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Chicago PD season 6 midseason report card: What worked, what didn’t?

By Brittany Frederick

CHICAGO P.D. -- "Trigger" Episode 607 -- Pictured: (l-r) Jesse Lee Soffer as Det. Jay Halstead, Jason Beghe as Sgt. Hank Voight -- (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)
CHICAGO P.D. -- "Trigger" Episode 607 -- Pictured: (l-r) Jesse Lee Soffer as Det. Jay Halstead, Jason Beghe as Sgt. Hank Voight -- (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC) /
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Chicago PD
CHICAGO P.D. — “Descent” Episode 609 — Pictured: (l-r) Tracy Spiridakos as Det. Hailey Upton, Patrick John Flueger as Det. Adam Ruzek — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC) /

What didn’t work

Chicago PD hasn’t filled the hole left by Elias Koteas’ departure. And not in the “we all loved Alvin Olinsky and still miss him” sense, but in the sense that the show just doesn’t operate the same without him. Olinsky provided a veteran presence that is now filled solely by Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), but Voight has a completely different personality, too. Olinsky kept the team steady and his absence is still felt.

Speaking of veteran presence, this season has so underused Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) that it’s becoming disappointing. There are numerous episodes where Morton has only had one or two scenes, and she can do so much more than that.

The biggest question mark for Chicago PD season 6, though, is its new primary ship with Upton and Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger). It hasn’t convinced us yet either on or off screen. Maybe it’s because they started as a drunken fling and now we’re trying to take them seriously; it seems to be a TV trope for characters to deal with trauma—in this case Upton fearing that Halstead could have died—by having sex.

That’s just a cliched place to start, and while the show is trying to develop the relationship, they’re already talking about moving in together! That feels like Ruzek’s over-commitment happening all over again. And we’re still not sure what had the show spending two seasons teasing fans with a Burzek reconciliation, only to drop that this season and hook him up with Upton instead. Why give up on what you’d already established?

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