzek. Based on that, it’s just as well that Lindsay and Halstead (who I’ve learned are called Linstead on the internet) didn’t kick things off. I feel sorry for Burgess, though. But Atwater will be heaps of fun in the Squad.

So I guess the last episode deals with Lindsay’s mysterious friend Charlie and Jin’s entanglement – willing or otherwise – with Stillwell of IA.

Chicago PD: Season 1 - Episode Thirteen - "My Way"

Written By: Matt Olmstead & Michael Batistick
Directed By: Karen Gaviola

The Plot: Munoz, the assassin who escaped the house where Burgess and Nadia went undercover as hookers two episodes back, is still on the loose and still committing murders, hence Pulpo’s return, and Voight is forced to work with Lieutenant Belden, whom he still believes was responsible for the bad intel that got Willhite killed by Pulpo weeks back. Commander Perry is unhappy about the communication – or lack thereof – between the two.

Pulpo is their pipeline to Munoz. Dawson goes undercover as a friend of Pulpo’s to meet up with Munoz, but the assassin is a step ahead, and kills two Ukrainian mobsters. The Intelligence Unit realise that Pulpo used them to wipe out the factions in his own gang.

Lindsay and Halstead learn that Pulpo has a secret wife and son. It’s just the leverage that Voight needs. He threatens to arrest Pulpo’s wife and send his son into the foster system, and that’s enough to get Pulpo to give up the information Intelligence is after. Munoz is targeting a high-level figure at a festival.

There, Munoz and his sniper kill their target’s bodyguards and are in the midst of finishing the job in the middle of a now-panicked crowd, but Halstead kills Munoz (and Olinsky takes care of the sniper) before they get a chance.

Ruzek’s fiancée calls off their engagement, citing the change in Ruzek since he joined Intelligence.  Lindsay gets a visit from a former friend called Charlie, and she’s not happy to see him. Nor is Voight, who warns Lindsay not to let Charlie get in the way.

Shockingly, Jin is revealed to be the mole inside the squad. He’s working for Stillwell, instead of Sumner, whom Voight clearly suspected.

Erin receives an unwelcome visit from a former friend, Charlie Pugliese, and Voight tells her to not let Charlie get in the way. Jin is revealed to be the reluctant rat working alongside Stillwell. Pulpo is brought in to see his wife and child one more time, and Pulpo’s wife helps her husband escape. Dawson, Belden and two others are shot.

My Thoughts: Well, Pulpo makes his promised big return, and he ends the episode with a bang, too.

It was almost as shocking to see Dawson and Belden gunned down by Pulpo, with an assist from his wife, as it was to learn that the quiet Jin is Stillwell’s mole inside Voight’s squad. I guess it makes sense, though, at least in hindsight. Sumner was too obvious – you’d be insulting the intelligence of your viewers – and Jin is the right sort of guy to be able to cover his tracks, being the resident technical wizard. He’s also the least developed character of them all, so it kinda makes sense.

Willing to bet that Voight won’t be particularly happy when he finds out Jin is working for Stillwell, and I’m also willing to bet that Voight will find out sometime during the final two episodes that close out the season.

It appears that Lindsay has her own issues with someone from her past, and given that Voight is aware of Charlie Pugliese, I get the feeling that this guy isn't someone she should be associating with. Still, it’s another piece of the complicated Erin Lindsay puzzle, whose reasons for popping up will doubtless be explored over the coming two episodes.

Chicago PD: Season 1 - Episode Twelve - "8.30pm"

Written By: Dick Wolf & Matt Olmstead
Directed By: Mark Tinker

The Plot: It’s the second half of a Chicago Fire/PD crossover and a second bomb has gone off at a hospital, injuring and killing many. Leslie Shay is down injured, and Burgess’ niece, Zoe, needs a liver transplant.

Jin chimes in with some intel that the second bomb was planted by a Paul Watts, who, not surprisingly, turns up dead – murdered. Olinsky recognises one of his known associates as a guy he interviewed at the hospital earlier. The same guy holds Lindsay hostage, but she’s saved by Mills and Cruz. Olinsky uses his extreme methods to make the captured man talk, and he coughs up the name of the mastermind: Ted Powell, some sort of anti-government anarchist type who is seeking revenge on the Police and Fire departments for the death of his mother and the arrest of his racist father.

Powell also planted a bomb near Police Headquarters, but is tracked down by Voight’s unit before he can detonate it. Voight threatens to throw Powell off the building until the bomb is disarmed. Not surprisingly, the bomb is detonated and, therefore - and, somewhat unfortunately - Powell survives. Inside, Burgess’ niece is given a liver transplant and will survive.

Voight, Dawson and Olinsky watch the bombed out hospital scene at night, and agree that, although it’s been a tough day, Chicago will bounce back from this day, because it always does. Meanwhile, Kelly Severide visits Lindsay’s apartment once again, and this time it’s more

My Thoughts: The drama of Pulpo’s imminent return from the slammer was put on hold for a week whilst the first big crossover event occurs. That’s okay, because this is a great episode which brings District 21 and Firehouse 51 together nicely after a pretty brutal terrorist attack. I certainly thought it was the work of maybe Islamic-type extremists – it’s a pretty common theme on TV shows – but that the mastermind was an American anti-government type was a nice change of pace. This might’ve been the best episode of the show thus far. It’s taut and tense.

It seems a bit unbelievable that such a professional could hold Lindsay hostage and be felled by two fire fighters, but it was spectacular television. The scenes between Severide and Lindsay weren’t exactly a surprise. In fact, they were a long time coming, and you get the feeling that it’ll be that coupling – Linseride, as they’re apparently known – more than any other that will be the glue holding the two shows together. Taylor Kinney and Sophia Bush have good chemistry.