Chicago PD season 6, episode 8 takeaways: Black and Blue

What should One Chicago fans learn from this week’s Chicago PD? Look closer at last night’s episode with our Chicago PD season 6, episode 8 takeaways.

What did One Chicago fans learn from this week’s Chicago PD episode? Here’s what we took away from this week’s installment, “Black and Blue.”

“Black and Blue” featured Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) being attracted to the ex-girlfriend of the week’s drug dealer slash killer, only for things to end badly. Plus, Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda) is still on drugs.

If you missed any of this week’s episode or just want a refresher on the events that we’re about to discuss, you can catch up with our Chicago PD recap.

Below are our takeaways from this week’s episode:

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1) Atwater is cursed

That’s the only explanation that makes sense anymore, because every episode that focuses on Atwater ends badly for him.

We’ve had Atwater getting prosecuted and almost sent to prison (“Uncertainty Principle”), Atwater has to send his family away (“Home”), Atwater gets abducted (“Captive”) and now Atwater dates a girl who gets arrested (“Black and Blue”).

Come on, now. One or two episodes being tragic is one thing, but at this point it feels like this is piling on. Is this show afraid of letting Kevin Atwater be happy? We’re honestly asking.

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2) So, about that ending

“Black and Blue” forced Atwater into making not one, but two difficult choices. He had to choose whether or not to come forward about Laila, and then whether or not to come forward about Nathan.

The story Chicago PD was telling was obvious. Atwater tried to do the right thing by telling the truth about Laila, and when that backfired and led to her arrest, he decided to throw that murder weapon in the river instead of giving Nathan the same fate. Was that a good call? No, but the show made it very clear why he was making it—he felt disillusioned by what he’d seen.

Here’s the thing, though. There’s some loose ends with that. Number one, Atwater’s going to have to live with that choice for the rest of his life. Even if that gun doesn’t somehow get washed up in the future, he knows what he did, and that has to weigh on him.

Number two, the show could’ve fleshed out the story a little bit more. Atwater just assumes that Laila is telling the truth as to why her print is on the gun from ten years ago. Chicago PD doesn’t have him ask her to prove it, or even prove it to the audience. She’s impassioned enough that she’s probably honest, but that’s not the kind of thing the show should let the audience assume. He’s a cop—let him verify the story and be sure he’s not being played.

And even if it is the truth, having an off-screen Assistant State’s Attorney decide to charge her (and conveniently killing off Kenny) felt like a rushed setup for a twist ending. You know what would’ve been cooler? If Laila had gone free, and then talked Nathan into accepting responsibility for the crime we know he committed, like she didn’t see Kenny do before.

She could be that voice of wisdom for him, with all that good she said she was doing in the community. Maybe Intelligence could even help negotiate a plea deal for him, since he shot a guy who murdered at least two people. That would’ve had more resonance than all the tragedy that we saw, and not put Atwater in a moral corner.

3) Antonio’s drug problem

So Chicago PD finally, kind of, told us Antonio has a drug problem this week when he tried to get a refill on his pain medication. And if you saw the preview for the next new episode, then you know that was another clue.

But this storyline still doesn’t feel whole. Like we said when it was introduced a few weeks ago, what’s the point, exactly? This has already been done over on Chicago Fire. And here, there hasn’t been any dramatic tension over it or any real build-up. We haven’t seen it interfere with Antonio’s work. He’s gotten two questions about it, from Ruzek and Burgess respectively, and brushed them off easily.

Now if it was screwing up his job performance, or Burgess found an empty pill bottle in the trash that confirmed those weren’t aspirin, we’d be more worried about (and invested in) what’s next for Antonio. But this subplot has been just mentioned in the last few weeks rather than developed and so it’s hard to get too nervous about Antonio’s fate—because we don’t even know quite what he has to be afraid of.

For the latest Chicago PD season 6 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago PD category at One Chicago Center.