S02.E18: Get Back To Even

[WendyCR72]

Intelligence responds to a drug robbery gone wrong and in their investigation it's revealed that the first person Voight ever gave his card to is linked to a double murder. Voight will fight to keep her family safe. At the same time, we learn the real reason why Halstead's brother Will came to Chicago. Meanwhile Desk Sgt. Platt takes care of a young girl at district.

[betsyboo]

CLEARLY Platt and Mouch are going to adopt that adorable little girl.

[MakeMeLaugh]

I heart Trudy so much.

[ChicksDigScars]

And CLEARLY, Chicago Med is coming. It's mentioned on every episode of Chicago PD and Chicago Fire. After tonight's show, they showed a preview of next week's Fire, and Severide looks injured. Gee. I wonder where he'll be treated?

 

And yes, that little girl was SO cute. They definitely need to adopt her.

[Watermelon]

CLEARLY Platt and Mouch are going to adopt that adorable little girl.

That would please me. She was too adorable

[WendyCR72]

And CLEARLY, Chicago Med is coming. It's mentioned on every episode of Chicago PD and Chicago Fire. After tonight's show, they showed a preview of next week's Fire, and Severide looks injured. Gee. I wonder where he'll be treated?

 

And yes, that little girl was SO cute. They definitely need to adopt her.

 

I figured it was pretty much a lock once S. Epatha Merkerson joined the cast.

[Xantar]

I figured it was pretty much a lock once S. Epatha Merkerson joined the cast.

 

I have nothing against a Chicago Med show in principle, and I have to say I'm rather looking forward to S. Epatha Merkerson on my screen again. Although I'm wondering how that's supposed to work. Did Lt. Van Buren get into hospital administration after she retired from the NYPD?

[Calamity Jane]

I have nothing against a Chicago Med show in principle, and I have to say I'm rather looking forward to S. Epatha Merkerson on my screen again. Although I'm wondering how that's supposed to work. Did Lt. Van Buren get into hospital administration after she retired from the NYPD?

Well, she has been doing a commercial for some cold medicine that doesn't elevate blood pressure.  Maybe that's all it takes?  ;-)

I'm always happy when we get some time with Trudy and some time with Olinsky.  How sweet was Trudy's interaction with the little girl? 

[WendyCR72]

I have nothing against a Chicago Med show in principle, and I have to say I'm rather looking forward to S. Epatha Merkerson on my screen again. Although I'm wondering how that's supposed to work. Did Lt. Van Buren get into hospital administration after she retired from the NYPD?

 

Or just pretend Van Buren has a non-related double.  :-) .ETA: Make it a triplet: I forgot SEM also played a mom whose baby was accidentally shot to death on S1 of the Mothership.

[maraleia]

Trudy is everything...that is all. She is the right amount of tender and tough.

[Happy Harpy]

I'm not Trudy's number one fan, I often find her caricatural (weirdly, I love her on CF) so it's a bad sign when she's my favorite part of an episode. Yet she was CF-level of awesome here.

 

Voight, Nadia's subplot and the wonderful Nadia/Erin friendship scene were the other highlights. 

 

Jay ruined the episode for me, as usual.  I'm over his SRH attitude with Voight. If he has a problem with the guy and his methods, he should ask for a transfer; instead of having the perks of working for an elite unit while clutching his pearls in moral outrage for the show. Yet, it's his attitude with Erin that seals the deal for me.

If this were a soap opera (and at times, you have to wonder) we would hear at length how Voight is Erin's father in "every way that counts". And he damn is. I could understand that Jay had a problem if Voight was unealthily possessive with Erin, or used her loyalty with complete disregard for her and her safety. Voight is no angel, so I'd get where Jay comes from if her link to Voight was damaging for Erin in any way. This isn't the case here. I'd argue that Voight has always been selfless with her and it's actually, for me, the only non-grey area in his life. He was nothing short of supportive whenever she had a problem (and risked his own safety in order to save her horrible, sorry excuse for a mother) or when she  wanted to spread her wings and go to the FBI. He looks out for her, but he doesn't smother her. That's what a good father does, and I've yet to see him demand she reciprocate or take her loyalty for granted. Yet she does, she does the same for him because she's his daughter "in every way that counts", too.

But it appears to me that because Jay has a problem with Voight, he wants Erin to have a problem with him, too. Moreover, Erin has more brains and good sense than Jay, and she damn knows Voight better than he does, so he has no business telling her where the truth is and what she should do. I just see an insecure bully who wants to be the one and only reference for his girlfriend, and is jealous of her close relationship with her dad. He is the unealthily possessive one, imo. He tries to drive a wedge between Erin and Voight at the first opportunity; he tries to make Erin take sides, whereas someone who truly has Erin's best interest at heart would understand how important the sole real parent she has ever had is for her and would not put her in such a position.

Voight didn't invent the "no relationships rule" against Erin and Jay (and again, I've always thought that the "Burgess exception" was never meant to be accepted, it was only a clumsy way for the writers to show that patrol was her true choice). They knew what the deal was from the start. And instead of resenting Voight for Erin's unwillingness, Jay might want to envision that maybe, Erin is just not that into him. And I certainly hope so, since she deserves so much better than him.

 

And after Severide's bland love interest over at CF, Jay's equally bland brother is yet another incentive to not watch Chicago Med. I love S.Epatha Merkerson, but even she's not enough.

[Ailianna]

Watching Voight hand over the envelope of cash to the mom and son, I wonder if his whole stash of money that we've seen before is used like this, to help and protect people he otherwise has no way to get help for. He got them out of town to safety, and that's a good thing. I wonder how many other people he may have done likewise for, given money to in order to save them.

[Samantha84]

So Jay is the bad guy for following the rules and protocols he swore to? B/c he doesn't follow Voight, no questions asked-no matter what, like Erin or Olinsky? We forget that we the audience know far more than the characters do so I don't fault Halstead, at all! 

[Happy Harpy]

So Jay is the bad guy for following the rules and protocols he swore to? B/c he doesn't follow Voight, no questions asked-no matter what, like Erin or Olinsky? We forget that we the audience know far more than the characters do so I don't fault Halstead, at all! 

Nope, following the rules doesn't make anyone a "bad guy" (well, except in a totalitarian regime of course). OTOH, bending the rules at times and getting self-righteous at others makes Jay a hypocrite in my opinion. Because IIRC, he didn't have a problem with shady during his stint on CF and imo still doesn't when it's a case he takes personally; and I wouldn't exactly characterize him as a stickler for the rules.

Again, since I wasn't clear, I don't have a problem with Jay questioning Voight and his ways; I enjoy Voight and I even love him as a character but I certainly would have a problem, nope, many problems with his methods IRL.

I do wonder, nevertheless, what Jay still does in Voight's unit, if that's so much of a moral issue for him (needless to say that a transfer would allow him to be with Erin. Mh.). It's also something that I see as hypocritcal.

 

I beg to differ on the "no questions asked no matter what". Erin and Olinsky know Voight, qualities and flaws, because they have a long history with him; and all that led them to trust him. They're no sheep meekly following the bad shepherd. And Olinsky is his "partner in crime", if I can say so, all but a follower imo.

They get him, Jay doesn't, they're loyal to him, he isn't. But OTOH, Voight confides in them, not in Jay. Different histories, tempers, strokes and all that. Of course, I prefer Antonio or Erin's directness in expressing their doubts of disaproval, but I certainly don't deny Jay the right to have those. It wasn't at all my point

 

My problem is Jay's insistence at making Erin see Voight the way he sees him. My problem is Jay disregarding Erin's feelings (and intelligence), and disrespecting her history and POV in doing so. My problem is that I feel, as of this episode, that Jay's problem with Voight isn't so much morals or the respect of the law/rules, but his importance in Erin's life.

It doesn't make him a "bad guy", but it certainly doesn't make him good boyfriend material or good friend material for that matter. Imho and YMMV, of course!

[Chas411]

Is Jay's resentment toward Voight about his greyish way of handling matters? When Jay was after Lonnie he was more then willing to break police protocol if it meant getting the result he felt was right so I find his judgement on Voight a bit exhausting at times.

I also think it's more about resenting Erin's faith in Voight and the fact that she chose Voight over him and moreso that Voight would let her. I still don't think he gets that relationship at all...

I enjoyed the Nadia subplot and especially the Nadia/Erin scene at the end but I can't help but feel this Nadia storyline may end up in tragedy.. mainly because I don't think there's going to be room for her fulltime at the district when the show is already juggling so many other characters.

[kixfan]

I know I'm in the minority here but I really didn't care for this episode. I'm over the whole Voight/Halstead trust vs distrust issue. It's plain and simple if you don't trust the guy don't work for him! I don't care how prestigious the unit is it's not worth it. Halstead transfers to another unit then his relationship with Erin is a nonissue as well. I guess I'm just tired of that angle. Trying to prove that "Erin's Dad" isn't entirely trustworthy doesn't seem like a good way to impress Erin if she was indeed the underlying source of the conflict.

In reading CPD message boards I know I am definitely in the minority here but I hated the Nadia scene! It's not that I don't like the character. I do. I would really like to see her succeed. I just have a hard time with everyone propping her up with some of the decisions she's made. In all honestly they don't seem like good choices to me. Yes, she caught the bad guys but she disobeyed Platt, put herself, Roman, Burgess and any civilians at the scene in danger. Pick up the phone and call 911 if you can't reach Burgess on Roman. In episode 2 X 9, "Called in Dead", she brought a buddy ODing on heroin to Erin's house. Good friend yes but not a good decision made by a police candidate. Imagine the IA issues Erin would have been faced with had that girl died in her bathtub. I think she is way over her head at this point and making really poor decisions to try and impress people. I'm afraid she is going to get herself or someone else killed.

[Diane]

I am catching up and just watched this last night, I guess I missed it but what was the big revelation on why Halstead's brother came to Chicago? Besides the obvious to be on the Chicago Med spin-off.

[scarynikki12]

When he showed up he made it seem like he had some time off and wanted to see Jay but was later shown to be lying and needed to leave New York for other reasons.  I forget if this episode actually mentions those reasons.

[Mars477]

"We need more brothers in this unit"

 

Very true, Atwater!