Chicago PD’s season finale has Hank Voight ready for a fall, and he should take one. Here’s why Chicago PD season 5 ought to end with Voight in handcuffs.
There’s a dark cloud hangiing over tonight’s Chicago PD season finale, and its name is Hank Voight. Wednesday’s episode will feature a final showdown between Voight (Jason Beghe) and his partner turned mortal enemy Denny Woods (Mykelti Williamson), with Woods aiming to have Voight locked up for any number of reasons.
And frankly, there are reasons to agree with him. Although Woods is an incredibly infuriating person with a laundry list of his own flaws, Voight is no saint and he wouldn’t say that he is. The entire crux of Chicago PD as a series has been that he breaks the law in order to enforce the law. That was never made clearer than it was this season.
The entire point of Chicago PD season 5 has been that he’s no longer above the law with the new outlook toward police. So is it possible that the most appropriate ending to this season is one that sees Woods getting what he wants, and Hank Voight having to face everything that he’s done? We think it’s judgment day.
Click through the below slideshow for the five reasons we think Chicago PD needs to have Hank Voight arrested, and let us know your thoughts in the comments. Then make sure you don’t miss the season finale tonight to see whether or not he winds up behind bars.
5) It’d be one heck of an ending
Every TV show season finale wants two things: a shocking ending that leaves the audience talking and, more often than not, a cliffhanger ending that will convince the network to renew the series for another season. Having Hank Voight arrested would accomplish both those ends for Chicago PD.
For more than 100 episodes, Chicago PD has let Voight largely get away with anything, up to and including the murder of Jason Bingham—the crime which started the chain of events leading up to Wednesday’s season finale. It’s almost become a running joke how he escapes consequences. In almost every episode, he does something that would be against the rules if not immoral, whether it’s physically harming someone who’s not cooperating or doing something a bit shady to push a case forward.
Voight is a walking version of that old saying “the ends justify the means.” And he can do it, because he’s got a team that looks the other way and friends like Judge Tommy Wells (John Pankow) whom he can ask favors of. After five seasons, that luck’s got to run out at some point. And when it does, it’ll be a huge discussion point among PD fans, if he had it coming or if all the good he’s done outweighs the missteps. (Too bad Chicago Justice doesn’t still exist.)
And then NBC would have to renew Chicago PD, because who wouldn’t want to see where the story goes after watching Voight be led away in handcuffs?
4) It opens up a timely storyline
Though no official decision has been made as of the time we’re writing this, we’re fairly confident NBC is going to order Chicago PD season 6. And if this season ends with Voight’s arrest, that gives us a wide-open playing field for next season. It’s the kind of storytelling writers, and fans, will be salivating over.
How do you handle it? Keep in mind that we’re just saying Voight needs to be arrested, not that he’ll get convicted, so do you do a time jump where it’s a few months later and he’s either cut a deal or gotten off on a technicality (because obviously Jason Beghe can’t go anywhere)? Or do you pick up in the immediate aftermath, and explore the idea of an Intelligence Unit without Hank Voight, possibly run by someone like Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda)?
Even when Voight gets back there are tons of story ideas. Will he change his ways as a result of facing the music? Will his team look at him any differently? And what about the big picture: this whole idea of police reform that Chicago PD season 5 tried to push but has yet to truly fully execute. Voight would be the poster child for this world where police can’t get away with things anymore.
He would start Chicago PD season 6 having to reform, and that change and how it may change his whole unit would be a great place to begin next season. How does Intelligence stay the tough unit we know and love after its leader has taken a hit like that? That’d be the question we couldn’t wait to answer.
3) He’s becoming a liability
At this point in Chicago PD season 5, Hank Voight is doing more harm than good. Olinsky is in prison because of him, and he may or may not lose his life over it (we’re not convinced he will, but it’s a possibility). Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) got forced into a corner because of Woods using Ruzek against him. Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) lost her boyfriend because she chose being loyal to Voight first.
This isn’t even counting the innocent victims that Voight may feel responsible for. In “Saved” he was distraught when a young girl he tried to protect died after his failed attempt to talk her out of a standoff. There’s the witness Olinsky planted drugs on, and probably ruined his life. And does Voight blame himself at all for Brianna Woods’ shooting in “Anthem” the way her dad does?
Lots of people are suffering losses either because of Denny Woods’ campaign of destruction against Hank Voight, or they have connections to Voight. It’s pretty clear that he’s now a liability to anyone around him—either because Woods will come after them or because trouble around him is at a fever pitch.
Having him arrested would seem oddly fitting after all that. He can’t be the reason all this trouble is happening and end the season scot free, could he? What kind of taste would that leave in fans’ mouths if all this is because of Voight and yet he’s the one who ends up pretty much unscathed?
2) He’s a hero, but not a great guy
Unpopular opinion time: Hank Voight is a bad guy. He’s the hero of Chicago PD, and he does a lot of good on the show. But he also does a lot of bad things, and he’s really the lesser of two evils.
Remember when Voight was first introduced on Chicago Fire? He was menacing the crap out of Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) to protect his son. That scenario is classic Voight. His actions come from a place that’s good, but they are very bad. They’re immoral at best, many of them are illegal at worst. And that pattern of behavior hasn’t changed on Chicago PD. The only difference is we’re supposed to root for him because he’s the cop, and he’s taking down the drug dealers and gang bangers and other worse people in Chicago.
But as many fans have pointed out, that doesn’t necessarily make what he’s doing okay. He’s done a lot of things that make TV viewers arch an eyebrow. Remember how he maimed a woman in last season’s “Remember The Devil” when she wouldn’t talk? It’s up to you if you give him a pass for the behavior based on the motivation, but let’s be honest and admit he’s the villain in any other story.
Voight is the only One Chicago protagonist to have already spent time behind bars, so having him go there in Chicago PD season 5 would just be part two. And it would be appropriate, all things considered, because at what point does he have to face justice?
1) It’s what’s best for him
The primary concern with any story decision should be character development. How does this push a character forward? Is it good for the show? And in the case of Hank Voight and Chicago PD, doing the worst possible thing to him could actually be what’s best for him when all is said and done.
Voight harbors no illusions about who he is or what he’s done. He knows that his time is coming up, as evidenced by the whole loyalty speech he gave to a suspect in “Breaking Point.” He’s aware that his actions have had consequences for other people; that’s why he’s worked so hard to try and get Olinsky released. And when we left him, he was showing up on Denny Woods’ doorstep ready to confess! Getting Hank Voight arrested is just taking him where he’s already prepared to go.
And it could wind up being a catalyst for some excellent character growth in Chicago PD season 6 and beyond. We know Voight pretty well by now; we expect him to strong-arm people literally and metaphorically every episode. But the mere act of his arrest, even if it doesn’t lead to anything, is a chance to humble him and/or change him.
Not to take away from the character we love, but it’d open the door to exploring more of Voight than just his hard-charging side. We know there’s so much more to him than just scaring people and kicking in doors. It’d be interesting to see Voight going through those growing pains of being a cop in a time when it is a reform world, and he’s of a different generation, and does he adjust or not?
Think of all that Jason Beghe could do if Voight’s character is opened up a bit more. And that all starts with breaking him down, and letting him pick himself back up. Voight getting arrested is a big negative in the Chicago PD season finale, but a big positive for the character’s future.
Next: Chicago PD season finale predictions
Do you think it’s time for Chicago PD to have Hank Voight face his demons? Let us know what you think in the comments, and then don’t miss the season finale tonight!
Chicago PD airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.