One Chicago: Biggest takeaways from April 7’s Fire, PD and Med episodes

Chicago PD: Does Upton get to move forward now?

Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) got all of the spotlight in “Signs of Violence” where investigating the disappearance of a family brought her own family’s abusive history up again. Not only did One Chicago fans get that emotional plotline, but they got a big Upstead moment when Hailey and Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) finally said “I love you” to each other—not at the same time, though, as Hailey admitted that hearing those words had a negative connotation for her in the past due to the aforementioned abuse.

(Fun fact: Upstead were the second couple to reach that milestone on Wednesday night, as over on Chicago Med, Crockett and his girlfriend Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto) also exchanged those three little words.)

Could this be a turning point for Upton, though? “Signs of Violence” hit on two topics that’ve been covered for her before—her dysfunctional family and her romantic involvement with a partner. It was brought up in “Ghosts” that she had dated a previous partner, and Chicago PD has addressed her family issues on numerous occasions. So she’s still battling the same issues she’s had almost since she arrived on the show.

Especially with her father being back in the picture this season (in the sense of being seen on screen, sort of) and her being happy in a relationship with Jay, it’d be great if the writers took some weight off Upton’s shoulders and allowed her to get some closure and find other challenges. There should be new stories out there for her, and ones where she can look forward instead of looking back.

(Plus, it wasn’t so long ago that Halstead was in therapy. We didn’t get to see much of that on screen, either, but you’d think Jay would be the perfect person to help her talk things out and move forward based on his own experience. He’s had trauma, he’s dated a partner, he knows what it’s like to have family issues—albeit not abuse—he can relate to more of Hailey than the show has tapped into so far.)

For the latest Chicago PD season 8 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago PD category at One Chicago Center.