Chicago PD season 5, episode 20 takeaways: Saved
Is Chicago PD finally breaking Hank Voight? What does this episode tell us about the finale? Here are our Chicago PD season 5, episode 20 takeaways.
Last night’s Chicago PD was a different kind of case for the Intelligence Unit, so did the episode turn out any differently?
Wednesday’s episode was called “Saved” and saw Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) thrust back into the spotlight, this time because a young woman he knew was abducted. Intelligence went looking for her and found answers in an unexpected place.
If you missed any of this Chicago PD episode or just want a refresher on the events that we’re discussing, you can catch up with our “Saved” recap.
Here are our Chicago PD season 5, episode 20 takeaways:
More from One Chicago Center
- Chicago Med star on 2024 cast changes: ‘Nice to have new faces’
- Here’s the perfect Chicago Fire episode to watch on Thanksgiving
- Ranking the 8 NCIS Thanksgiving episodes from worst to best
- Mark Harmon does NOT have plans to reprise Gibbs on NCIS
- One Chicago stars tease new seasons on IG: ‘Here we come’
1) Voight needs a hug
“Saved” saw Voight realize that a young girl he and his wife had looked out for, had fallen in with a bad guy—and she wound up being shot dead by his colleagues after her boyfriend dragged her outside while aiming his gun at police.
A guilty Voight was understandably upset, and he ended this episode of Chicago PD wrecking a whole wall of photos before staring sadly into a spot off camera.
It’s clear he needs a break. Voight is one of One Chicago’s most stressed characters, and though we’ve seen him talking to someone (most recently in the season premiere), he probably needs to do that a lot more. Or get a dog. Or just get a hug.
Watch One Chicago on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!
2) He also needs to change his methods
On the flip side, the other thing “Saved” showed us is how one-dimensional Hank Voight really is. He either: A) threatens someone with harm, B) actually harms them, or C) tries to intimidate them. That’s how he seems to do almost everything, and guess what? It’s not working anymore.
For example, look at how he handles the grand jury situation. He tries to exert pressure on the Assistant State’s Attorney working the case, claiming that he “owes” him as if he just expects the guy to make the whole thing go away. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works. But in Voight’s head, it does.
We know he’s desperate to protect Alvin Olinsky (Elias Koteas), but it does show how he’s a creature of habit, which is the point Chicago PD season 5 has tried to make all season (and admittedly not quite succeeded at). So if he does somehow escape this season without charges, it might be time for Voight to find other ways to fight crime other than the use of force.
3) Did Voight know what Olinsky did?
Last week, we took Olinsky to task for planting drugs on an innocent man just to save himself. In the teaser of this week’s episode, he told Voight that “my plan” didn’t work. Voight had zero reaction to that choice of words, so he obviously wasn’t surprised. Does that mean he knew what Olinsky was going to do last week? Or that he just doesn’t care, considering the admittedly shady way Voight himself does business?
Either way it makes an already thoroughly objectionable scene more uncomfortable for fans. If Olinsky had crossed the line and someone had called him out on it, that would’ve been one thing. Especially since Voight himself had decided against going after the witness once he saw the man at an AA meeting. So if he didn’t want to mess up the guy’s life himself, how could he possibly be okay with Olinsky doing it—whether Voight knew about it or not?
By not giving Voight some kind of reaction in that opening scene, Chicago PD did neither character any favors, and poor Ruben became just an afterthought. The show could’ve done so much better.
Next: Chicago PD's most WTF relationship moment
What did you take away from this week’s Chicago PD episode? Leave your thoughts on “Saved” in the comments.
Chicago PD airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.