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Kim Burgess: Flying Into a New Career Path


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One of the most intriguing aspects of this character to me is the drastic career change she made fairly recently. Of course, people change fields all the time, for a wide array of reasons. However, I don't think stewardess to cop is a move that too many people make. So it stands to question, what happened to make Burgess want to make the switch? Was she on a plane that was hijacked or otherwise saw trouble? Did something happen in her personal life? Either way, it seems to me that she witnessed something traumatic and decided that she would become pro-active in taking care of herself and those around her in the future.

Platt has said the reason she harasses Burgess so much is because she "hasn't got any [balls]." And while it's true that Burgess' basic nature seems to be sweet and friendly, quick to trust, it's also become apparent that she can be incredibly brave and tough when necessary.

Now TPTB are teasing the possibility of a relationship with Ruzek, which is fraught with its own troubles, given his upcoming wedding.

What do you like best or least about Burgess? What do you think will happen to her in upcoming episodes?

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Does anyone else believe that Voight was only looking for an excuse not to promote Burgess? IMO he would never have replaced a man on his team with a woman, thus he chose Atwater. He only used Ruzek as an excuse, but had there been no such situation, he would have made up some other reason. We know from his recent conversation with Erin that he does not think women can handle themselves without men (e.g. when he told Erin to go with Antonio and she insisted on Sumner, which he nixed as she insisted her admit WHY...and he did). 

 

We've seen clearly that while Erin does a lot of the work with the men, she does not do EVERYTHING they do...Voight holds her back. Whether that's because he loves her and wants to protect her, because she's a female, or a combination of both, is unclear. But it's definitely there to some degree in every episode.

 

I think that while Voight admires Burgess' intelligence and guts, he would utilize her IN ADDITION to his existing team, but never IN PLACE of a man. 

 

Thoughts?

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Hmm I don't see that at all tbh. I don't think Voight has an issue with women or didn't want to promote Burgess because she's a woman. I also can't think of seeing instances you mentioned about Erin being held back in previous episodes.

 

I'm actually glad that Burgess didn't make Intelligence. I think it all would have been a little too obvious.

 

As for your previous post about what happened to make her change from a stewardess to a cop... I don't think it has anything to do with a hijacked plane or anything like that, I'm sure she said that she was only a stewardess while she was waiting to get into the academy so she would already know she was going to be a cop.

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I'm still a bit torn about how I feel about Burgess' actions last night...part of me is glad she and Ruzek are back on track, since they are clearly good for one another and seem to make one another so happy, and yet on the other hand, the guy is the literal reason she missed out on a promotion she had earned. Also, did he ever even TELL her that Wendy was gone? Last we saw, he was telling Burgess that he wanted to give his relationship with his fiancee another real try, but then when Wendy came to return the ring and say she was going to her parents, that was a private discussion. Does Burgess know any of this? I'm thinking not, and she didn't ask. Maybe she doesn't care; but IMO it brings into question whether Ruzek is using her as a rebound, which I hate to think.

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I am assuming she knows....they text each other, and I am sure people talk, and I can't imagine she would go for it knowing he was still engaged. As for a rebound I have thought that also, but I think he left Wendy a long time ago. He was not that disappointed that she left him, and he was only going to give it another try I think because he felt guilty for having an emotional connection to Kim. Now I do not know how the writers will tackle this, but I am excited about the stories they could have together.

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I know this isn't likely to go over well, since Burzek seem to have quite the fan following, but I'm starting to think Burgess could do a bit better than Ruzek. Overall, they are both good people, and while there isn't anything wrong, per se, with their relationship, I'm just not getting that same connection as I do with Linstead.

 

While we've heard and seen a good bit about Ruzek's romantic past, we have exactly zero about Burgess'. At this point I think getting even a little info could give quite a bit of insight...

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I’m new to Chicago PD and have recently binge watched to get up to date. This doesn’t seem like it will be a popular opinion but I can’t stand Burgess. There. I said it. She’s got this mopey face (her eyebrows are sliding down) and her personality annoys me. 

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On 10/4/2018 at 6:36 PM, hookedontv said:

I’m new to Chicago PD and have recently binge watched to get up to date. This doesn’t seem like it will be a popular opinion but I can’t stand Burgess. There. I said it. She’s got this mopey face (her eyebrows are sliding down) and her personality annoys me. 

 

On 10/5/2018 at 10:22 AM, TimetoShine said:

Don’t worry @hookedontv, I agree with you. 

Count me in too!  And I think I've expressed it elsewhere on this forum.  In addition to her personality, she just isn't convincing as a cop in the least, and makes absolutely horrible decisions. Dare I say, she's stupid?  Oh, I just did.

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On 10/4/2018 at 11:36 PM, hookedontv said:I’m new to Chicago PD and have recently binge watched to get up to date. This doesn’t seem like it will be a popular opinion but I can’t stand Burgess. There

I’m on the fence with this one. I actually loved her when she was a patrolman, she was quirky and funny. Since the move to intelligence she seems to have an over inflated sense of self importance. I hate how she stomps around everywhere with an ego bigger than voights.  
In my opinion, aside from killing off Al, moving burgess upstairs was the absolute worst move they could have made 

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On 1/13/2020 at 12:48 PM, Tallulah7606 said:

I’m on the fence with this one. I actually loved her when she was a patrolman, she was quirky and funny. Since the move to intelligence she seems to have an over inflated sense of self importance. I hate how she stomps around everywhere with an ego bigger than voights.  
In my opinion, aside from killing off Al, moving burgess upstairs was the absolute worst move they could have made 

I couldn't agree more. On patrol she was great, and I'm still pissed that the showrunners decided to eliminate that aspect of policing from the show. Patrol is always the most interesting to me, and Burgess was likeable (albeit still a bit dumb) on the beat. I think the actor is OK—not spectacular, but serviceable, to be honest, but she's not being given any good material. Spiradakos is the opposite. She gets the better stories but she's just not that talented in the craft, I hate to say.

Edited by NJRadioGuy
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On 1/16/2020 at 12:29 AM, NJRadioGuy said:

Spiradakos is the opposite. She gets the better stories but she's just not that talented in the craft, I hate to say.

Completely agree with this. She’s too wooden and monotonous. She’s undeniably a beautiful girl, so aesthetically she slides into Erins shoes perfectly, but she brings no personality to the role at all. She’s just a ‘by the book’ robot, an odd choice of character for Voights intelligence unit 

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5 hours ago, Tallulah7606 said:

Completely agree with this. She’s too wooden and monotonous. She’s undeniably a beautiful girl, so aesthetically she slides into Erins shoes perfectly, but she brings no personality to the role at all. She’s just a ‘by the book’ robot, an odd choice of character for Voights intelligence unit 

She's got that 'Dexter' like serial killer smile though. Creeps me out.

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On 1/17/2020 at 9:02 AM, Guildford said:

She's got that 'Dexter' like serial killer smile though. Creeps me out.

And her eyes have that million mile stare to them. She's got gorgeous eyes, but there's nothing behind them - no emotion, except for a smirk, if that makes any sense. 

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Tonight's episode (2/6/2020) showed just how much better Marina Squerciati can act when she's got the material to work with. The climax scene in the bathtub was seven different levels of heartbreaking, let alone the aftermath.

That's how it's done, Ms. Spiradakos. 

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I have never been a Burgess fan. I find her character uninteresting and annoying. I don't feel she brings much to the show. I would be happy with LESS Burgess, not more. Now we are probably going to be forced to watch her push Ruzek away, say the usual things about "you don't know what I'm going through," "you only wanted to be with me because of the baby," etc. And her droopy hound dog face will be out in full force. 

I'm not minimizing miscarriages in real life whatsoever. They are heartbreaking. It just seems that TV shows have a certain way of portraying stories around them.  

Please give me a good storyline that leaves personal lives out of it. Is that too much to ask for? And leave Burgess out of it.

I'll watch Grey's Anatomy for soap opera stories.

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Reactivating this thread because I’ve been rewatching from the beginning again, I’m in the middle of season 4, where burgess moves up to intelligence, and I forgot how immediate the change was. When Burgess was on patrol, she was quirky, ‘offbeat’ (excuse the pun) and humourous-her interactions with Platt also gave Platt a lot of hilarious dialogue. Now Burgess is arrogant, boring, FAR too shouty and Platt has next to zero screen time. Worst thing the writers did (aside from killing off Olinsky) was taking Burgess off patrol. 

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I never watched from the start so was surprised when I read she was an air hostess. I am guessing perhaps she always wanted to be a cop but lacked confidence or whatever and became an air hostess or being a cop is something she developed an interest in later on. It is very different but it happens. 

I agree she was more interesting as a uniform cop she has become very boring since her promotion. I don't watch the show religiously so thought Platt had left altogether.

Getting rid of the Uniform side of the show made it duller too. Watching Voight bend rules and his team clashing is tiresome.

Edited by LadyIrony
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On 1/16/2022 at 5:19 PM, LadyIrony said:

I never watched from the start so was surprised when I read she was an air hostess. I am guessing perhaps she always wanted to be a cop but lacked confidence or whatever and became an air hostess or being a cop is something she developed an interest in later on. It is very different but it happens. 

I agree she was more interesting as a uniform cop she has become very boring since her promotion. I don't watch the show religiously so thought Platt had left altogether.

Getting rid of the Uniform side of the show made it duller too. Watching Voight bend rules and his team clashing is tiresome.

There was a scene in the first or second season where Kim said that she became a flight attendant while she was waiting to get into the police academy.  She told Erin that she learned a lot about people while flying.  I thought that the show was explaining Kim's sunny demeanor was due to her flight attendant training.

My guess is that the Chicago academy is competitive and she was not accepted on her first try.

Edited by nittany cougar
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4 hours ago, nittany cougar said:

There was a scene in the first or second season where Kim said that she became a flight attendant while she was waiting to get into the police academy.  She told Erin that she learned a lot about people while flying.  I thought that the show was explaining Kim's sunny demeanor was due to her flight attendant training.

My guess is that the Chicago academy is competitive and she was not accepted on her first try.

I'm not American but by the way they present Chicago it seems like a very rough town. I can see how Kim wouldn't have been a first choice for recruiters. 

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On 1/16/2022 at 4:19 PM, LadyIrony said:

I agree she was more interesting as a uniform cop she has become very boring since her promotion. I don't watch the show religiously so thought Platt had left altogether.

Getting rid of the Uniform side of the show made it duller too. Watching Voight bend rules and his team clashing is tiresome.

Yep, getting rid of the uniform side took away the B-plot storylines and the balance in the screen time. As a result, all we get is the A-plot. And so now, the episodes consist of either having Upstead or Burzek relationship crap thrown in our faces, Atwater being the token black guy, or something dealing with Voight, and it's on an almost neverending cycle. And for a Dick Wolf show, this is especially sad.

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8 hours ago, WinJet0819 said:

Yep, getting rid of the uniform side took away the B-plot storylines and the balance in the screen time. As a result, all we get is the A-plot. And so now, the episodes consist of either having Upstead or Burzek relationship crap thrown in our faces, Atwater being the token black guy, or something dealing with Voight, and it's on an almost neverending cycle. And for a Dick Wolf show, this is especially sad.

I miss the street stories too, although I have noticed that a lot of times they just transfer the grittier side to the Detectives anyway. I think it is odd to have a cop show that lacks the basic end of things. 

It is a never ending cycle of stories. I am a little surprised with Atwater and his attitude, I don't recall him having much of that at the start. It's like it's been tacked on since BLM for good measure. I am surprised Burgess keeps hanging in there, she has had some of the worst experiences on the show and she doesn't seem to be tough in that unfeeling way that some of the others are. It would be eating her up and I have to question if the job is worth it.

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One of the issues with how they write Burgess is they never actually let her explore her trauma. They beat the suitcases out of her every season, she gets one episode of being affected by it and then it's done & never mentioned again. (As opposed to the other one where they shove her never ending misery and miserable life down our throats every second week)

Absolutely, with what Kim has been through she 'should' be affected, but she's not because they won't write it for her and hence she just comes off as quite cold and unfeeling at times.

It also frustrates me that when they want to show how 'complicated' her and Ruzek are they make her a total bitch to him, with little explanation why? Because he agreed to push back the wedding when you asked him to 6 seasons ago? 

The whole 'boundries' episode was an example of this, Burzek needed to be complicated for reasons unknown to anyone so they made Kim be a bitch to Adam for no reason & then whiplashed to her leaning on him again when he was needed at the end. 

Maybe if they let Burgess have more than one episode focus twice a season they'd be able to give her more depth.

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On 2/16/2022 at 10:51 AM, Guildford said:

One of the issues with how they write Burgess is they never actually let her explore her trauma. They beat the suitcases out of her every season, she gets one episode of being affected by it and then it's done & never mentioned again. (As opposed to the other one where they shove her never ending misery and miserable life down our throats every second week)

Absolutely, with what Kim has been through she 'should' be affected, but she's not because they won't write it for her and hence she just comes off as quite cold and unfeeling at times.

It also frustrates me that when they want to show how 'complicated' her and Ruzek are they make her a total bitch to him, with little explanation why? Because he agreed to push back the wedding when you asked him to 6 seasons ago? 

The whole 'boundries' episode was an example of this, Burzek needed to be complicated for reasons unknown to anyone so they made Kim be a bitch to Adam for no reason & then whiplashed to her leaning on him again when he was needed at the end. 

Maybe if they let Burgess have more than one episode focus twice a season they'd be able to give her more depth.

Or maybe if they just get rid of the single character led episodes all together then storylines can flow better and run concurrently. 

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7 hours ago, Chicagopdfan said:

Or maybe if they just get rid of the single character led episodes all together then storylines can flow better and run concurrently. 

I hate the centric episodes, it has dragged this show into the gutter. I have long argued that they should be once a season at most, like they used to be. 

Unfortunately some characters have suffered more than others and Burgess is one of them, and don't even start me on Kevin. 

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