Chicago PD - You Only Die Twice – Review
May 2, 2023
Chicago PD JM ReviewsIn this episode, we finally get confirmation of the official rekindling of Burzek, and get to see Adam in full “Dadam” mode, along with some incredible team work and innovative on the spot thinking to try to move forward the Intelligence team investigation.
To recap this episode, we open to Burzek in bed after their passionate night. They discuss that they do not want this to be the same as it has been in the past, and that this time it feels different. Adam shares with Kim his frustration with what is going on with the Beck case as they snuggle and his undercover phone goes off. As he goes to leave he says goodbye to Makayla and she says “OK dad”, and the expression on both their faces is priceless. This has been a long awaited moment for the Burzek family fandom and the response from Kim and Adam did not disappoint.
They flip back and forth showing Adam with Makayla and Kim and with Callum and Samantha. Callum comes out and tells Adam about shooting his grandfather’s gun, and Samantha gets a text to go help Dale out. Adam says he will go in her place and Dale is angry and says he does not need a baby sitter watching him. Dale burns some bags of bloody clothing and Adam reports back to the team, but they cannot figure out what the crime was. They do not want to blow Ruzek’s cover so they decide not to bring in Dale right now.
Adam goes to see Dale and Richard is there and he is angry. They go for a drink and the team takes Dale’s car to examine it, but it was professionally cleaned. Trudy comes to the team with some information about where his car was spotted the night before, and they go to search and find several people killed in a Chinese restaurant. The deceased are the owners, and the team comes in to investigate. There is a Nazi saying on the wall in their blood. Voight wants them to make the case on Dale for these murders and then flip him on Richard Beck.
They find a potential witness and he is hiding, terrified. He asks if they got the man, and they take him to the station and he tells them what he saw, and the crime appears to be racially motivated. Adam offers to go get Makayla for Kim, but Samantha shows up unexpectedly at the restaurant and he has to quickly text Kim to get her. Samantha says they have to go quickly, and her dad said to come get him.
She asks him if he has his gun and he says no and she says to open the glove box and there is a gun inside. She says Dale is getting reckless and they have to handle it. She says it is a test of loyalty and if they don’t do it, Richard will kill them. She says they are supposed to take Dale to a house and kill him, and Adam says he will take care of it for her, but she says she has to do it. Adam talks to Voight and fills him in on what he knows. Voight says Torres and Atwater will be there soon to back him up.
Atwater and Torres listen in to the conversation in the car from Adam’s phone and get to the address first and wait in the basement. Adam takes Dale down to the basement and they tape his mouth and Adam shoots into the wall and Sam starts to freak out but he tells her to call her dad and tell him it is done, and to think of Callum. Torres and Atwater go to take him in and Dale fights back, but they restrain him and take him to the hospital. Dale says he will not work with them and that the cause is bigger than both of them. He says they will hear about the cause soon enough.
Atwater and Torres update Voight that Dale is not going to flip and Voight says they need to find hard evidence that he killed the Chinese restaurant owners. They track Dale’s car from the murder site and it goes an unexpected way, and Ruzek says he recognizes the area as an abandoned factory where the Becks used to own and work. Ruzek and Burgess check it out and find shell casings and the knife used in the murders. Suddenly Beck arrives with Callum and they begin shooting guns and Ruzek and Burgess sneak out the back.
The lab matches DNA on the knife to both Dale and the victims, but when they get to the hospital, Dale has ripped open his wounds and he dies before giving them any information. Ruzek goes to talk to Voight and he says to get Dale logged as a John Doe at the morgue and say he was found at that house. This will mean they can get him to gain Richard’s trust.
Ruzek is having dinner with Sam, Callum and Richard and Callum starts talking about hollow point bullets. Ruzek tells Richard he needs to talk to him. He says he is sick of playing babysitter to Samantha and Callum and says he wants in for real. Richard asks him if he was at the Mill yesterday and he says yes because Dale hid his knife there because he is an idiot and he got rid of it. Richard says he is sure Sam has told him the plan and there will be multiple targets and many casualties and their message will be sent, and that Adam will be in charge of deliveries and he will tell him of what on the day. Richard says until then, he has to keep Sam on the path because she is losing faith, and they are going to make a better world.
There were several key themes in this episode, the most important being the revival of Burzek. Not only did we see the happy family he and Kim and Makayla have, but he was finally affirmed by Makayla as the dad in her life. In addition, we are able to see that there is no awkwardness after Kim and Adam spent the night together, and they are strong partners in the field and at home. Burzek nation has been waiting for this day, it seems that perhaps the Wolf writing team has decided to bring them back together for the long haul. After the turmoil over the last 10 years, it would be so wonderful to see them together permanently, and explore them as parents and a true family.
Another theme was seeing the way that Adam seems to care about Callum and Samantha. Perhaps it is the dad in him, although we always know Adam has had a soft spot for kids, but seeing him try to protect them and keep Samantha from doing anything she does not want to can only serve to help him gain her trust during the case also. He is such a noble guy, and really wears his heart on his sleeve. The way that this character is written makes him so endearing and you just want to reach through the screen and give him a hug, so kudos to the PD writers for creating such human characters that the fandom can invest in and want to see every week. They really are more than a team in Intelligence, and really shows what a "work family" could and should be, where everyone has everyone elses back. So it seems natural I suppose that those protective instincts would flow over into their cases too.
A few other noteworthy items:
- It was so great to see Trudy again – we always need more Trudy Platt in these episodes, and Amy Morton adds so much to every scene and episode – what a talent!
- How can we not love this new Torres/Atwater partnership – they make such a fabulous team, and seem to work extremely well together and Kevin is such a perfect mentor for Dante.
- Voight will always be Voight…eyes on the endgame and who cares how we get there, bending the rules and the truth at ever turn – let’s just hope this attitude will not end up ultimately putting Adam in harms way.
- Why is Hailey still the only detective in the unit? After 10 years, you would think Atwater, Ruzek or Burgess would have passed the exam and moved up the chain. Who do you think will promote first?
What did you think of this episode of Chicago PD? Share your thoughts in the comments below.