Chicago PD season 7 character review: Vanessa Rojas

What Chicago PD season 7 means for Vanessa Rojas

Since this was Rojas’ first season, many Chicago PD viewers are still forming opinions about her, especially since she arrived on the scene right after the producers chose not to bring back one of the show’s most beloved characters. The aforementioned slant giving her tons of screen time also didn’t help, because it came off like the show was trying too hard to make the audience like her.

Honestly, Rojas has room for improvement. Lisseth Chavez has been doing a good job with the material that she’s been given, but she doesn’t yet have the screen presence that her colleagues do—which is more important on Chicago PD than on other TV shows because the entire series is about this group of cops that’s supposed to be a fearsome force.

Likewise, there’s nothing quite special about the character that shows why she deserves to be in an elite unit like Intelligence. She comes from a rough background, but we’ve seen other TV cops with that same story. She’s got undercover skills, but everyone in this team has those (especially her partner, who seems to be undercover every other episode). And she’s making mistakes; the obstruction she committed would have gotten her kicked out of every other unit.

The latest season had plenty of Vanessa Rojas in it, but featuring a character doesn’t mean that the audience is going to connect with them. The writers can tell us she’s the best cop ever, but we have to believe it ourselves. She’s not there yet; the real litmus test will be coming up in season 8.