Chicago PD season 8, episode 2 recap: White Knuckle

Atwater makes his move

Intelligence still has to find Rollins with or without help from patrol. They find out where he’s gone and set out to try again. This time he’s quickly subdued trying to run out the back door. Ruzek, still sore from earlier, doesn’t want Atwater’s apology. “You’re not alone,” he reminds his partner.

Atwater shares a look with Voight before confronting Nolan (returning guest star Brent Sexton) after work, challenging him to come after him and him alone, not the rest of Intelligence. Nolan says he’s going to keep coming after Atwater until he takes the other man’s badge.

Elsewhere, Miller congratulates Voight for finding the actual killer. She says he looks at her and sees all the people who antagonized him before her, but she’s just there to do a job. But as they’re talking, Voight gets a call from Atwater. He’s done some thinking. Since he can’t keep working in Intelligence if he’s getting his teammates in trouble, his only other option is for Voight to broker a deal where they put an official complaint in Atwater’s record that would prevent him from making detective. If he doesn’t take that rap, he’s not going to be a cop anymore.

But maybe, Atwater says, he doesn’t want to be a cop. He’s mad a lot, at everyone from Voight to cops that do the job the wrong way, including himself. “It’s not a new world yet,” Voight tells him. Atwater asks what he’d do in his position; his boss replies that he’s a good cop, and as soon as he’s not one anymore, they’re winning. “I’ll back you no matter what you choose,” he insists. “The question is, what do you wanna do?”

So Chicago PD closes with Atwater taking a long look at his badge and gun. Except he’s doing it in Nolan’s house. Why is he there? He’s come up with a third option: he’s going to sue Nolan and the rest of the Chicago Police Department. He’ll burn the whole thing down if Nolan keeps coming after him or any other cop. “I will make it my job to keep coming after you,” Kevin says, “and I will destroy you.” Then he takes his badge and his gun, and strolls out casually.

The question is, will the threat work?

Chicago PD doesn’t answer that. It closes with a scene in which several African-American kids walk away from Atwater because they see his badge.

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