Welcome back, everyone! The darned heat is gone, leaves are changing, pumpkin flavor is overtaking the world, and TV is back. Chicago PD kicked off this week with a solid season three start.
We pick up this season roughly three weeks after the second season finale. Lindsay has fallen into her pre-cop ways, Olinsky has a newly-discovered, delinquent teenage daughter, and Burgess and Ruzek are happily engaged (for now).
Antonio kicks things off by bounding up a stairwell to rooftop. While it looked as though he might be going to turn on the bat signal, he talks a crying woman off the ledge which sets up this week’s case. Her name is Bianca, and she’s one of Antonio’s CIs. Her boyfriend, Benji, is apparently not only cheating on her, but also wanted by the cops. Benji is a little fish (rather, littler) compared to his brother, Derrick. Derrick Keyes is Chicago’s most wanted man (and not in the way Halstead is…to much? Whatever. I’m excited to see him). Speaking of Halstead, he’s worried about Lindsay (obviously). Voight seems all tough and “She made her choice,” but I think he’s hurting. Lindsay and Voight’s road to reconciliation in the early part of this season is a storyline I’m excited to see. We know that these two are close and have years of history, but we don’t know many specifics.
When the team moves in to grab Benji, they find him with his lover/companion, Aaron. Voight brings Benji in, hoping to make a deal for Derrick. Aaron has some priors, and Derrick is able to negotiate a walk for both him and Aaron if he serves up Derrick.
While the team is hard at work on the case, Erin parties at a club and ignores what I would assume to be the hundredth or so call from Jay. When she leaves the club early the next morning, Jay is waiting. She’s more guarded and cold than she’s ever been, and Halstead is understandably upset. He wants to hear her say it, “That you’re no longer my partner. That you’re throwing it all away. Look me in the eye, tell me it’s over.” While I know he’s mostly referring to her being a cop, you can’t help but think in this moment, he’s also referring to them and whatever romantic relationship they had/could have had. For Halstead, it’s not just losing his partner, it’s losing the future he thought they had together. “Are you done talking?”Do you hear it? Do you hear that sound? That’s my heart, breaking.
“I don’t know who you are. But tell Lindsay she made me a better cop, if you ever see her again.”
Back in the action, Halstead is going undercover as a buyer to catch Derrick. With Benji leading the way, the team hangs back at Midway while Benji and Halstead move past security and into a hangar to meet Derrick. As could be expected, things don’t go according to plan. Derrick shoots his own brother in the head, kidnaps Halstead, and the rest of the team is left without a lead. The team receives a ransom video that shows a badly-beaten Halstead, promising to kill him unless all CI files are delivered by a lone female officer (because the writers needed some way to get Lindsay back, obviously). Voight initially requests Burgess to go, and Ruzek is having none of it. Call me a pessimist, but this is going to end badly. Either Ruzek and Burgess won’t make it down the aisle, or an accident on the job will ruin everything. My money is on them not making it down the aisle…at least not any time soon.
But for now, Burgess and Ruzek are safe. Olinsky calls Erin, knowing she’d want to know about Halstead. Honestly, putting Halstead or Voight in a possibly-fatal position is probably the only thing that could bring Lindsay back. Naturally, she volunteers to go in and get Halstead. Voight’s definitely angry about her leaving still, and refuses to let her do the job. “You here as a cop, or to save your boyfriend?” I know he said it as a slight, but you can’t deny the fact the Voight has come around to Halstead. When we started out the series (and even into last season), Voight was unsure of him. But Halstead has more than proved himself, and I think (and hope) Voight would be okay with a relationship with these two. After all, Lindsay is his pseudo-daughter and as a father, you can’t hope for much better than Halstead. Once again, things don’t go according to plan. Derrick’s men didn’t bring Halstead to the meet and Lindsay is forced to leave with them and the fake CI files. Once they get to the house, Lindsay is basically taken hostage as well, but at least she’s with Halstead. Derrick keeps the two occupied while the others check out the CI files, and it’s not long before they discover they’re fake. Things get a bit messy, but after some fighting, table-smashing, and gun-wielding, Lindsay and Halstead make it out alive (though covered in blood). Welcome back to the team, Erin.
Finally, as it is long overdue, it seems Roman will get an interesting storyline. The episode closes with Burgess finding a needle in Roman’s bag, which probably means nothing good.
Elsewhere…
Olinsky has a daughter. Another daughter, that is. A delinquent yet somehow delightful daughter I’m sure we’ll see plenty of. She’s tough and snarky and has great storyline potential. With her mom in prison, Olinsky is the only parent in the picture and I can’t wait for all the awkward yet sweet moments these two will share. Bunny is the worst. I know I sound like a broken record, but she is just awful! When Voight offers Lindsay her job back with the conditions that she live with him and cut all ties with her mother, she hesitantly agrees. I can only imagine the Voight vs. Bunny showdown we’ll see next week.
Platt. She’s the best, let’s all agree on that now. First of all, she’s the most loyal person on this show. She’ll do anything for any of her fellow cops, no questions asked, no hesitation. Also, she’s moonlights as a wedding planner. She’s settled on planning Burgess and Ruzek’s wedding, and I can’t even convey to you all how badly I want to see this happen.“What the hell’s that?” asks Roman as Platt drops her wedding binder in front of them.Platt shares her dream dress with Burgess, to which Burgess replies that the company went out of business. Platt, as usual, has the line of the night with, “Burgess, dreams never go out of business.” Platt, the closeted eternal optimist.
“My wedding planner. From when I was engaged.”
“To what?” Yes! Roman, I love you. Now run.
Atwater is going to be Ruzek’s best man and I love it. These two have a great bromance and while I was initially not an Atwater supporter (let’s be honest, he wasn’t given much to work with the first season), he was given some great material last season and I hope that continues.
What did you think of the episode? Who is Eddie and how will he factor in? What storylines are you hoping to see this season? Share in the comments below!
