Chicago PD season 7, episode 16 recap: Intimate Violence

Saving Michelle

Unsurprisingly after that development, Chicago PD moved to the obligatory scene where Halstead walked into Voight’s office to explain himself. He justified his actions and Hank understood, as Jay always wore his heart on his sleeve. Voight said that there was one more play left: to take Shane on, which he did with Upton.

They told him that he was sitting in their interrogation room not because of the assault charge, but because of the robbery-turned-homicide. Voight tried to play the “confess first, get a deal” card, but Shane didn’t buy it. Hailey threw a curveball when she asked if it made him feel more like a man to beat up a woman. He still didn’t say a word, but you could see it in his eyes: something changed.

He lawyered up, and Chicago PD showed Upton in the break room Halstead Jay walked over to explain himself to her, even though she also understood why he did what he did. He appreciated her support, and even told her “Thank you.”

But before she walked back to her desk, Hailey got a call from Michelle, who wanted to press charges against Shane. Or she briefly wanted to, because then suddenly Michelle wasn’t returning Upton’s follow-up calls. Hailey headed downstairs to Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), who looked up Shane’s info for her. He had been released from his domestic violence hearing because no complainant showed up. Where in the world were either of them?

Jay was going to find out as Hailey asked him to go check their house. He found the door slightly ajar and the place ransacked. Michelle was cowering in a corner and Jay begged her to come with him. Too bad that Shane came down the stairs and demanded to know why Jay was there.

The two got into a scuffle, where Jay threw punch after punch to Shane’s face. He only stopped when he caught Michelle looking at him. It was decision time as his eyes went from Michelle back to Shane, and Halstead realized that he did not want to turn into Shane.

Instead, the robber and abuser was booked, and the final scene of “Intimate Violence” had Upton buy Halstead a drink. Chicago PD gave Upstead fans what they’d been missing this season: the thing that works between Hailey and Jay.

“I don’t know how you went through this growing up,” Jay asked her. Hailey told him that she placed a pillow over her head when she was young to block out all the noise. What she’d wished for then was for someone to come in and put her dad in his place, like Jay did with Shane.

Halstead asked what had happened to Upton’s mother, and she admitted that her mom was still with her dad. She shrugged it off, but it was clear that they were both affected by this case, and it was good to see them lean on each other, as well for Chicago PD to formally put Upton and Halstead back together.

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