It goes without saying that it’s been quite a busy season of Chicago PD with many storylines being juggled and introduced across the current. With so many storylines going on, it’s understandable that some storylines have to be slid to the back burner. Unfortunately, for Atwater fans, one of those storylines has been the newly introduced romantic storyline between him and forensics psychologist Valerie Soto.
When we met Valerie in the third episode of the season, she and Atwater hit it off immediately. We expected that we’d get to see the pair’s relationship explored in the episodes that followed. Instead, Valerie went MIA and hasn’t appeared in a single episode since making her debut leaving some to wonder whether she was about to end up a forgotten character that would quietly just be written out of the picture.
Fortunately, it seems that won’t be the case!
Valerie is coming back to Chicago PD soon
Just when we thought we might have seen the last of Valerie, Chicago PD’s showrunner Gwen Sigan has confirmed the character will be returning and that we’re finally going to get to see the explore Atwater’s relationship with her. Particularly, fans can look forward to seeing whether Atwater will truly be able to accept a no-strings-attached type of relationship and just how sustainable that relationship might be for the pair.
“We get to see that relationship and what that looks like and how it morphs.[It was] definitely presented in the episode where we first met Val as this off-switch. ‘It’s gonna be no strings attached, it’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be something just for the two of us.' Now the question is, “Can that sustain? Is that the most long-term situation? So we get to see that relationship morph quite a bit over the next few episodes for Atwater,” Sigan teased to TVLine.
As Atwater figures out what he wants from this new relationship, fans will get to see him lean on Burgess as a “sounding board,” which means not only can we look forward to seeing more of Atwater’s personal life explored via his relationship with Valerie, but also of his friendship with Burgess.
Both storylines have definitely been a bit lacking this season, so it’s nice to know we have some Atwater-focused storylines coming in the pipeline as season 12 enters its back half. There’s no telling whether this relationship with Valarie might evolve into something more sustainable or if it could be another flash-in-the-pan type ordeal, but we’re just happy to know the writers will be following up on the storyline finally.
Atwater hasn’t always been lucky in love and we’d love to see that change with Valerie. The pair definitely have amazing chemistry and it’s about time Atwater gets the chance to find happiness outside of work!
More so, we want to see this relationship evolve on-screen and not just hear updates via conversations. Sure, those conversations can help in building the overall storyline, but viewers deserve the chance to see Atwater and Valerie’s relationship get notable screentime similar to the relationships of other couples on the show.