Chicago PD season 7: New Year’s Resolutions for the rest of the season

Chicago PD returns in the new year, so we’re making some New Year’s Resolutions for what we need to see in the rest of Chicago PD season 7.

New Year’s Eve is upon us, and that means it’s time to start thinking about making some New Year’s Resolutions. So why not make a couple for Chicago PD?

We’ve put together a short list of three things that Chicago PD ought to do in the second half of season 7—whether they’re things that will make the show better, or things that would make a character’s life easier, or just things that make sense but haven’t happened yet for whatever reason.

Check out our New Year’s Resolutions for Chicago PD below, and leave your own resolutions for the show in the comments at the end of the article.

And don’t forget that Chicago PD season 7 returns on Jan. 8 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC!

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1) Don’t kill Halstead

This should be obvious, but we’re going to say it anyway: killing Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) would be a massive mistake. It would be making him the fall guy for what is the entire Intelligence Unit’s failure.

Yes, Halstead felt the most guilt for getting an innocent man killed, especially since it was his idea to send the guy to lockup where he was ultimately murdered. But that was the end result of more than one mistake. The team should never have solely relied on that facial recognition software, and then Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) certainly shouldn’t have suggested blaming the dead man for two murders that he knew he didn’t commit.

And from a logistical standpoint, losing Halstead just exacerbates a problem that’s brewing on the show for awhile now. Chicago PD has already lost three original cast members over the last three seasons, two of which (Elias Koteas and Jon Seda) were written out by producers in decisions that fans didn’t agree with.

So if Soffer gets pink-slipped, that’d be the third time producers have dropped a character, and that’s not fair to fans unless he wants to leave—which there’s no indication that’s the case. Let’s hope this is just a false alarm.

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2) More parity among characters

The biggest issue Chicago PD faces right now is that several characters don’t have enough to do, making the show noticeably unbalanced. Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) and new arrival Vanessa Rojas (Lisseth Chavez) have gotten the biggest portions of screen time, while we’ve seen less to do for Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati), at least until her recent pregnancy revelation.

Meanwhile, Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) and Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) continue to sit largely on the sidelines, continuing an issue that’s been going on for a few seasons now. Their absences have also meant the show has gotten less of their unique perspectives, so it no longer has diverse storytelling, even though it has a diverse cast.

It’s clear that the producers and writers have characters that they want to focus on and develop further this season, but they also can’t forget that this is an ensemble show and everyone has something that they’re bringing to it. A little balance would go a long way to making this season more entertaining.

3) Make use of Platt

We’re going to come out and say it: either Chicago PD needs to find a use for Platt, or it might be time to knock her back to the recurring status she had in the first season. She’s a great character and Amy Morton is a fabulous actress; that’s why she was promoted to regular in the first place. But season 7 has only continued the trend that started in season 6, of seeming like the show has no idea what to do with her.

Platt has so far only shown up in a handful of scenes, usually to hand someone a file. The best scene she’s had in season 7 has been snarking at Rojas when the other woman first arrived at the 21st District. Granted, it’s harder to write Platt into episodes because her role and her workspace is totally separate from the rest of Intelligence—but it’s not impossible.

The writers need to finally figure this out. Unless Amy Morton has somehow asked for a smaller role (remember how Steven Hill, the original Law & Order district attorney, was totally fine with his supporting part?), this doesn’t feel fair to her.

Either find some way to give her what’s befitting a series regular, or maybe it’s best to make her recurring and only have her appear in episodes where there’s a real use for her. Even that would be better than these brief scenes where Chicago PD seems to stick her in there just to say she appeared.

For the latest Chicago PD season 7 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago PD category at One Chicago Center.