On this week’s One Chicago, many of our favorite characters faced their own share of family drama. On Chicago Med, Will continued to get backseat CI-ing from Jay while Ethan struggled with how to deal with some new developments in Emily’s life. Both Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. saw two characters dealing with their own complicated relationships with their fathers. Severide was forced to ask a favor from Benny, and Ruzek spent most of the episode worried that his father was a dirty cop. These three episodes were a family affair indeed.
Chicago Med
SIX FEET UNDER | Will just keeps digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole. He’s reaching the point of no return in his relationship with Natalie, if he hasn’t already passed it. After reluctantly agreeing to be an informant last episode, he finds himself put to the test when he has to plant a bug in Ray Burke’s house so the Feds can listen in. It’s actual sort of laughable how nonchalant the female special agent is about the whole ordeal. She’s like, ‘Can’t you just discreetly place the bug while doing some doctor-like thing?’ She’s treating Will like he’s some secret agent, when in reality, he’s the farthest thing from covert. Ray picked up that something was off right away, and it took Natalie all of one episode to figure out that something was wrong. He’s not exactly the king of stealth. It’s also completely rational that Will is having misgivings about deceiving Ray. He took an oath to heal, not be an informant for law enforcement. Also, isn’t it a breach of ethics for a doctor to relay information about a patient he or she is treating? While Will’s not divulging medical information, I still feel like that crosses some sort of line. But anyway, Will manages to plant the bug, and we think he’s in the clear until Ray’s two thug sons show up in the hospital and tell the good doctor their father wants to see him. Preparing for the worst, we believe Will is about to end up six feet under, yet Ray just wants to admit he’s still getting dizzy and having memory issues. So he’s managed to avoid detection from Ray, so far, but Natalie isn’t going to attribute Will’s weirdness to just pre-wedding jitters. Parroting the priest from their Pre-Cana course, Natalie wants to know what’s really going on, so Will reveals a half-truth: He feels guilty about using Ray to get the reception hall. What he fails to mention is that his guilt is rooted in him being a confidential informant for the Feds, not using Ray for his connections. I’m sort of torn over Will’s “confession.” He does tell Natalie some of what’s going on, but he leaves out the key thing. I get that he’s not allowed to tell her the entirety of the situation, but I still feel like he should at least level with her about the investigation with the Feds. He doesn’t have to tell her the details, but Natalie deserves to know what Will is really up to. Like the priest said, what breaks a marriage isn’t the fighting; it’s the not fighting and lack of communication, which will be the death of Manstead.
HYPOCRITICAL OATH | Ethan is stuck between a rock and a hard place this episode, as he struggles between honoring patient confidentiality and cluing in his sister on some very pertinent information about her future. It’s definitely a tough situation Ethan finds himself in. When Bernie shows up in the ED, it seems that the biggest problem Ethan will have to deal with is how to break the news, which he legally can’t, to Emily that her baby daddy relapsed. However, Bernie’s relapse is soon overshadowed by the revelation he has a wife and teenage daughter. How exactly do you tell your sister that the father of her unborn child has a whole other family, especially when you literally can’t because you’re legally bound by doctor-patient confidentiality? Well, you stage a run in for your sister to come to the hospital to fill out some forms and “accidentally” have her find out about Bernie’s secret family. Was it humiliating for Emily to find out the way she did and essentially be called a tramp by Bernie’s wife? Yes, but what choice did Ethan really have. He couldn’t disclose any of Bernie’s indiscretions to Emily without violating doctor-patient confidentiality, and there was no guarantee that Bernie would tell Emily the truth. This way may have been harsh, but Emily deserved to know all the facts before deciding to stay with Bernie. She can be mad at Ethan all she wants for the way things went down, but he was right to indirectly tell her. Ethan may have hopes that Emily would break things off, but in the end, it was Emily’s decision. Was it the right one? Maybe, but it was Emily’s choice to make. She is a grown woman and can make her own choices. Ethan needs to accept that and move on. He may not agree with the decision she made, but this one is at least somewhat reasonable. She’s not abusing drugs; she’s just choosing to stay with the father of her unborn child, despite everything that’s happened. He and his sister are finally in a decent place, and if he wants to have her in his life, he needs to get on board.
Chicago Fire
PETTY PATHETIC | We all knew there would be blowback after Boden promoted Hermann, but damn, Gorsch is so petty. He is literally doing everything within his power to get under Boden’s skin. From insisting that Hermann write up Ritter to snooping through Boden’s desk and barring Casey from talking to Naomi, Gorsch is doing everything in his power to try to get Boden to snap. Instead of just patiently waiting for things to get worse, Boden tries to go to the source of the issue – Grissom – yet is faced with bigger challenges when the Commissioner won’t even see him. It wasn’t enough for Grissom to park Gorsch at Firehouse 51 to babysit and spy on Boden, but to also sneak out of his office to avoid coming face to face with Boden. Again, talk about petty. Realizing there won’t be a way to circumvent the issue, Boden tells Gorsch if the white shirt wants to set up shop at 51 that’s fine, but he draws a line when Gorsch starts telling his people what to do. Gorsch, being the pompous asshole he is, not subtly hints that things don’t need to be this way. The answer is simple: All Boden has to do is relinquish his command at 51 and take an administration post with a new CFD task force, reporting to Gorsch of course. I’ll admit I audibly laughed at the ludicrousness of this suggestion. After six seasons of people coming in and trying their best to close Firehouse 51 or oust Boden, are we really to believe that Gorsch is a viable threat? All he’s done is manage to be a minor – OK, maybe a major – inconvenience until now. He has no real authority to strip Boden of his command, and I don’t see him making threats to forcibly remove Boden, shut down 51, or transfer the firefighters to a different house. Sure, he can make things annoying, but not much more than that. Gorsch may have Grissom’s ear, but since Grissom is AWOL, he has no real power. In the scheme of things, Gorsch isn’t really a threat to the firehouse, which gratefully Boden realizes toward the end of the episode, as he tells Gorsch to bring it, having faced much worse. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for Gorsch to pack his bags and head back to CFD headquarters. If you’re going to throw a villain at us, at least make sure he’s a qualified one.
BURN BABY BURN | Casey has been at the forefront for the past six seasons, but he’s been taking the backseat ever since Dawson left. He finally gets a featured solo storyline this episode, but is it everything we hoped for? On the one hand, we get to see Casey putting his firefighter expertise to use, outside of battling a blaze. I really did like watching him investigate whether the trailers’ manufacturer was the reason for behind the fires that were killing innocent people. It was great to see him get to be “detective,” as that role is usually reserved for Severide. On the other, the investigative journalist named Naomi seems to have been introduced for the sole purpose of being a love interest for Casey. Dawson permanently left for Puerto Rico in the series premiere, yet a new love interest is introduced four episodes later; I don’t think so. I mean if Casey doesn’t even know where he and Dawson stand, then how can he start something else with someone new so soon? To me, it feels like any sort of romantic relationship with Naomi would be like Casey cheating on Dawson. Part of that has to do with the ambiguity of where Casey and Dawson stand. Are they getting divorced? Are they just separated? Are they attempting to make this long distance thing work? Regardless of their complicated relationship status, it’s way too soon for Casey to even be thinking about dating. The other part has to do with my unhappiness about how things ended for Dawsey, and my hope for an eventual reconciliation in the series finale. I’m just not ready to let go of that fantasy just yet. What I will say about Naomi is that it’s refreshing to see an ethical journalist being portrayed on television. As a reporter myself, I hate that all journalists on TV shows are shown as unethical professionals who will cross numerous lines while pursuing a story. At least in this episode, Naomi’s only interest in Casey is his help in trying to prove that a certain type of trailers is killing innocent people. And thanks to the captain, Naomi is able to prove her hypothesis that there is a malfunction from the manufacturer. They end things very platonically with a handshake, but we’ll see how long that lasts. My guess, not very long.
DADDY ISSUES | After Grissom continues to avoid Boden, Severide realizes the only person who may be able to get through to the commissioner is Benny. Asking your dad for help should be no problem, except Benny and Severide’s relationship with fraught with tension to say the least. Like I’ve mentioned before, we know very little about Severide’s childhood, but it’s been well established that Benny was an absentee father. Being a lothario who bounces from woman to woman doesn’t necessary equate being an absentee dad, but it did in Benny’s case. You have to wonder if Severide hadn’t become a firefighter would his father have been as present in his life? We don’t really have any way to compare that except for Katie, but then again, Benny and Katie’s mother were never married. But I digress. As Stella reminded Severide, asking Benny for things doesn’t generally end well. Last time the father and son saw each other, Severide laid into Benny for being a scared, old man, and as we learned, the pair hasn’t spoken in six months. So when you factor that into everything Severide and Benny have been through, it couldn’t have been easy for Severide to ask his father for help, yet the lieutenant feels he has to do it. And of course the conversation goes about as well as one would expect, but takes a dark turn when Severide boldly states that Boden was a better father than Benny. Regardless of Benny’s spotty track record as a parent, that still has to hurt to hear your son tell you pointblank that someone else was there for him, especially when that someone else is a man who have issues with. Severide knows he struck a chord with Benny, but in the heat of the moment, he’s not exactly in the apologizing mood, especially when there’s some truth to those words. However, Severide does backtrack enough to say he didn’t come over to fight, just to ask for Benny’s help. Still hurt, Benny doesn’t know if he can help but promises to think it over. After the whole conversation, that’s about as good as it was going to get. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out, especially given Benny’s flaky nature as a father. I just hope Severide doesn’t get too hurt in the process.
Chicago P.D.
UNDER PRESSURE | “Fathers and Sons” finally gave Ruzek something to do this season, besides fight with Antonio or contemplate the nature of his relationship with Upton, in the form of the officer questioning whether his father was dirty or not. After a drug mule was found dead, the only clue Intelligence had to identify the killer was a hand stamp, pointing the team toward a nightclub called the Scorpion Club. So Ruzek and Upton go undercover, and who should they happen to run into? None other than “Disco Bob,” also known as Ruzek’s father, who happens to be working security. The father and son exchange a look, pretending not to know each other, and Ruzek later claims his battery died so the team wouldn’t hear his father on the surveillance tape. However, he does tell Upton the truth, whether because they’re sleeping together or because she was inside the club with him, and she asks if there’s a chance his dad could be dirty, yet at this point he doesn’t really know. Wanting answers just like every viewer, he pays “Disco Bob” a visit, needing to know exactly what his father is caught up in. Papa Ruzek explains he is working security for some extra cash and asks his son to keep his name out of the report as it’s not exactly something police officers are allowed to do on the side. This answer doesn’t really do much to clear up whether Bob is dirty or not, but it does placate Ruzek for the time being. If you think about it, it’s sort of ironic that “Disco Bob” is under suspicion of being a dirty cop, as Jack Coleman’s character accused Voight of being corrupt years ago. For those who may have forgotten Papa Ruzek was introduced in season 2 episode 12 entitled “Disco Bob,” where viewers learned he and Voight have a tense past – but let’s be real; who doesn’t have a complicated relationship with Voight? Bob called Voight out on being dirty, and Voight responded by calling Papa Ruzek out on playing it safe. As Bob later explained to Adam, the reason he plays it safe is so he could be there for his family. The pair definitely weren’t that close in season 2, and it’s hard to gauge if that still holds true, given their limited interactions over the course of the series. But Bob is Ruzek’s father, and no one wants to believe that their parent could be dirty.
LUCK OF THE DRAW | Yet Upton isn’t convinced, telling Ruzek he needs to go to Voight or she will, after the woman the club owner, and lead suspect in the double homicide, was dating turns up dead. The woman was helping Intelligence nail the club owner, and Upton wonders if Bob tipped off the club owner. Having learned from his past mistakes, Ruzek does come clean to Voight, who is skeptical about Bob’s involvement in the case. This again is the definition of irony, as Voight is literally the posterchild for dirty policing. Telling Ruzek to follow the facts, he again has to confront his father after learning the killer’s getaway car was registered to a man who works at the club with Bob. Whether by accident or intentional, Ruzek tells his father to get out while he can as Intelligence is looking at the club owner and car owner for multiple felonies. Will Bob actually heed his son’s advice? Not really, as Papa Ruzek “stumbles” upon a meeting between Intelligence and the club owner. So what was supposed to be a friendly drug deal turns into a less friendly shootout – thanks for that Bob, but that can be sort of overlooked given that he ends up in the hospital after being shot. With Chicago P.D.’s track record of killing off Intelligence’s family members, Ruzek should count himself lucky that his father wasn’t the latest casualty, but I guess killing off another father so soon after Patrick Halstead bit it would be too much, even for this show. But anyway, Ruzek goes to visit his father and finds out Bob took the job at the Scorpion Club because he’s broke. After getting all teary-eyed and apologizing for messing up, Ruzek forgives his father. I mean it would have been rather heartless if he didn’t, right? Sure, “Disco Bob” screwed up, but he was just trying to protect his son. Lots of parents would put their lives on the line to protect their children, and despite Papa Ruzek’s faults, he was just trying to look out for his son. So Ruzek goes to apologize to Voight about the whole mess, but Voight lets him know his father won’t face any reprisal as Bob was “working” undercover for Intelligence the whole time, thus again demonstrating why you should always go to Voight first. He may be dirty, but he protects his own.
Some stray thoughts:
- Was anyone glad to see Ava be involved in a storyline that didn’t center around her and Connor’s undetermined relationship status? I really wish the series would make more of an effort to have Ava interact with the other characters, especially now that Norma Kuhling is a series regular, but it was extremely satisfying to watch Connor profess that he was looking for a reason to stay at Med.
- The only good news about this week’s topical medical case on Chicago Med is that Gwen Garrett didn’t get involved and blame the victim for the sexual assault, as I’m pretty sure that is something she would do.
- Am I the only one who really hates the filler subplots on Chicago Fire that revolve around Molly’s? I get that Hermann, Otis, and Kidd own the bar, but did the series really need to spend that much screen time on discovering who had left the negative review? I’m pretty sure those scenes could have been cut from the episode, and no one would care.
- It’s about time the Chicago-verse introduced another LGBTQ+ character, as the series’ lack of representation has been non-existent since killing off Shay on Chicago Fire. Also, is anyone else sort of shipping Brett and Foster now, or is it just me?
- How sweet was it that Upton waited for Ruzek at the hospital. These two may have a casual thing right now, but she does seem to really care about it, and the feelings seem mutual.
So hit the comments below to let me know your thoughts. Is this the beginning of the end for Manstead? Was Ethan in the right? Will Benny save the day for Firehouse 51? Should Casey be dating? Did you think Disco Bob was dirty?
