One Chicago crossover: The 5 most valuable characters

Chicago PD‘s Hailey Upton

Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) was featured heavily throughout all three episodes of the One Chicago crossover, which gave fans a chance to see different sides of her character. We got to see a lighter side to Upton at the start of the episode, when she was one of the people at the tailgate, and we don’t see that often.

But her crossover plot took a hard turn when Jay asked her to track down a lab assistant who had suspiciously not shown up for work on the day of the outbreak. When Upton made it to Veronica Song’s apartment, the young woman was very obviously infected with the bacteria, and eventually collapsed on Hailey, getting blood all over her. When Upton brought Veronica to Chicago Med, Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) discovered a hangnail that meant Hailey could also be infected, and she was sent to quarantine.

While Upton was contained, she met a teenage girl named Amanda who lived in the apartment complex that was “ground zero” for the infection. That’s when the One Chicago crossover showed the vulnerable side of Hailey, as she took the time to make Amanda feel as safe and comfortable as possible. Upton retold the story of how Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) inspired her to be a cop, and repeatedly told Amanda to “think good thoughts” as things became chaotic in quarantine.

But still determined to do her job even when she might potentially die, Hailey offered her help in any way she could, conducting interviews with her fellow patients in quarantine, along with Dr. Daniel Charles (Oliver Platt). And when the quarantine turned into a full-on riot, Upton remained cool, calm and collected in the face of total insanity.

And as soon as “Infection” revealed that she was not at risk, Upton went immediately back to work, while juggling her Chicago PD duties with her concern for Amanda. She found time to come back to the hospital while also continuing to work on the case, and it was Upton who was instrumental in saving the life of her former partner Jay. She fired the distracting shot that allowed Voight to breach the boardroom and kill David Seldon before Halstead could become infected.

Even while not knowing her fate, Hailey Upton never wavered from doing what needed to be done during the One Chicago crossover. Fans never saw her break down or want to stay back. Instead, she went right back onto the front lines and was there when it mattered most, not only for her team but for an innocent civilian, too.