S10.E22: A Better Place

[jewel21]

Quote

As Richard Beck's timeline for a deadly attack moves up and Samantha panics, Ruzek and the team scramble to get ahead of unprecedented disaster.

Airdate: 05/24/2023

Season finale!

[Snazzy Daisy]

Chicago PD | 10x22 - "A Better Place" (Season Finale)

 

[MsJamieDornan]

Well, that was, interesting.

[mommalib]

Kevin Atwater with the kill shot, I hoped he would get to do the honors. That kid is really gonna hate Black people now. lol

It's time for Atwater to finally become a detective.  

[Guildford]

Man, they do love their shitty ends to finales.... the Upstead proposal while Kim was 'dying' and now the goblin drinking with the random ASA that nobody cares about while Adam's life is in the balance.

Sheesh

Up until that last scene... that was a bloody good episode.

[KittenPokerCheater]

Pretty good episode I thought.  Couldn’t believe that kid shot Ruzek in the stomach.  I wonder if the actor’s contract is up.

Atwater was spectacular tonight.

[Sweet-n-Snarky]

The good: 

-- The action was so good! I was absolutely enamored with all of these random cops that were around to breach all of Beck's properties.

-- Hailey with that elbow to that dude's face

-- That opening with Ruzek set the tone..oof I felt for the man. He really had me. Especially those scenes with Makayla.

-- Paddy acted his ass off yet again and I love that man. They really underused him this season.

-- This was really Atwater's episode. The way he took charge at the scene. His reaction when he found out about the elementary school, that look he had with that Black officer, his annoyance over the deal, and that killshot!! He didn't hesitate!

-- Trudy with Kim..I just loved that scene. I love their relationship. 

-- Kim, steady, all the signs of her therapy working, how she was able to healthily compartmentalize, how she helped Adam. How she didn't panic. 

-- Kim looked so cute in that green hoodie. 

 

What I struggled with:

-- I know Torres can only be in a certain amount of episodes but after that underwhelming last episode, he shouldn't have been gone for the finale!

-- It actually really bothered me the lengths they kept going to make Sam and Callum victims. Sam did not have this passive role in what her father was doing. Her racist thoughts didn't just become un hardwired when Callum was born. Throwing out things wasn't enough. And when given chances she still protected her father or didn't do the right thing. I was annoyed that they oversold the concept of white duoremacostss being victims of their white supremacy. 

-- I just can't NOT think about how Sam and Callumg got more chances and shown more grace than hundreds kf people of color in the criminal justice system, the foster system, all of it. 

-- Sam should NOT have been offered full immunity. And didn't even ask for it... it ess the offer Ruzek wanted for her as their best shot because he sympathized with her so much. 

-- Ruzek still wanted to protect Callum and Sam wanted to save him, but the kid was already down the dark path. It felt dangerous and even problematic to keep pushing this point that this kid could be saved because "no one is born hating" with little regard or consideration for his current actions and the dangers he posed now. In this same system a young kid like Atwater or Torres will get written off as a product of their environment and STILL spend time trying to disprove that to other people as whole adults.

-- The idea that Callum still stood a chance, but now that Kevin killed his grandpa, the racism got activated. It puts too much emphasis on the act, KEVIN'S act. Like, what?

-- that cliffhanger and them cutting out that Burzek bedside scene for Voight and Chapman having a drink. It was just so weird. I would think with the writer striker looming at this point of filming, they would have opted for the final scene with burgess and Ruzek so it didn't feel so open ended.

[MsJamieDornan]

We need a new show with just Ruzak and Atwater.

[Genus]

Why didn't Ruzak call 911 instead of calling kim? All those vital minutes wasted on the phone as she put him on hold while she told the other officers what to do? One of the stupidest things ever.

 

[anna0852]

5 minutes ago, Genus said:

Why didn't Ruzak call 911 instead of calling kim? All those vital minutes wasted on the phone as she put him on hold while she told the other officers what to do? One of the stupidest things ever.

 

Because people in immense pain and losing blood maybe don’t think as clearly?

[Snazzy Daisy]

What’s the point of benching one main cast in each episode? They benched Torres in this episode but hired so many extras for the raids. This isn’t cost cutting.

[Sweet-n-Snarky]

2 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said:

We need a new show with just Ruzak and Atwater.

Throw in Torres, and I wouldn't be mad about it.

To be fair, they still would have saved money. Those actors probably only got a couple of hundred bucks each, assuming they were actors. Sometimes they'll use off duty or retired cops and stuff like that, so you never know.

[mommalib]

Watching this episode it struck me just how much time was devoted to protecting Sam and Callum. In my opinion way too much grace was extended to the mother and son. Atwater was right about Sam helping her father for years and I was more concerned about the Black kids that Beck was going to kill than about Callum. 

Oh yeah and Atwater needs a spin off because I would damn sure watch. 

[MsJamieDornan]

Quote

2 hours ago

Watching this episode it struck me just how much time was devoted to protecting Sam and Callum. 

That was really starting to piss me off. They deserved nothing.  My God, the kid shot Adam and Sam left him to die.

[Sweet-n-Snarky]

5 hours ago, mommalib said:

Watching this episode it struck me just how much time was devoted to protecting Sam and Callum. In my opinion way too much grace was extended to the mother and son. Atwater was right about Sam helping her father for years and I was more concerned about the Black kids that Beck was going to kill than about Callum. 

Oh yeah and Atwater needs a spin off because I would damn sure watch. 

This exactly. It's kind of what I was alluding to above. 

It felt like so much of that got lost in translation even with viewers, and that genuinely bothered me. They spent ALL their time trying to protect Callum and soften the idea of him and Sam as raised to hate.

Sam shouldn't have even gotten that unprecedented immunity deal, and it sucks that the only people vocal about that was surprised surprise the only Black cop on the unit followed by Kim, the mom raising a Black child.

It shouldn't ALWAYS fall on Kevin to be that person on the unit.

He had to be the one to kill Beck, not even because no one else had the shot or an opportunity to make any kind of move, but because the others were still trying to negotiate the most peaceful outcome, still reasoning with this man. Still giving him time and space to spout more of his crap. Still giving him a voice. Still trying to cut this kid some kind of slack. 

Police rolled up on a boy Callum's age once and shot him on sight for playing with a toy, barely stopped the car to do it. We've seen them never hesitate. But in those moments it was "what about Callum." 

What about a little girl whose father didnt come home that night? What about her trauma? What about protecting her?

And then Kevin having to shoot Richard to finally put an end to it now has this little boy they were desperate to save evil eying him. How was the message in that not boiled down to this Black Man just triggered his hatred? Like Callum could've stood a chance but "if not for Kevin..."

Sam RAN Richard's entire drug operation. She didn't choose her out when they first met her. She killed someone to essentially protect her father and herself. 

Sam said she was raised to be racist and then stopped when Callum was born, but how? In what way do we know that when she still subjected her son to her father's ideology? Throwing out stuff he took to school in his backpack isn't actively working to unprogram your child or counteract what Richard taught him. 

She was involved and knew things about her father terrorizing people of color before. KILLING THEM. she did nothing. 

Sam was not this sad victim and yet they spent all this time trying to make her sympathetic. She got the benefit of the doubt. There's no way on earth she should've gotten a full immunity deal and Ruzek still had to beg her to take it.

She knew her father was planning something and didn't care about the repercussions on anyone else. 

Yet we spent more time on HER as a victim of white supremacist than the  actual people Richard was terrorizing and killing.

It was a good episode. But I couldn't not think of those things, and it bothered me. Worse yet, it bothers me that it has seemingly went over most people's heads because I keep hearing "poor Callum needs therapy" or everyone's upset about Ruzek or them cutting Burzek scenes... that after all that, the problems with them basically humanizing Nazis just gets lost.

[MsJamieDornan]

11 minutes ago, Sweet-n-Snarky said:

There's no way on earth she should've gotten a full immunity deal and Ruzek still had to beg her to take it.

I think that will be over now that her kid shot Adam and she left him there.

[Proteus]

15 hours ago, Sweet-n-Snarky said:

The good: 

-- The action was so good! I was absolutely enamored with all of these random cops that were around to breach all of Beck's properties.

-- Hailey with that elbow to that dude's face

-- That opening with Ruzek set the tone..oof I felt for the man. He really had me. Especially those scenes with Makayla.

-- Paddy acted his ass off yet again and I love that man. They really underused him this season.

-- This was really Atwater's episode. The way he took charge at the scene. His reaction when he found out about the elementary school, that look he had with that Black officer, his annoyance over the deal, and that killshot!! He didn't hesitate!

-- Trudy with Kim..I just loved that scene. I love their relationship. 

-- Kim, steady, all the signs of her therapy working, how she was able to healthily compartmentalize, how she helped Adam. How she didn't panic. 

-- Kim looked so cute in that green hoodie. 

 

What I struggled with:

-- I know Torres can only be in a certain amount of episodes but after that underwhelming last episode, he shouldn't have been gone for the finale!

-- It actually really bothered me the lengths they kept going to make Sam and Callum victims. Sam did not have this passive role in what her father was doing. Her racist thoughts didn't just become un hardwired when Callum was born. Throwing out things wasn't enough. And when given chances she still protected her father or didn't do the right thing. I was annoyed that they oversold the concept of white duoremacostss being victims of their white supremacy. 

-- I just can't NOT think about how Sam and Callumg got more chances and shown more grace than hundreds kf people of color in the criminal justice system, the foster system, all of it. 

-- Sam should NOT have been offered full immunity. And didn't even ask for it... it ess the offer Ruzek wanted for her as their best shot because he sympathized with her so much. 

-- Ruzek still wanted to protect Callum and Sam wanted to save him, but the kid was already down the dark path. It felt dangerous and even problematic to keep pushing this point that this kid could be saved because "no one is born hating" with little regard or consideration for his current actions and the dangers he posed now. In this same system a young kid like Atwater or Torres will get written off as a product of their environment and STILL spend time trying to disprove that to other people as whole adults.

-- The idea that Callum still stood a chance, but now that Kevin killed his grandpa, the racism got activated. It puts too much emphasis on the act, KEVIN'S act. Like, what?

-- that cliffhanger and them cutting out that Burzek bedside scene for Voight and Chapman having a drink. It was just so weird. I would think with the writer striker looming at this point of filming, they would have opted for the final scene with burgess and Ruzek so it didn't feel so open ended.

Why can Torres only be in limited episodes?

[NJRadioGuy]

4 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said:

I think that will be over now that her kid shot Adam and she left him there.

They'll look for any opportunity to yank that deal, and criminal negligence would be a good start. But for the deal itself, it sucks, but sometimes you have to make a terrible deal with the devil. For those interested, do a Google search on a woman named Karla Homolka in Canada. She didn't get immunity, thankfully. Her ex will die in prison as a result.

Nobody who gets hit center-mass from 5 yards or less will crawl away (to film another season). They'll be carried by six with an honor guard. But I don't see then killing off Ruzek to be honest. With the One Chicago budget cuts I can see them having him "rehab" for the first half of the season. But the reality is that was pretty much a shot to the heart from where the squib was placed on the actor's chest.

The episode was a B+ to an A- for me overall. Tight editing, great fight choreography, good lighting, clear sound, and nice camera work, plus a decent on-camera performance by all, But points docked for the shot nonsense above, and for the Big Bad always being a step ahead of the Best Intelligence Unit In All Of The World. Criminals are generally dumb and mistakes are so easy for trained investigators to find.

[Guildford]

28 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

 

Nobody who gets hit center-mass from 5 yards or less will crawl away (to film another season). They'll be carried by six with an honor guard. But I don't see then killing off Ruzek to be honest. With the One Chicago budget cuts I can see them having him "rehab" for the first half of the season. But the reality is that was pretty much a shot to the heart from where the squib was placed on the actor's chest.

 

If this show, or any show followed real life there would be a new cast of characters each week, they'd all be dead, in rubber rooms or in jail.

If Kim survived 2 gunshot wounds centre mass, hours dragging herself across a dirty floor, Ruzek can survive this.... afterall they have some magic elixer at Chicago Med. The magic of TV hey?

[NJRadioGuy]

1 minute ago, Guildford said:

afterall they have some magic elixer at Chicago Med. The magic of TV hey?

Just, please, don't send him to O.R. 2.0. That won't end well.

[Guildford]

6 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Just, please, don't send him to O.R. 2.0. That won't end well.

I honestly wish I didn't know what that meant... I had the unfortunate experience of half watching Med this week. Yikes....

[NJRadioGuy]

Oh, I forgot to add that just one of those bricks of C4 would probably level half a city block. That much? Ain't nobody on that property is walking, running, or crawling away. They'd still be finding bits of Kevlar and police gear in trees a half-mile away a year from now.

[Guildford]

5 hours ago, Sweet-n-Snarky said:

This exactly. It's kind of what I was alluding to above. 

It felt like so much of that got lost in translation even with viewers, and that genuinely bothered me. They spent ALL their time trying to protect Callum and soften the idea of him and Sam as raised to hate.

Sam shouldn't have even gotten that unprecedented immunity deal, and it sucks that the only people vocal about that was surprised surprise the only Black cop on the unit followed by Kim, the mom raising a Black child.

It shouldn't ALWAYS fall on Kevin to be that person on the unit.

He had to be the one to kill Beck, not even because no one else had the shot or an opportunity to make any kind of move, but because the others were still trying to negotiate the most peaceful outcome, still reasoning with this man. Still giving him time and space to spout more of his crap. Still giving him a voice. Still trying to cut this kid some kind of slack. 

Police rolled up on a boy Callum's age once and shot him on sight for playing with a toy, barely stopped the car to do it. We've seen them never hesitate. But in those moments it was "what about Callum." 

What about a little girl whose father didnt come home that night? What about her trauma? What about protecting her?

And then Kevin having to shoot Richard to finally put an end to it now has this little boy they were desperate to save evil eying him. How was the message in that not boiled down to this Black Man just triggered his hatred? Like Callum could've stood a chance but "if not for Kevin..."

Sam RAN Richard's entire drug operation. She didn't choose her out when they first met her. She killed someone to essentially protect her father and herself. 

Sam said she was raised to be racist and then stopped when Callum was born, but how? In what way do we know that when she still subjected her son to her father's ideology? Throwing out stuff he took to school in his backpack isn't actively working to unprogram your child or counteract what Richard taught him. 

She was involved and knew things about her father terrorizing people of color before. KILLING THEM. she did nothing. 

Sam was not this sad victim and yet they spent all this time trying to make her sympathetic. She got the benefit of the doubt. There's no way on earth she should've gotten a full immunity deal and Ruzek still had to beg her to take it.

She knew her father was planning something and didn't care about the repercussions on anyone else. 

Yet we spent more time on HER as a victim of white supremacist than the  actual people Richard was terrorizing and killing.

It was a good episode. But I couldn't not think of those things, and it bothered me. Worse yet, it bothers me that it has seemingly went over most people's heads because I keep hearing "poor Callum needs therapy" or everyone's upset about Ruzek or them cutting Burzek scenes... that after all that, the problems with them basically humanizing Nazis just gets lost.

My opinion... for what it is worth is that this show is always so heavy handed with the story they are trying to push and this was another example of that in the worst possible way.

What I felt they were going for was Adam's desperation to save not only his child from having people like that in the world & Callum because he couldn't imagine giving up on a child, any child. Makayla got a second chance after all the trauma of her upbringing, he wanted that for Callum as well.... where it all went wrong for the storyline, is as you say that they tried to humanise his mother as an innocent victim which just didn't work on ANY level. They tipped the balance way too far without any pay off. Save the kid & hope it's not too late, I understand that sentiment without agreeing with it, but to make that story work she needed to be seen as the same as her father and they, for whatever reason refused to do that. 

With regards to the deal, I got it storytelling wise, time was of the essence & they wanted to press that point, get her to talk & save hundreds of people, which turned out to be children or have her refuse to speak, time wasted & in the end Beck goes through with his plan & children die. I also understand that Adam knew her best so why he made that call. Did she deserve it, nope, not at a chance in hell. Again, it's the heavy handed approach to storytelling & perhaps if they had spent a little more time developing that side, maybe, just maybe it might have made more sense rather than jump straight to the end point due to needing to push it all into one 40 minute episode.

I get the killshot being Atwater but just once I would like these 'bad guys' not get the bullet to the head ending. That's not justice, it's a cop out & they do it all the time to tie everything up in a neat little bow. Not that Beck deserved a life but he deserved to live the rest of his miserable life in a dark windowless cell as does his daughter.

What this show also does well & to excess is emotionally manipulate characters into doing everything against their moral judgement, making impossible choices. Kim made a promise to Adam because she was desperate for him to calm down & live .... the same way Upton manipulated Halstead into saving her from the Roy mess, and Halstead did the old "it's not you it's me' manipulation trope when he bolted. 

And yes I am one who is pissed about the cut scene, wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't posted the photos straight after & felt cruel to a group of fans that have been through a shit load of angst with this couple.. So maybe they could've ended with Sam being read all her charges by Kevin when they pulled the deal...instead we got Voight in a bar with a character barely anyone can name. They fucked up their own ending.. 

Oh & Paddy & Marina & LaRoyce never fail to deliver.

[Guildford]

2 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Oh, I forgot to add that just one of those bricks of C4 would probably level half a city block. That much? Ain't nobody on that property is walking, running, or crawling away. They'd still be finding bits of Kevlar and police gear in trees a half-mile away a year from now.

😂 That was my thought.. all that C4 & one tiny building blew up. (And I do know they actually physcially blew up that building, it wasn't CI generated) but that much C4 would've levelled the block.

They really need to stop blowing up the characters & have them just shake it off. Blondie went flying through the air last season & went straight back to work... but that's TV I guess.

[anna0852]

3 hours ago, Guildford said:

 And yes I am one who is pissed about the cut scene, wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't posted the photos straight after & felt cruel to a group of fans that have been through a shit load of angst with this couple.. So maybe they could've ended with Sam being read all her charges by Kevin when they pulled the deal...instead we got Voight in a bar with a character barely anyone can name. They fucked up their own ending.. 

Oh & Paddy & Marina & LaRoyce never fail to deliver.

What cut scene? Something good?

[NJRadioGuy]

To me, a more fitting end would have been for the father to discover that his new best buddy Ruzek was not just an undercover cop but an undercover cop with an adopted black daughter. He goes to their apartment, breaks in, fade-to-black, and two shots ring out. That's the cliffhanger you leave viewers with until next fall (or winter, or spring, or whenever the damned writers' strike is over).

[MsJamieDornan]

2 hours ago, anna0852 said:

What cut scene? Something good?

Fill us in?

[KittenPokerCheater]

10 hours ago, Proteus said:

Why can Torres only be in limited episodes?

The budget for each episode can effect who is in the episode and who is not.   But I am sad Torres wasn't in it too.

[Guildford]

6 hours ago, MsJamieDornan said:

Fill us in?

They filmed a scene back at the hospital with Kim & Adam & some bright spark from NBC released the photos of it straight after the episode aired. They have since been taken down.

[anna0852]

1 hour ago, Guildford said:

They filmed a scene back at the hospital with Kim & Adam & some bright spark from NBC released the photos of it straight after the episode aired. They have since been taken down.

Damn it NBC!

[KittenPokerCheater]

23 hours ago, Guildford said:

& some bright spark from

???

[Sake614]

I also felt cheated out of a Kim/Adam scene at the end. As well as annoyed that Adam spent  what little time he had calling Kim instead of 911. And if there are budget cuts that require letting actors go, May I suggest they start with detective Barbie? She’s completely useless and totally expendable. Killing Adam only adds shock value and takes away an integral part of the team. 

[Guildford]

3 hours ago, Sake614 said:

I also felt cheated out of a Kim/Adam scene at the end. As well as annoyed that Adam spent  what little time he had calling Kim instead of 911. And if there are budget cuts that require letting actors go, May I suggest they start with detective Barbie? She’s completely useless and totally expendable. Killing Adam only adds shock value and takes away an integral part of the team. 

Him calling Kim makes more sense to be honest, He couldn't speak. So he calls 911 they have no idea who he is, where he is & they muck around trying to get info from him or he calls Kim, doesn't say a word and she knows exactly where he is and he's in trouble. The ambo was there before she was so there was no delay. 

[jabRI]

I can understand him calling Kim instead of 911... first, she'd answer right away. And he wouldn't have to fill her in on all the background and to get in touch with Voight, etc.  She'd know where he was and what they were up against.  It was a reasonable shorthand.

[Nintra16]

Nice to see so much engagement on this thread. This forum has been kind of dry lately. 

I pretty much echo everyone’s sentiments. One thing I will add is that it made no sense for them to move without physically having eyes on Richard. Having his phone and tracker pinging means nothing. That was amateur work from Hailey and co. 
 

otherwise, great episode. I really felt for Adam. And Kevin is just wonderful in whatever he does. 

[MsJamieDornan]

Quote

 

Nice to see so much engagement on this thread. This forum has been kind of dry lately

Yes, I thought people stopped watching.

 

1 hour ago, Nintra16 said:

. One thing I will add is that it made no sense for them to move without physically having eyes on Richard

And Adam went to the house with Sam not really knowing where Richard was. Not really a great idea.