Kim Burgess has spent seasons growing into herself. She started out as a flight attendant and ended up coming up through the ranks of the Chicago PD the hard way. The number of times she was shot, held hostage, drugged, and assaulted during the early part of her career on the force is astronomically high. But while there are echoes of her earlier behavior on display in "Dark Imaginings," the episode shows off how much Burgess has grown and changed since she joined the team—but that doesn’t mean that her personality has been washed free of flaws and blemishes.
During the episode, Kim is haunted by her move to a safer neighborhood. While she ought to be happy with Adam Ruzeck and their adopted daughter, she’s haunted by the sound of a dripping faucet—a noise that is eventually proven to be imaginary.
Unable to sleep in her new house or settle into the quiet domesticity she seemed to yearn for for so long, Kim takes a deep cover case out of desperation. But the situation quickly spirals out of control as her lack of sleep causes her to blow her cover. Though Kim is burned, the situation is just barely salvaged.
Kim has a long history of acting impulsively, though it’s all been out of her need to help others. She’s still the same officer who was beaten to a pulp back in season 7 when she felt like a child needed her. It resulted in a traumatizing miscarriage, and before and after it she developed a tendency to be seen as a damsel in distress, forever in pain. Here, she keeps it together when her cover is blown, getting out and making sure that her perp is brought in successfully. She manages not to become a severely hurt victim of her own ambition and heart, and for Kim that’s something fresh.
Also fresh is the implication that something might be going on with Kim psychologically. She’s been through a lot emotionally and physically over the years, so it’s not surprising that she’s suffering. But the notion of psychological problems hitting her just as she’s settled into a calm, ordinary life is fascinating.
Does her body simply crave chaos? Or is there some outside force harming her, even poisoning or gaslighting her to get a result? The only way to know for sure is to keep tuning in to Chicago PD.
Add us as a preferred source on Google