S01.E15: A Beautiful Friendship

[SnarkySheep]

 

05/21/2014 (10:01PM - 11:00PM) (Wednesday) : THE INTELLIGENCE UNIT IS TRULY FAMILY IN THE SEASON FINALE – Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) is settling into his new gig on intelligence as Antonio (Jon Seda) is relegated to desk duty while recovering. Lindsay (Sophia Bush) finally realizes she has no way out and confides in Voight (Jason Beghe) for help. Meanwhile Jin (Archie Kao) is confronted about his secret meetings with Stillwell (guest star Ian Bohen). It all comes to a head in the season finale. Jesse Lee Soffer, Patrick John Flueger, Elias Koteas, and Marina Squerciati also star. Amy Morton, Stella Maeve and Billy Wirth guest star.

 

[SnarkySheep]

Some stills released from this episode:

 

http://www.screenspy.com/tv/images-chicago-pd-season-finale-beautiful-friendship/

 

I keep pondering on the episode title, and what's been said thus far about the storyline. Given how tight Jay and Erin seemed in the beginning of the season, and how distant they've gotten recently, especially since Severide's been on the scene, I'm really hoping that perhaps Erin being in potential trouble and needing the help of Voight (and likely the other men) may be the very thing to solidify their friendship. One of the images shows Halstead and Lindsay talking seriously, and another shows Jay equally serious with Ruzek. I like to think that at this point, everyone knows to some extent what Erin's past entails, though they never discuss it - the proverbial elephant in the room, if you will - and that now they will be willing to come together to save one of their "family."

[LittleIggy]

Poor Jin. I wonder if Nadia will get that civilian receptionist job Antonio mentioned.

Edited May 22, 2014 by LittleIggy

[formerlyfreedom]

So is it too obvious to wonder if the IA guy is trying to set Voight up for Jin's murder? Because I'm pretty sure that was the same place Hank took Jin earlier in the episode, right?

 

I'm thinking too hard about this show. Need to erase and reboot for the summer.

[Chas411]

What a season.. I'm looking forward to September..

[SnarkySheep]

I dunno...while overall it was a good enough season finale, esp. for a show that only had a half season, it didn't really meet what I had been expecting. Somehow Jin's death, while something of a surprise, wasn't too much of an impact, simply because we didn't really know the guy. He barely spoke, except to come running into a room with some techie info, about once an episode, until the past couple of weeks when we learned he was meeting with Stillwell. And then, to learn that he was going through all this just to protect his dad from gambling debts?? I get being loyal to family and all, but still...

 

I did like the parallel of young Lindsay having been helped by Voight to the person she is today, being kind of mirrored by young Nadia coming out of rehab, ready to start a new life courtesy of Lindsay. It was subtle but definitely there, and gave a bit of a hope in an otherwise dark episode. It seems to me she'll become their civilian secretary next season.

 

I also liked how everyone had Lindsay's back, especially Voight. She was so clearly afraid that his love and support for her was conditional, that despite all the terrible things he already knew about her, there was a limit to how much he'd take before separating himself from her. But no, nothing changed. He just took her in his arms and comforted her in a fatherly way, which I think was a huge weight off her shoulders. Something tells me that Lindsay has long worried about this, i.e. Voight tiring of her, or perhaps learning too much and becoming disgusted, that he doesn't feel the same loyalty to putting up with her crap like he would his own biological child. But he does and showed her as much.

 

The moment between Lindsay and Halstead...seriously, could we not have gotten ONE hug at the end??

[Chas411]

I think it would be a great opportunity for Nadia to get the civilian secretary job but I'm also torn as I hate when writers take a decent guest star and add them full time to the ensemble despite them having no real reason to be there. Nadia isn't a cop and unless they use her the way Platt gets used (I can't see that even happening) I can't see there being a reason for her to be there.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Chas411

[Mars477]

So, the show finds a way to lose two of its three non-white characters in as many episodes.  The cast is now safely (almost) all white, barring token black guy.  And this is Chicago!

Stay useless, Ruzek and Burgess.  Actually don't.  Die horribly, so that we might get some better characters on the field.  I desperately want somebody to put a bullet in Ruzek's smug face.  Dude, you're not a fucking detective!  You're not even a fucking cop!  Why did we have to lose Melissa Sagemiller for this asshole anyways? 

This show is too heavily tilted on the "Douchebag vs. Non-douchebag" axis towards "Douchebag".  Erin remains the strongest part of this show, simply because she is not a douchebag (and when people are interacting with her, I momentarily forget that they are douchebags too).

Did they ever lay out what makes Intelligence so "Elite"?  They don't do anything that any normal detective squad doesn't do, plus that other detective squad won't torture suspects so those trials won't come around and bite the city in the ass to the tune of millions of dollars in settlement money.

[Chas411]

It was a good episode but a lot of it felt kind of rushed.

 

For starters, Sheldon still manages to have barely any relevance or screen time despite him being the rat. His reason for selling out the unit was ridiculous. His dad had bad gambling debts? The he just ends up dead... It was like they had little to no interest and just needed a quick way to get rid of them and create a cliffhanger. Both PD and Fire cliffhangers were so lazily executed.

 

Secondly, Jay is sort of exhausting with his ~seasoned cop routine towards Ruzek and now Atwater. He literally joined the unit a month before Ruzek. I didn't appreciate him talking down Atwater either. I did love his scenes with Erin and the two of them can say a lot without saying anything. I'm hoping next season we get more backstory on him.

 

Burgess and Ruzek... I feel like I missed something where they're concerned. I don't think they're any sort great match. I think they're cute but I feel like it's mostly a rebound on Adam's part. I don't have much sympathy for Burgess when it comes to not making Intelligence because I think it was incredibly naive of her to think her very obvious crush on Adam wouldn't factor into things. I don't feel she was hard done by either because Voight is pretty strict on this stuff for good reason and instead of going about trying to prove herself she just seemed to throw a dig or two about it being Ruzek's fault but then continue texting him.. and now they're hooking up. I think she was more ambitious about Atwater when it came to getting the promotion and she proved she's almost ready but the fickle reason it slipped through her hands is on her. It's not on Atwater and it's not on Ruzek either so I don't feel anyone owes her an apology.

 

I hope Atwater gets a chance to shine next season. He and Jin have been so ignored this season. I hope they don't kill him off next season or something.

 

Antonio's wife leaving him is so obviously just so Jon Seda can have some hookups next season. I hope that they work it out.

 

I'm glad Erin got everything sorted and Charlie is out of the picture for now.

 

Are Olinksy and his wife back together then according to the message she left for him?

[Happywatcher]

So, the show finds a way to lose two of its three non-white characters in as many episodes.  The cast is now safely (almost) all white, barring token black guy.  And this is Chicago!

 

Jin was the most band character ever, and the hook with his father struck so hollow that it seemed like a writer's attempt to do anything with a tasteless, colorless, soulless charater--even if it took racist sterotyping to do it.

 

Semi-serious question, how did Ruzek know where the stew lived for his booty cal?

 

I assume the stew picks up the supply room cop job, and next season's arc is her getting out on the street. Anyone see different in the gossip?

 

Erin's blackmail issue was a non-issue:

"I know details about a murder 12teen years ago"

"Okay, what are they?"

"Blah blah details, my baby mommy did it".

"Kay, so you came back to town, and you got caught doing a crime with a murder, and you want to trade that for the baby mamma going to jail so you don't have the pay the 7 years back child support? (Phone call) ...DA? we need to add a 12 year old murder on this guy, he gave details on the old murder that only somone involved would know."

Problem is a non-problem

[SnarkySheep]

 

Semi-serious question, how did Ruzek know where the stew lived for his booty cal?

 

In the same way that Olinsky somehow knew where to find Halstead when he was suspended for Lonnie Rodiger's murder...

 

 

I assume the stew picks up the supply room cop job, and next season's arc is her getting out on the street. Anyone see different in the gossip?

 

My thought was that Burgess will remain a uniform, but with a new partner, this time young and most likely one she can have chemistry with (Platt did mention the new person would be a guy "just a few years" on the job...) This will mean that Ruzek will be jealous, and all sorts of shenanigans on that subject can take place.

 

 

Erin's blackmail issue was a non-issue:

 

Agreed...because even if there WAS some chance of Erin's or Annie's getting in trouble, Charlie would've had to take quite the risk himself. For starters, Voight said that he was 25 when Erin was 15, and the girl he impregnated also presumably around the same age. Is there a statute of limitations for statutory rape? If not, then he'd be busted right there with that -- and I'd be willing to bet that, A, Erin and Annie were not his only girls, and B, a guy who's attracted to young girls at 25 might very well still be at 40. What are the odds that if they started poking around in Charlie's life, they might easily find some young girls currently hanging around him? All this, of course, is without even touching any of the criminal things like robbery that he's been involved in. 

 

That said, I really couldn't figure out how Erin was figuring that Charlie would be "out in a year." Seriously? Even if he wasn't the one who killed the security guard, it seemed to me a bit more involved than that. A year would be for, say, drugs or something, not possession of explosives (especially in our post-9/11 world) and conspiracy to commit a robbery....

 

All that, of course, made me wonder what Erin's dad is in for. If he's got life in prison, I'd presume it's for murder...what else would give him that kind of sentence?