Chicago PD season 7 character review: Jay Halstead

What it means

It’s hard to figure out what role the Chicago PD writers see Halstead playing anymore, based on how he’s been written recently. In the season premiere, Chicago PD season 7 seemed to be setting Jay up to become the counter-balance to Voight—a critical role that needed to be filled since they had gotten rid of Antonio. But Jay’s doubt of his boss was never really convincing, and he ended up apologizing and looking for Voight’s forgiveness, so he wasn’t much of an antithesis.

Is he supposed to be the lead detective? He’s the longest-tenured detective in Intelligence; the only other character who currently holds that rank is Upton. But we haven’t see Jay taking the lead with the team or acting in a mentoring sense the way that, say, Alvin Olinsky (Elias Koteas) used to do. The authority seems to shift between characters depending on the week.

It would be nice if Halstead, who’s as close to a straight man to the grey areas of Intelligence as this show has, got to step up and be more assertive, both in terms of helping to run cases and in defending his own point of view. After all, Voight sees Jay as his successor whenever he retires, and that means something.

But the writers have to show a tougher side of Halstead, and that doesn’t just mean having him punch people’s lights out or letting him get beaten up in the line of duty again. Toughness is more than physical. It’s emotional and intellectual, too. And as far as Upstead goes, it’s time to make a move—or don’t.