Chicago PD midseason finale takeaways: Descent

What should One Chicago fans learn from the Chicago PD fall finale? Look closer at the episode with our Chicago PD season 6, episode 9 takeaways.

What did One Chicago fans learn from the Chicago PD midseason finale? Here’s what we took away from this week’s installment, “Descent.”

“Descent” featured the downfall of Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda) as his drug addiction was finally exposed to the Intelligence team, and it led to his daughter Eva being abducted. When Antonio was able to find her, he also made a choice he’ll live to regret.

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) How much will Intelligence cover for Antonio?

There’s serious irony at play when Chicago PD season 6 returns, because Antonio’s fate is now in the hands of his colleagues. How far will the team go to protect him?

Anyone who’s watched this show long enough knows that these cops are ride or die with one another. They’ve sided with each other when they’ve done things that are illegal and/or immoral. They’ve chosen each other over loved ones.

But this isn’t just about Antonio pushing a guy out a window. It’s about his addiction, too. And now Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) is using terms like “optics.”

It’s fairly obvious the guys are going to have to claim that Jason accidentally tripped and fell out the window, or something like that. Yet how do they explain everything leading up to that? Do they also hide Antonio’s addiction? There’s a lot they’ll have to hide—but if anyone deserves that, it’s Antonio Dawson.

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2) Are Ruzek and Upton the real deal?

So Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) wants his girlfriend to move in with him. There is a certain degree of skepticism required here for multiple reasons. Ruzek and Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) haven’t been together that long, and their relationship started out of a drunken fling.

Plus, Ruzek is the opposite of a commitment-phobe. He’s been engaged three times. He rushes into things more than Julia Roberts in a romantic comedy.

But could they actually make this work? Upton has her feet planted firmly on the ground, and if she’s willing to give Ruzek a chance, she could easily balance him out. In general, Ruzek has also grown up quite a bit this season, compared to the hot-tempered cop of seasons past. His romantic M.O. hasn’t changed, but he seems a little more stable.

And perhaps just as important is the fact that Chicago PD has clearly committed to this as its new primary ship. Burzek obviously can’t exist now and there’s no other ship to fill the spotlight. Every One Chicago show has a ship that it focuses on, and right now Ruzek and Upton are it. That alone would suggest they may be sticking together.

3) Where does Antonio go from here?

The most interesting thing about “Descent” is figuring out how long it wants to play the “bad Antonio” card. It’s clear that most Chicago PD fans want him to get back to “good Antonio” sooner rather than later; we want the best for him.

But drug addiction is a serious storyline, even one that’s as relatively short-lived as Antonio’s. If the show just handwaves it after an episode or two (like saying it’s now two months later and he’s gone through rehab and is fine now) that would feel like a cheat.

It would also be short-changing the story. One theme so far of this season is politics within the police department: how things look and how people are looking closer. Having the team magically cover up everything Antonio did wrong would be skipping over some potentially good drama (and giving Intelligence a “get out of jail free” card yet again).

We’ll have to see how the writers want to play this, but Chicago PD season 6 picked a storyline that doesn’t have a simple resolution.

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.