None of the characters on Chicago PD can seem to catch a break these days, but that looks to be the theme this season, (every season honestly). This episode feels a little different though, feels more personal than we’ve seen in a while, especially for Kevin Atwater.
He’s hurt and confused and rightfully so, but he doesn’t want to be angry even if it’s obvious that he is. No one can blame him though. He was forced to grow up too fast, lost his mother young, and his father too. He had to take on the responsibility of raising his siblings and become a man they could look up to while the man he looked up to and needed most was gone and in prison. But what a man Kevin has become. That despite all the hardships, of being down and out and having to make too many tough choices, he is someone who continues to stand tall and show compassion for someone that maybe isn’t so deserving of it.
I think this episode was a great testament to Kevin’s character, to why we root for the characters and complex personal relationships on this show. His ability to show such compassion and resilience by not only doing the right thing and confronting his father when the job needs him to, but by also extending an olive branch to him in the end on a personal level.
Kevin makes it clear to his father that he doesn’t deserve the kindness he shows him or the benefit of the doubt that we so often see him display, but he does it anyway. He does it anyway. Because that’s just who Kevin Atwater is and it’s who he’ll always be, and it’s one of the many reasons why we love him so much.
Chicago PD airs on Wednesdays on NBC. New episodes return February 15th.
