Chicago PD season 5: 3 moments we’d change

3. More about Erin Lindsay’s exit

The fifth season of Chicago PD opened with a major hurdle: how the show would address the absence of Erin Lindsay after Sophia Bush decided not to return. While the season premiere episode “Reform” technically explained it, it feels like there’s so much more that could and should have been done there.

“Reform” opened with Lindsay’s ex-boyfriend Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) in what had been their apartment and Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) talking briefly about her departure. That was all we got, and to be fair, there was only so much Chicago PD could make happen given that Sophia Bush did not return to wrap up her character’s storyline.

But the show didn’t necessarily need her to give Lindsay a better sendoff. It would have been fine for Halstead, Voight or both to struggle with her absence for more than one episode, given that the former wanted to marry her and the latter saw her as the only family he had left. We get that the show wanted to push forward, but in her case with all the character contributed to the show, it would’ve been okay to slow the roll.

Especially when Lindsay was repeatedly referred to later in Chicago PD season 5, her not being there could’ve been explored more and made those references even more relevant.

According to Sophia Bush’s comments after the fact, the show’s producers knew that she was prepared to leave. So why not set up a stronger exit story at the end of last season that could then play out this season? What if Lindsay’s exit had somehow involved the same hidden body that ultimately took down Olinsky, and that’d be another through-line in Voight’s battle?

There were ways Chicago PD season 5 could have paid better tribute to Erin Lindsay, beyond just nodding to her not being in Chicago anymore.