Guildford

Gotta say this story arc is the best they've done for a long time. It has a few places it could go & it's going to end badly for Adam without a doubt. I mean there is a reason they've given them happiness at last, this show is nothing by predictable in that regards. Adam UC is awesome to watch & I loved seeing Atwater & Torres team up & back up Adam. It's nice seeing other characters front & centre in long arcs. It's long overdue. The "Okay Dad" was the sweetest moment. They've done a good job with the Dad Adam storyline, even if I think the Kim/Makayla side is a little underdone. It really feels like this has been Adam's story from the start. My theory is the kid shoots Adam... way too many anvils were dropped in this episode with Sam's kid for that not to happen. Can't wait for the finale.

#Burzek banged.... I died... that's all

The Beck story will run to the end of the season on & off, like the Sean one did for the front half. I'm enjoying it so far, it's great to see a different character front & centre of one of the longer arcs. The past 3 have been Vupton & it's old and tired. This is wrap up in the finale. I loved the episode, the Ruzwater content at the start with Mack and Jordan was fantastic and I can totally see them taking her home hopped up on sugar. The mention of Kim's therapy showed a much needed improvement in this show when things were dropped for weeks on end. Ruzek's scene with Mack when he tucked her in was tooth achingly sweet. Paddy has such a connection with the young actress. I found it curious that Adam used both his real name & mentioned Makayla, it's clearly not a mistake, it was done for a reason & I am looking forward to seeing where it goes. I can see it heading down the white supermacist path more than same old drug path. Gwen has clearly moved us on from the Eid era of no continuity, obsession with one character, no personal storylines, no interactions with the characters outside of work.... and it's all the better for it.

There in lies the issue with the centric/myopic episodes & one of people's complaints about this format & the show is the lack of continuity. I will add that they have done *slightly* better this season. We say Kim have her first major PTSD moment in her only other centric epsiode this season where she forgot her gun, we also saw her hands shaking in the Kevin episode. I mean all this is a season too late, but they had to shove Upstead down everyones throats first. And then teh first have of this season we had to watch the deserted wife over emote week in week out. If she'd stayed outside the well and he drowned? Kim pretty consistently chooses to save people first, is it the smartest thing she does ... no, but it is pretty consistent with her character.

I guess I know what they were trying to do but for me it felt un-organic that Ruzek wasn't at least frantic considering past behaviour. Perhaps if they had shown a brief scene outside the well of him or the team pinned down, chasing the guy or Ruzek frantically trying to find her or whatever it would've ramped up the tension a notch rather than I was sitting there thinking... 'where the hell is he?' She radioed him to say she was going down the well and he responded that he was almost there... and then nothing. It just took me out of the moment & fizzled the tension of that last few minutes. I think they could've done better, but if that was the only beef with the episode, then I'm happy with that.

What an impressive performance by Marina. Wow, those panic attacks were intense & kudos to the show for finally giving space to the trauma that Police deal with & how it affects their mental health. Hopefully it's not just a one and done. Sure this character has been through more trauma than is rational & it's long overdue that they address the impact of those traumas. Marina did an amazing job, & the train scene was a great opening. My only slight beef with this episode was, while I get the metaphor of Kim having to climb out of the well and fight to get the lid off was showing how she was indeed 'trapped' & needed to do the work to 'save herself' ... the lack of urgency from everyone else was off-putting. Was Adam having a picnic somewhere? For a man who would've ran through walls when she was missing, he just meandered through the woods? It lacked the tension that could've made this an exceptional scene, even if she could hear them in the background, calling out to her, just something. For me it just deflated the ending a little. They could've still done the 'saving herself' scene but it just needed a bit more urgency from the outside. It was, however, the best episode of this season.

SO he saw all his 'fans' abusing his friends, tweeting death threats, and being vile, begging for the show to be cancelled because they 'fired' him, watched as delusional tweens raised funds for a billboard to demand Wolf give him his job back & waited until now to explain it was his decision? Nice.

Well it was nice to see other characters getting more screen time & to get away from the miserable mopey deserted wife storyline. Vupton is as boring as Upstead was. Torres is great undercover but I do worry that's all they are using him for. I guess Atwater has passed the mantle to Torres now, because for a long time that's all Kev was used for. I enjoyed the bar scene however & it looked like Paddy & Ben enjoyed filming that one. A bit of a plodding episode which seemed a tick the box Voight episode that didn't do much for the overall arc of the season. While the teamwork was better there was no link to any other story or character that was meaningful & that's a huge problem with this show, the lack of continuity is maddening. Even Mopey seemed completely fine after the end of last episode when she found out that Dopey really doesn't want to come back to her. While I don't care, from a storytelling POV it's where this show has real flaws. Oh well, file this one as meh and move on..... Can't wait for next week.

I didn't mean that she shouldn't be upset about it (even if I don't care about her story at all) I was more meaning that Jay is gone, he's not coming back, so they sacrificed the character to further her story, not caring about Jay now because he's no longer part of the show. Him abandoning her was about her story, not his. His exit stopped being about him and it was all about Upton and her story going forward so they completely changed his character to make it worse for her character. As in the past few seasons his only story was to push her character along, he stopped having his own story, everything was tied back to Upton. Even him punching Voight, wasn't because he was angry at Voight for being Voight, he was angry because Voight told him 'he didn't know who he was sleeping next too'... Jay's whole reaction to that story wasn't that what they did was wrong, it was about the effect it had on Hailey and saving Hailey. I honestly get the vibe Jesse had been done with this for a while, but they fucked up his exit & have now assassinated his legacy. My apologies if I didn't explain it very well.

It's clear that the decision was made many seasons ago that Halstead whole character was going to be sacrificed at the alter of Upton. I'm surprised Jesse stayed as long as he did.

I have to agree, I've tried to put me finger on what just didn't work in this & I can't. Something just felt off. I certainly didn't hate it, or not even not like it, because I did & I LOVED that finally we found out about Kevin's past, at least 7 seasons too late, & all that part was great & LaRoyce did a fantastic job as always but it lacked something.... maybe you are right, the case felt like an after thought. I also was distracted by the actor playing his Dad, not because he had been on the show before, hell even Torres played a crim previously, but I was distracted because he didn't look old enough to be Atwater's father... I'm sure that's just me though. I did appreciate that it wasn't the usual black v blue trope that they always give Kevin. Still it was a vast improvement on the woe is me misery fest we've had to endure lately. Here is a guy who's had a lot of shit to deal with, to fight against & to navigate & he just does it. Others.... hubby takes a job overseas for a couple of months & they cease to function & live in their car. The disparity was glaring. The Atwater/Ruzek interaction felt a little off right at the end, it felt un-them like but I assume Kevin had bigger things on his mind & honestly I didn't get that he 'wasn't angry' more that it was buried deep & for a very good reason, he didn't have the luxury doesn't mean it's not still within him & god knows this show never allows these characters to actually explore anything beneath the surface The delivery of the scene just fell a little flat at the end. And low and behold, they remembered that Kim had known him for 10 years & they were once partners. That relationship was a joy to revist.... and what's this, Kim's PTSD was miraculously not forgotten. (Although I do find it amusing that whenever she is exhibiting this sudden PTSD guess who is never around to witness it? Yep, can't have audience linking her PTSD to Upton.) It was nice that Kim was his support in this one, moreso than the usual Ruzek & nobody else.... So he had 2 people watching his back, nice. Like last week with the dirty cop & Ruzek's line of "not yet" I really hope this is revisited before the end of the season. And uggghhhhh.. that promo.... week 456 of whiny woe is me Hailey Upton.... talk about going from Rump Steak to boiled liver.

Not sure it's revisionist history or just bitter Upstead trolls who are yet to grasp the fact that Jesse Lee Soffer didn't want to be Upton's lap dog anymore.

Another week another 'bad white cop' friend storyline for Ruzek... sigh. I did like this one though, if I put aside my apathy for the repetitive storyline. Ruzek & Torres together was a nice mix up & I enjoyed the pairing. I am not sure if I 'love' Torres yet but I am intrigued enough by him to keep watching. It was amusing seeing the peanut gallery commenting that it's a pity that Ruzek never had Kevin's back like he did Torres in this ep considering out of all the cops on this show the only one who had Kevin's back every time was Ruzek. Torres leant some tough lessons in this one. I guess everyone comes in with an idealistic hope that everything is black & white & can be tied up in a neat bow. Ruzek believing him & not letting him blow his career up by going off half cocked wasn't what Torres expected & I don't blame him for replying to his question about whether he thought Ruzek wouldn't have his back the way he did. You don't just trust someone because you work with them..... wait until he hears about what others in that unit do..... you need to learn that you can trust them. It was nice to get away from the mopey wife storyline, her obvious buddying up with Voight brings me great joy. Two peas in a pod. Even though I am clearly a Burzek fan I liked that they had no real interaction in this one. I don't need them yoked together every single week. Now if we could just get a Atwater/Burgess pairing in an episode that'd be grand.

No, that's episode 16

FINALLY

apparently, according to the show runner, Voight saved him because he knew Upton would wig out again so he stepped in and saved Sean to make Upton feel better.... I shit you not.

FINALLY they remember that Kim was actual a victim of a crime & let her explore her PTSD, better late than never. It shouldn't have taken a whole season to address it though. I enjoyed the case, I thought Marina did a great job with it. Her sitting in the car while Adam was in the house alone was full of tension, considering that she was abducted from a car. I thought that was well done. Very convenient that Felony Barbie was put on leave so she didn't have to see Kim's PTSD, and the episode didn't miss her at all and the teamwork was great. More Platt too. I'm loving Atwater & Torres together. It's a relief that he wasn't lumbered with Borestead. And then they ruined it by the ending.... ughhh it literally sucked the oxygen out of the room.. I was enjoying the peace and then we get this forced female partnership. There is zero onscreen presence with them & as per usual Upton never asks Kim how she is or even if they solved the case. Of course Kim figures things out despite felony barbie spending all her time staring at the wall, did she read Ruzek's notes about the cabin? Clearly not. And you'd think the first thing you'd do if you came across that shed & suspected something may have happened there you'd take some photos before destroying the crime scene integrity. It's not like it was they had to work quickly to save someone's life. Nope just dig it up... just stupid... but then Upton is involved so it was always going to be stupid.

It is beyond overdue that this show lets other characters take the lead. While this case could be interesting, watching mopey is not. FFS every single other character does not even get one episode to 'recover' from their trauma & this is what 4 episodes now of the deserted wife's whiny & moping? No wonder Jay fled the country & is ignoring her, the chick is depressing AF. Also, I am expecting the Chief to help out once he gets over the shock.... they cannot do another 'white shirt/badguy' trope on this show....PLEASE.

I think they rank them from worst characters to best in the credits 😬

If they followed any of the rules, none of these bunch of muppets would ever be on the streets working. At least they showed IRT actually taking his gun... that was new.

Honestly can't say I notice. I didn't know any of the actors before they started on this show & billing credits mean nothing to me. I don't even notice them on the screen.

I always feel like she is reading the script in every scene. While technically they are just doing that, a good actor actually inhabits the character & it feels authentic & something they would say. With the Upton character it always feels like someone else's words. Even the direction about where to stand or walk to feels so mechanical.. walk towards whiteboard, stand on spot, point to board.... I always feels like I am watching an actor try and act not a character and for a weekly TV show that's not good. It feels very one dimensional and that's pretty much why I don't even bother with episodes like this, even if the storyline/case is good she makes me not care & just wish the hour was over. Can't wait for the Atwater episode.... it's been wayyyyyy to long.

I really enjoyed this, I've felt the shift since Eid has left with regards to the new direction the show is taking. It's not straight up flipping the switch but the storylines/cases are definitely better. The myopic episode format worked in this case so we could get to know Torres & boy did we & it was so much better than Rojas when it was all about being a 'super badass cop' from the start. So well done to the showrunner. So Myopics can work, they just need to stop using them constantly. In saying that what it did set up was that Halstead wasn't missed at all because we are now used to have episodes where half the team is not involved. Minimal Mopey deserted wife was also a bonus & the show did not suffer one bit not having the Whitestead's shoved into everything. Torres for me.... there is still enough mystery about him, this told us a lot but not very much at all. They did a great job with him in this episode however I want to see how he does around the fringes. I hope it's not all or nothing with him, which they have the tendency to do. Atwater as his mentor makes the most sense. I never saw pretty white boy Halstead as a good mentor for anyone, especially someone who's not from his side of the tracks. Halstead had always been inherently prejudiced against those less fortunate or who weren't just black or white. I think what we can get out of this partnership is actually seeing what it was like for Atwater in his early years as a cop, while they've shown glimpses of it, it was already once he'd done the early work so I feel this can show us both stories for both characters and I am really looking forward to that.

The same as anyone leaving any job, they are entitled to say as little or as much as they want. Random people on the internet aren't entitled to anything. I find it amusing that people think they are.

I completely agree... it was rushed and because of that it seemed, on the surface, out of the blue when in reality it wasn't and with more time it could've been so much better. If you think back to late season 8 when Upton again went rogue and broke into the suspects house without a warrant... in the end Jay told her that she jammed him up & that wasn't okay. She then went to Voight & asked for a new partner because she didn't want to 'change' him... I know a lot of people blame Voight for Jay's disintegration but Upton played a huge part in it. Inexplicably they had him appear to completely forget about it & marry Upton after becoming everything he never wanted to be. So I've gotta say I am happy they returned him to his original character somewhat even if it was rushed. I just wished they hadn't done the 'shipper appeasement' route & actually made him call her out on her shit, he can still love her but know she's not good for him. Now she's going to mope around for weeks on end thinking she's a good person who's been abandoned so we get more of her woe is me attitude, when honestly she's just as to blame as Voight for forcing Jay to leave. And yet again they completely ignore half their characters for this moronic Vupstead circle jerk... thank god that's over, even if we had to lose the best of the bad bunch.