Chicago PD season 5, episode 17 recap: Breaking Point

Chicago PD delved into murder and corruption this week, but was anyone really clean? Here’s what happened in Chicago PD season 5, episode 17.

Wednesday’s Chicago PD had all the elements of a great mystery: murder, politics and corruption. So what did the Intelligence Unit uncover, and was it worth bringing to light?

This week’s episode was called “Breaking Point” and began with the team finding the body of one Alderman Burton. But no sooner have they showed up on the scene than there was Denny Woods (Mykelti Williamson) with his two cents.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Alvin Olinsky (Elias Koteas) was promptly hauled back to the office to be interrogated about the body of Justin Voight’s killer—something every fan knows Woods made happen.

When the investigators told Olinsky that his hair had been found on the body, Olinsky immediately lawyered up.

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Chicago PD shifted back to the case of the week, as we learned that the Alderman had a bunch of ticked off constituents to deal with.

And Burton’s wife immediately brought race into the situation, turning up on TV just hours after his death “expressing concern” regarding the department’s dedication to “black politicians.”

Wanting to throw Olinsky a lifeline, Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) had Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) reconnect with Woods. But Woods wasn’t interested, which didn’t bode well for Al:

"Voight: Whatever he’s got on Olinsky is real."

Voight tracked down Olinsky at a bar and confirmed that Internal Affairs had Olinsky’s DNA. Olinsky was definitely nervous, telling Voight he might need to borrow some money from his boss’s infamous “rainy day fund,” only to find out that Voight had moved the money into a trust to protect it against his own possible arrest.

Meanwhile, Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda) and Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) questioned the man who found Burton’s body—and robbed him. Desperate not to take the fall for murder, the guy told them he saw a blue sedan leaving the crime scene. Yeah, that’ll narrow it down.

But now that they had the victim’s phone back, Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) found a threatening voicemail left on the phone the night that Burton died. It tracked to a diner’s pay phone, and Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) squeezed the owner by threatening to call the Health Department on him.

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The owner identified the caller as a music professor named Coleman Lewis, and if he looks familiar, that’s Malachi Weir from CBS‘s Wisdom of the Crowd. Cole was out of town on the night of the murder, but informed Voight and Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) that Burton’s son Arthur was the developer on a high-profile city project, with possible gang ties.

Naturally, Burton’s wife thought this was a witch hunt and threatened to call Woods. What else is new around here? And why did Arthur Burton turn up dead just two scenes later?

"Voight: Single shot to the head. Just like his father."

Our hero was convinced that this now double murder was related to the other popular topic on Chicago PD: drugs. See, if Arthur’s redevelopment project had gone through, those condos would mess up the gangs’ drug business. Which is something you don’t do, except on The Wire.

Voight was forced to go back to Mrs. Burton, whose attitude seemed to have cooled slightly in the face of a second tragedy. She told him that Arthur knew the gang didn’t like his project, but that he and his father said they had “[taken] care of the problem.” That may have involved a large amount of cash, and the gang may have been the Westside Disciples.

Of course there’s no gang leader that Hank Voight doesn’t know, so he was immediately sitting down with the Westside boss. He accused Lamar of taking out the Burtons when they shorted him on the payout. Lamar didn’t say anything but Voight still left feeling good about his case.

Meanwhile, Woods was giving Olinsky a motivational speech of sorts in his office:

"Woods: Have you thought about your future?"

He informed Olinsky that a witness saw him “and a young woman” outside the construction site where Justin’s killer’s body was buried. Naturally, Woods wanted to get Olinsky to save himself by turning on Voight. Olinsky wound up in Voight’s office anyway, especially now that it wasn’t just him but also Erin Lindsay (Sophia Bush) on the hot seat.

Back in the bullpen, the team had finally tracked down their blue car and its owner, Keon Walters. They tried to arrest him, but he started a high-speed chase instead. And we admired all the snow just flying off our team’s truck, before Upton found Keon that had the murder weapon.

But things aren’t finished yet. Keon doesn’t have any gang ties, and Chicago PD tells us that the man who was drinking with Alderman Burton before he died swears that he’s not the guy he saw that night. So what gives? Time for another Voight interrogation to find out!

"Voight: Give us who you’re working with."

Keon’s ex-girlfriend tells Burgess and Atwater that the connection may be Keon’s cousin. Who is his cousin? Why, it’s Lamar—the shot-caller for the Westside Disciples! It all makes sense now, but of course Lamar took off after Voight chatted with him. Voight decides to let Keon go in the hope that Keon will lead Intelligence to his cousin. Mostly because Olinsky planted a tracker in his coat.

Sure enough, Keon made a phone call that told everyone exactly where Lamar was. And that led to what might be Chicago PD‘s first off-road vehicle chase, even if it was admittedly brief. Hey, this script is really making use of the weather!

While Ruzek and Atwater wrapped that up, Olinsky and Voight found six figures worth of cash in a duffel bag, leading Voight and Burgess to ask if the place was a stash house in near-stereo. It was a bit tempting for Olinsky considering his new money troubles, but he didn’t touch the funds.

Intelligence tried one more time to turn Keon, this time by telling him Lamar was pinning the murders on him, and adding that Lamar was also making a move on his ex for good measure. It was Olinsky who came up with the straw that broke the camel’s back: Keon had sickle cell anemia, and going to prison would deprive him of his medicine.

Keon told Olinsky and Voight that he drove the getaway vehicle but Lamar was the killer. And with the case purportedly closed (we didn’t see Lamar getting his comeuppance), Voight went out into the cold and informed Olinsky that yes, he and Lindsay were in big trouble.

Despite his boss and friend saying that they’d get through this, Olinsky pointed out that Lindsay was Voight’s own breaking point—and didn’t answer when Voight asked what his might be.

"Voight: Everybody’s got a breaking point, Al. No matter how strong you are.Olinsky: Well, not everyone."

“Breaking Point” is an odd episode for Chicago PD. The case of the week feels like an afterthought to the ongoing Voight storyline, to the point where it’s almost like the show just moves it along in between Voight and Olinsky-related scenes. And though she’s not on the show anymore, that plot has led to so many Erin Lindsay references that one wonders if Lindsay is going to factor into how the season-long arc ultimately ends anyway.

Maybe because of the shift in focus, there’s not much going on in this episode but the Voight story. The case is pretty dry except for those few heartbeats of a car chase through piles of snow and icy roads. And if you’ve watched this show regularly, you know the big turn starts in the usual Hank Voight interrogation scene. Even that circles back to the other story, as Voight tells Keon Walters that his loyalty is “stupid” while Olinsky just happens to be watching.

It’s a story that doesn’t take an eagle-eyed viewer much to figure out, and so this feels more like an episode to move Chicago PD season 5’s subplot along more than a full episode in its own right. But what’s it setting up? We’ll find out shortly.

Next: The most underrated Chicago PD characters

What did you think of this week’s Chicago PD episode? Leave your reaction to “Breaking Point” in the comments.

Chicago PD airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

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