Chicago PD - If We Were Normal - Review

Sadly, we aren’t far from the season finale. Which is crazy, because I’m fairly certain the season just started, right? Wait, it’s April?! Shoot. Anyway, if there’s one thing I could ask for next season, it would be more episodes like this. Chicago Fire balances the focus of professional and personal better than any of the three, and Chicago PD has been majorly lacking in the personal department this season. This episode gave us more personal scenes than we’ve seen in a while, and I formally request they keep them coming! Before we dive into the fun personal lives of these cops, let’s start with the case…


Burgess and Lindsay respond to a 911 call reporting a stabbing. When they find the stabber, they are surprised to find a younger girl, barely clothed and terrified, holding the bloody knife. The stabber/victim is Ruby, who was kidnapped about two months before.

Atwater narrows down the likely area where the kidnapper lives, based on Ruby’s description. He and Ruzek end up on the right trail and find a suspiciously empty house…the house where Ruby was kept.

Back at the hospital, Dr. Natalie Manning tells Olinsky that Ruby is pregnant. Ruby is understandably distraught, but the case does take a step forward when she identifies her kidnapper from a picture selection.

Drew Stommer is a real estate agent who, aside from the kidnapping, raping, and obsession with dominance appears to be as eligible as a bachelor can be. While Atwater and Olinsky arrest Drew, Jay and Erin take a trip to Drew’s house and meet his wife (not legally) Madison. Madison seems about as innocent, naïve, and un-criminal as anyone.

Back at the station, Antonio and Voight interrogate Drew, who fully admits to his sexual relationship with Ruby. Though, the big difference is that little (except rather large) matter of consent. In the break room, Madison waits while the team finds that Madison Dodd Stommer doesn’t exist. Her prints, however, match a Jamie Lynn Stevens who went missing seven years before.

To make a long, convoluted case short, Jamie was in trouble (prostitution, drugs), and went missing seven years before. Now, Jamie is Madison, and completely discounts her previously life as Jamie. When another girl, Jennifer, goes missing, the team takes Drew, Jamie/Madison, and Ruby out to the middle of nowhere to try to convince Jamie to give up information. It was a tense scene, but it worked. Unfortunately, the team was too late in finding Jennifer, who was buried beneath one of Drew’s houses.

Drew then spends some time in the cage with Voight and Olinsky. These two have toed the line, and even crossed it, in the past. But I’ve never worried they would take it too far. That is, until now. I honestly thought Olinsky might shoot Drew. He exercises restraint, but it was close. He personalized the case, and even gave Ruby a bullet that almost killed him, something he’s kept close since, to remind her how strong she is.


Elsewhere…

I would like to award Burgess Most Improved Character. I wasn’t crazy about her when the series started, but now, I’m really enjoying her story. Writers, please keep the interaction between Burgess and Lindsay coming. It’s fantastic!

At the top of the hour, Lindsay meets Burgess for coffee. Burgess is looking for personal/professional advice regarding her love life. Picking up from the end of the previous episode, Burgess recounts her night at Shakespeare in the Dark with Roman. Nothing romantic happened, but Burgess felt something more. Burgess is looking for Lindsay to advise against getting involved with her partner, and completely forgot Lindsay is with Halstead (well when they don’t have any relationship scenes in FIVE MONTHS…).

“You want me to be the one to tell you that you should not date your partner? I can’t!”
“You know, I forget. I forget sometimes you and Jay are dating.”

Well, Ruzek noticed something between Burgess and Roman too. Before leaving for furlough (for what will be the best wedding of all time), Platt puts Roman in charge of an inventory check and departs with the best line of the night (as usual).

“I am on furlough for one week, preparing for the wedding my father always dreamed he’d drop the ball on. And you, haircut (Roman), Ivory Tower has issued a district audit, due by end of shift.”

Roman attempts to get a laptop back from Ruzek, who is about as unwilling to comply as one could be. Then again, Ruzek is convinced there’s something going on between Roman and Burgess, and he’s apparently not wrong.

“You know what I think? I don’t think this has anything to do with the laptop. I think it’s about her…(to Burgess) You must see what’s happening here. I’m not making it up. Dude’s obviously into you. You want to date her? Be my guest.”

Well thanks for the invitation, Ruzek! Burgess grabs Roman and kisses him. I honestly don’t know if Roman thought anything of the whole situation before, but I bet he’s thinking about it now.

Meanwhile at Molly’s, it’s clear things are going well between Erin and Jay. These two act like a couple that’s been together for a while. It’s great! It would just be even better if we saw more of this. Erin tells Jay about Burgess asking for advice, and for a second, I thought it was going to get serious.

“It’s just that, you know when you work together all day, you have to be professional. And you can’t tell him that you bought a new outfit and it’s sitting in the apartment. Still in the box.”
“We’re outta here. We gotta go.”

Cue major Scrabble sesh.


What did you think of the episode? Will we see more of Lindsay and Burgess together in the future? How will the Roman/Burgess/Ruzek love triangle pan out? Share your thoughts below!

About the Author - Meghan Reynolds

A Colorado native, Meghan was born a raised a Denver Broncos fan. Aside from football, she loves television and some might say watches too much of it. Some of her favorite shows of the past and present include Galavant, The Blacklist, The Office, Veronica Mars, The 100, and Gilmore Girls. She reviews Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med for SpoilerTV.