S05.E22: Homecoming

[SuzieQ]

Tensions begin to escalate as the Intelligence Unit seeks justice for Olinsky after someone stabs him while in prison.  Antonio has his loyalty challenged. Woods has his sights set on taking down Voight once and for all.

 

Edited May 10, 2018 by SuzieQ

[Jaded]

This is disgusting so far and I don't see it getting any better in the last 20 minutes.

[SuzieQ]

I didn't think they'd really kill Olinsky off.  I know other people did but I thought for sure he'd pull through.  Now it's an hour of Voight's blood bath! UGH!

[Jaded]

Oh shit those workers saw Voight.

[SuzieQ]

1 minute ago, Jaded said:

Oh shit those workers saw Voight.

That is going to be tough for him to wriggle out of!

[JustS]

I saw that Woods set up a mile off. I'm glad that storyline is wrapped up. I don't want to think about the rest right now. Too sad. 

[Jaded]

Who didn't see that conclusion coming from a million miles away?

[preeya]

On 5/6/2018 at 7:08 PM, preeya said:

"All three (Voight, Olinsky, & Woods) are dirty cops. Why should there be a love-fest for any of them? I'm still speculating that Olinsky will die from at least 10 shanks to the abdomen; Voight will somehow take out or take down Woods, and once again he'll {Voight} go unscathed as one of the dirtiest cops in history."

BINGO!

Edited May 10, 2018 by preeya

[SuzieQ]

Well, just as a lot of us predicted, Voight finally got Bubba! I just hope that wraps it up for these 2.  This just dragged on too long.  I don't think Voight is off the hook for shooting the guy with witnesses so that will probably be revisited next season.  Al actually dying was the only surprise to me.  Just didn't think they'd do it.  RIP Al!

Edited May 10, 2018 by SuzieQ

[mommalib]

Voight  is a piece of trash and Al is dead because of his undying loyalty to him. Hank can justify all he wants but he is nothing but a killer with a badge. That Denny set up was way too predictable.  And i'm waiting for Antonio and Atwater to turn on Voight at some point, as they are the only ones that seem to have a moral compass, the rest are are too far gone especially Ruzek and Burgess.

Edited May 10, 2018 by mommalib

[caseyjones]

Usually when an actor leaves a show the show will do a send off. They only showed Olinsky going into surgery. Also, you can find online if the actor is leaving, written out. You get a heads up. I hope I am right and somehow Olinsky never died and we will see what happened next season. I have never replied on message boards, but Chicago PD is my fave and my fave character is Olinsky. I love his character. Does anyone else believe he is still alive?

[Jaded]

They really turned Burgess into a repulsive character this season. Making her view CIs as if they're disposable like Kleenex seemed like an effort to turn Upton into a morally superior compared to Burgess. Then they had Burgess manhandle the wife of the guy who set up Al's murder. I get that the wife was being an uncooperative bitch. I felt bad for the bitch's Mom with them putting her status in the US into her daughter's hands. Luckily for the Mom bitch daughter turned on her criminal husband.

I miss shows like the original L&O, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues and etc. where there were decent and underhanded cops instead of what we get with the cop shows now.

[spunky]

So they gave us a two for the price of one special. They killed Al (no surprise) and they set Woods up, while Voight walks away smelling like roses (again not surprised). Now Kim has become Erin 2.0 and Adam is his new lapdog. Antonio and Kevin really need their own task force, since they're the only two with a conscience. Even though I didn't care for Al I was still hoping for a funeral or a memorial. Instead we got Voight crying and screaming in a rooftop.

Edited May 10, 2018 by spunky
Typo

[Reality police]

18 minutes ago, caseyjones said:

Usually when an actor leaves a show the show will do a send off. They only showed Olinsky going into surgery. Also, you can find online if the actor is leaving, written out. You get a heads up. I hope I am right and somehow Olinsky never died and we will see what happened next season. I have never replied on message boards, but Chicago PD is my fave and my fave character is Olinsky. I love his character. Does anyone else believe he is still alive?

After Voight was told Al was dead, I kept waiting for a nurse, doctor or someone to say it was a mistake. I hate to see him go. You could be right, maybe he didn't die and this, was the way to get Woods. Wait and see.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Reality police

[caseyjones]

Well I am wrong. I just read am interview with Executive Producer that said he really is dead and it was hard telling the actor he was being written off. They did not do a very good send off, but maybe  there will be a send off next season. I can only hope that is a lie as well and producers want us to surprised when it returns next season and Al is not dead.

[Xeliou66]

Well, I saw that coming 100 miles away! I called the shot in the last episode thread that Al would die, Voight would nail Woods and things will be back to normal by next season. Seriously, what utter shit this show has become.

I felt nothing for Al, he planted stuff on an innocent man, something which hypocrite Voight bashed Woods for doing but had no problem with Olinsky doing, and as far as I’m concerned Al got his just desserts, good riddance. 

How Voight sleeps at night is beyond me, it’s his fault Olinsky is dead, he didn’t have the balls to come clean after Olinsky’s arrest, knowing full well Olinsky was in danger, and as a result Olinsky died. I was wondering if Voight would take a header off the roof at the end, and I honestly wish he had, he is an unredeemable, psychopathic piece of shit who needs to be stopped. I hope Voight faces consequences for shooting Olinsky’s killer in cold blood, after all there were 2 witnesses who saw the whole thing, I hope season 6 deals with that but knowing this show they will probably forget about it. 

And how stupid of Woods to fall for such an obvious set up. This shows writing sucks! I’ll say again, Woods was the good guy in this storyline, even if he’s a bad guy overall. He hasn’t killed people in cold blood like Voight. And I’m surprised most viewers don’t agree, how people can root for Voight is beyond me. 

Can we get a show of just Halstead, Antonio and Atwater? Those 3 still have a conscience, I was glad Antonio was disturbed by Voight’s behavior and I hope he told the truth to the IA board, and I’m glad Atwater and Halstead did nothing unethical. The rest of the characters can go, I’ve already talked about Voight, Ruzek is now Voight Jr, so is Burgess, Upton has all the personality of a lump of coal and Platt is never on. 

Rick Eid has ruined the show, it used to at least be interesting even if I’ve always thought Voight is scum, now it is just a steaming pile of shit with stupid writing, inconsistent characterization, predictable plots and unlikable characters. I’m so glad this worthless excuse for a writer is off of SVU, a 10 year old could’ve written a better season than that! 

[mommalib]

34 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

Well, I saw that coming 100 miles away! I called the shot in the last episode thread that Al would die, Voight would nail Woods and things will be back to normal by next season. Seriously, what utter shit this show has become.

I felt nothing for Al, he planted stuff on an innocent man, something which hypocrite Voight bashed Woods for doing but had no problem with Olinsky doing, and as far as I’m concerned Al got his just desserts, good riddance. 

How Voight sleeps at night is beyond me, it’s his fault Olinsky is dead, he didn’t have the balls to come clean after Olinsky’s arrest, knowing full well Olinsky was in danger, and as a result Olinsky died. I was wondering if Voight would take a header off the roof at the end, and I honestly wish he had, he is an unredeemable, psychopathic piece of shit who needs to be stopped. I hope Voight faces consequences for shooting Olinsky’s killer in cold blood, after all there were 2 witnesses who saw the whole thing, I hope season 6 deals with that but knowing this show they will probably forget about it. 

And how stupid of Woods to fall for such an obvious set up. This shows writing sucks! I’ll say again, Woods was the good guy in this storyline, even if he’s a bad guy overall. He hasn’t killed people in cold blood like Voight. And I’m surprised most viewers don’t agree, how people can root for Voight is beyond me. 

Can we get a show of just Halstead, Antonio and Atwater? Those 3 still have a conscience, I was glad Antonio was disturbed by Voight’s behavior and I hope he told the truth to the IA board, and I’m glad Atwater and Halstead did nothing unethical. The rest of the characters can go, I’ve already talked about Voight, Ruzek is now Voight Jr, so is Burgess, Upton has all the personality of a lump of coal and Platt is never on. 

Rick Eid has ruined the show, it used to at least be interesting even if I’ve always thought Voight is scum, now it is just a steaming pile of shit with stupid writing, inconsistent characterization, predictable plots and unlikable characters. I’m so glad this worthless excuse for a writer is off of SVU, a 10 year old could’ve written a better season than that! 

How can people root for Voight? Well it's not that hard to believe particularly in a country where the current president could get anywhere near the white house in the first place or in a country where people who kneel to bring awareness to injustice are looked at like they're villains.

[Chas411]

This show is such a shitfest at this point. 

[Jaded]

I was so hoping like others that Voight would take a header off that building or that they'd make it look as if he did so there'd be something to look forward to next season.

[TigerLynx]

2 hours ago, Jaded said:

I was so hoping like others that Voight would take a header off that building or that they'd make it look as if he did so there'd be something to look forward to next season.

Me to.  I guess Voight will never pay for anything.  I'm not sure why Antonio, Kevin and the others continue to go along with this.

[Lambsilencer]

I was wondering where Upton stands with all this. Last season, she was introduced as this by-the-book cop who despises cops who cross the line. Now, with the unit, it seems that has just vanished completely. She nearly beat a guy to death a few episodes back, and I don't see her having any kind of problem with Voight's actions in this episode. 

It might be that she is the newest member of the team and doesn't want to get on Voight's bad side (she even told him that she's there for him, no matter what, in the last episode). But for someone who used to have such high moral standards regarding cop work, she sure seems to have lost pretty much all of it by now. Too bad.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Lambsilencer

[Guildford]

Quite frankly......awful. I'm glad this season is over. Any chance Eid will leave? I honestly didn't think it could be any worse than the back half of season 4....boy was I wrong.

[Chas411]

This show has been brutal since the end of season three. It's so depressing and all the characters have lost everything that once made them unique. They lost something special when Seda left midway through season four and with Sophia Bush* at the end of it that they just can't seem to get back. The camaraderie is gone. Its all so heavy.

*Granted Lindsay was depressing as fuck in season four. 

[Guildford]

5 minutes ago, Chas411 said:

This show has been brutal since the end of season three. It's so depressing and all the characters have lost everything that once made them unique. They lost something special when Seda left midway through season four and with Sophia Bush* at the end of it that they just can't seem to get back. The camaraderie is gone. Its all so heavy.

*Granted Lindsay was depressing as fuck in season four. 

If the aim was to make everyone unlikable.....well then this season was a success.

[Sandman]

From the interview with Rick Eid in Us magazine:

Quote

“It just evolved from a story telling perspective. Once we started down the road of Woods and Voight going at each other, Bingham’s body being recovered and Olinsky’s DNA being found on that body, we started playing it out to its creative, dramatic conclusion, it just felt like an interesting way to wrap up that storyline,” Eid says.

Unfortunately, the results appear to have been none of those things: not creative, dramatic, or even very interesting. (Since when do writers get away with praising their own work in the press this way?)

Edited May 10, 2018 by Sandman

[TigerLynx]

What happened to Al should be a wake-up call to all the others.  If Voight walks away from his latest IA investigation unscathed, they should pressure him to retire.  If they continue to follow Voight's lead, they will end up like Al, Voight or Woods.

[VinceW]

14 hours ago, Sandman said:

From the interview with Rick Eid in Us magazine:

Unfortunately, the results appear to have been none of those things: not creative, dramatic, or even very interesting. (Since when do writers get away with praising their own work in the press this way?)

 

The high command was responsible for Olinsky’s death not Voight. The Woods arc was more a statement on the wide range of Chicago police corruption rather than just Voight being a dirty cop. The purpose of the Olinsky arrest was to flip him on the Bingham murder with nothing but circumstantial DNA evidence that was probably planted. The arraignment, bail hearing and quick arrest were fast-tracked to force a Voight confession. A veteran cop exposed in prison is open season for retaliation murder which is on the high command. I think the Olinsky death was collateral damage from the Sophia Bush sudden departure. It is hard to see how any of the team members keep credibility as good cops after their collective outburst towards Antonio given his lack of support for the roof killing. All team members have selective morality including Antonio whose righteousness depends on his family keeping out of danger. 

Edited May 11, 2018 by VinceW

[preeya]

Excerpt from Eid interview:

How will this all affect the Chicago P.D. team as a whole? In Eid's words:

"Yeah, possibly. It's all interesting fertile territory to explore. We haven't convened the writers' room for next season yet. So who knows where it will all go? Everybody's impacted, and everybody has their own point of view. We saw some of that with Antonio and Voight in the finale and in Episode 21 as well. This was a big thing, him being arrested was a big thing, and certainly, him being attacked and killed was a big thing. I'm sure it'll play out in some fashion in Season 6. . . . I think [Olinsky's death] will definitely affect everyone in a meaningful way. I think it will manifest in different ways for different characters. I think Ruzek will be really impacted by that, Antonio. Al was a beloved figure in that unit, and some people are going to blame Voight. I'm pretty sure Voight's going to blame Voight. It'll be interesting, hopefully."

[Xeliou66]

I’m glad everyone else seems to agree this season was complete shit. The stories are predictable and uninteresting, most of the characters are unlikable and the writing-characterization sucks. I bet by the time season 6 rolls around everyone has forgotten Olinsky existed and Voight murdering the killer in front of witnesses will be forgotten about as well and everyone will go on like nothing happened. Why do Antonio, Halstead and Atwater stay loyal to Voight? They have a conscience, they shouldn’t go along with Voight’s evil actions, and they should see that those around Voight tend to have their lives ruined.

[SuzieQ]

1 hour ago, VinceW said:

The high command was responsible for Olinsky’s death not Voight. The Woods arc was more a statement on the wide range of Chicago police corruption rather than just Voight being a dirty cop. 

That's exactly it.  Dirty cops IS the core of this show.  The writing leaves A LOT to be desired sometimes but there's never going to be defined heroes and feel good episodes.  That's a different show.  They have all been shown to cross & blur the line when it suits them.  Voight has 20-30 years on most of them.  One of the main arcs of the story is watching good cops go to the dark side.  I'm sure even Voight didn't start out that way.

[UNOSEZ]

So Voight  gets away with it.. And woods gets caught again… We’ve already seen a cop not go down for his crimes and instead a drug dealer takes the fall.. Then a judge kills someone and gets off Scot free and Voight  has now killed another person for revenge…. Show are you trying to make me not like this team… I don’t get it...  I like most  of  these folks less and less and yeah woods was a scumbag… He also wasn’t wrong the show needs to figure out what message its tryna send out.. Because these guys act like good cops even when shady stuff is swirling around….but they don't seem to notice how bad some of them are... So are we gonna get a reckoning of some kind... Some sort of civil war... ( if so that's sad cuz I feel for sure Ruzek and Burgess are fully in the Voight camp of do whatever we want when its necessary... And I don't think that's where I'd put  Antonio or Atwater... Upton and halstead could go either way both have crossed the line.. So who knows)  are we just gonna see them become rogue cops like on the Shield ( even that I guess I'd be down for cu at least then they knew what they were)  these guys wanna get in the gutter but act like they're on a high horse.. Its infuriating 

[SuzieQ]

6 minutes ago, UNOSEZ said:

So Voight  gets away with it.. And woods gets caught again… We’ve already seen a cop not go down for his crimes and instead a drug dealer takes the fall.. Then a judge kills someone and gets off Scot free and Voight  has now killed another person for revenge…. Show are you trying to make me not like this team… I don’t get it...  I like most  of  these folks less and less and yeah woods was a scumbag… He also wasn’t wrong the show needs to figure out what message its tryna send out.. Because these guys act like good cops even when shady stuff is swirling around….but they don't seem to notice how bad some of them are... So are we gonna get a reckoning of some kind... Some sort of civil war... ( if so that's sad cuz I feel for sure Ruzek and Burgess are fully in the Voight camp of do whatever we want when its necessary... And I don't think that's where I'd put  Antonio or Atwater... Upton and halstead could go either way both have crossed the line.. So who knows)  are we just gonna see them become rogue cops like on the Shield ( even that I guess I'd be down for cu at least then they knew what they were)  these guys wanna get in the gutter but act like they're on a high horse.. Its infuriating 

I think they all believe they ARE really good cops!  Voight thought Woods was a piece of  crap and vice versa.  That's how jaded they all are.  I would think for the series finale, most of them end up going to prison.  And it will probably be someone in the squad that rats them out.

[TigerLynx]

2 hours ago, SuzieQ said:

That's exactly it.  Dirty cops IS the core of this show.  The writing leaves A LOT to be desired sometimes but there's never going to be defined heroes and feel good episodes.  That's a different show.  They have all been shown to cross & blur the line when it suits them.  Voight has 20-30 years on most of them.  One of the main arcs of the story is watching good cops go to the dark side.  I'm sure even Voight didn't start out that way.

If the writers were telling this story, it might be interesting.  They are not, and they have ruined the characters in the process.

The fact that most of the characters have crossed the line is exactly why they should run as fast and far away from Voight as they can get.  Voight, Woods, and Al all believed they were in the right.  Look how many people Woods was willing to burn to get Voight.  How many people has Voight killed in cold blood.  Al is dead.  Not a pretty future to look forward to.

2 hours ago, UNOSEZ said:

So Voight  gets away with it.. And woods gets caught again… We’ve already seen a cop not go down for his crimes and instead a drug dealer takes the fall.. Then a judge kills someone and gets off Scot free and Voight  has now killed another person for revenge…. Show are you trying to make me not like this team… I don’t get it...  I like most  of  these folks less and less and yeah woods was a scumbag… He also wasn’t wrong the show needs to figure out what message its tryna send out.. Because these guys act like good cops even when shady stuff is swirling around….but they don't seem to notice how bad some of them are... So are we gonna get a reckoning of some kind... Some sort of civil war... ( if so that's sad cuz I feel for sure Ruzek and Burgess are fully in the Voight camp of do whatever we want when its necessary... And I don't think that's where I'd put  Antonio or Atwater... Upton and halstead could go either way both have crossed the line.. So who knows)  are we just gonna see them become rogue cops like on the Shield ( even that I guess I'd be down for cu at least then they knew what they were)  these guys wanna get in the gutter but act like they're on a high horse.. Its infuriating 

This.

2 hours ago, SuzieQ said:

I think they all believe they ARE really good cops!  Voight thought Woods was a piece of  crap and vice versa.  That's how jaded they all are.  I would think for the series finale, most of them end up going to prison.  And it will probably be someone in the squad that rats them out.

Prison or dead seems like where they are heading, but I don't think the writers realize that.

[kixfan]

Eid is an absolutely freaking moron if he thinks this was how the story had to conclude.  It took all of 5 minutes for Voight to set Woods up for witness tampering. They couldn't have concluded this story line by the fall finale? The left so many loose ends to the story it is ridiculous. I have read a lot of theories online that Al is not really dead because of a plot hole here or there. While I would certainly be for a scenario like that I don't see the writers being creative enough to write such an arc. Based on Eid's interview I think he is gone and the writing was so poor and choppy that it naturally left too many holes in the story. With that being said we are done with  Chicago PD at my house, all parties are in agreement that we don't want to continue watching a show where Voight is responsible for a nonline of duty death of another unit member. The other members of the unit continue to follow blindly along all the while knowing Voight is responsible for Al's death.  If any of them had any kind of moral integrity they would have given their transfer notices on the spot.  Sure Voight had his mini melt down this episode but he will be back to normal by next season with no consequence at all. Honestly, Al's death in such a manner seemed insulting to his character and to Elias Koteas.  I was actually most upset with knowing that the showed was renewed for season 6. I wanted Voight to take a header from the roof and the show to end with him.

[kixfan]

Another thing that really angered me was Al's notification of death by the doctor. Like no big deal it doesn't matter. I can promise you that is not the case. I have informed more loved ones and physicians of a person's passing than I care for. It never gets any easier and they all matter. To give notice is such a blaise attitude is inexcusable and really poor writing. They could have provided a tactful notification of death and still avoided all of the hoopla that Koteas did not want. Truthfully, I almost turned the show off at that point.

[SuzieQ]

1 hour ago, TigerLynx said:

If the writers were telling this story, it might be interesting.  They are not, and they have ruined the characters in the process.

 

 

What story do you think they are telling? 

Except for Voight and Olinsky, (who might have but we don't see the start of their careers) the whole team started out squeaky clean and now have sliding morals and no problem crossing the line, when it suits them.  Ruzek and Burgess not only cross it but are eager to in order to suck up to Hank.  Atwater is the only one who seems conflicted by it.  Antonio acts like the pillar of moral outrage but had no issues when they were saving his son.

 

Quote

Another thing that really angered me was Al's notification of death by the doctor. Like no big deal it doesn't matter. I can promise you that is not the case. I have informed more loved ones and physicians of a person's passing than I care for. It never gets any easier and they all matter. To give notice is such a blaise attitude is inexcusable and really poor writing. They could have provided a tactful notification of death and still avoided all of the hoopla that Koteas did not want. Truthfully, I almost turned the show off at that point.

That was cold!!  While watching it I thought "that's it??"

Edited May 10, 2018 by SuzieQ

[TigerLynx]

11 minutes ago, SuzieQ said:

What story do you think they are telling? 

Except for Voight and Olinsky, (who might have but we don't see the start of their careers) the whole team started out squeaky clean and now have sliding morals and no problem crossing the line, when it suits them.  Ruzek and Burgess not only cross it but are eager to in order to suck up to Hank.  Atwater is the only one who seems conflicted by it.  Antonio acts like the pillar of moral outrage but had no issues when they were saving his son.

I think that just happened though.  It wasn't planned.  According to the writers, they just realized they needed to kill off Al, and have Hank take down Woods.  If there was an actual outline for how the characters would develop, then it would be more interesting.  If the writers were actually exploring why one character would make certain choices, while another character took a different path, there would be a story going on instead of just a bunch of different disjointed scenes.  They have the set up now to show how Antonio, Kevin, and Halstead react to Voight while it seems Burgess and Ruzek are down for anything Voight wants to do.  However, I don't expect to see that next season because the writers are just throwing things together as they go along.

[SuzieQ]

18 minutes ago, TigerLynx said:

I think that just happened though.  It wasn't planned.  According to the writers, they just realized they needed to kill off Al, and have Hank take down Woods.  If there was an actual outline for how the characters would develop, then it would be more interesting.  If the writers were actually exploring why one character would make certain choices, while another character took a different path, there would be a story going on instead of just a bunch of different disjointed scenes.  They have the set up now to show how Antonio, Kevin, and Halstead react to Voight while it seems Burgess and Ruzek are down for anything Voight wants to do.  However, I don't expect to see that next season because the writers are just throwing things together as they go along.

Agree the writing is off and changing showrunners who have no idea of the characters they are writing for has not done the show any favors.  I'm trying to picture a scenario where the lesser dirty ones would oppose Hank, but they all want to be in this unit so I just don't see it happening, but it would be a good story line.

What seems so off to me is that this unit is so prestigious that every cop wants to end up there on one hand, but it's run by a dirty cop and they know that.  Like you said, if they had a long term outline for the show instead of just flying by the seat of their pants, it would be so much better.  I just think of them all as varying degress of corrupt.

[preeya]

Voight's (verbatim) bullshit rhetoric to Bubba Gump validating his actions:

"The difference between dirty and necessary.
That, like it or not, you and all your self-righteous
friends in the Ivory Tower, you need people like me
out on the streets, doing the things regular cops
are unwilling to do, going the extra mile
to make sure the truly evil, the truly dangerous, go away.
I thin the herd for the greater good."

He actually thinks (and says) he's justified in committing MURDER.

[TigerLynx]

1 hour ago, SuzieQ said:

I just think of them all as varying degress of corrupt.

This.  Almost all of them have crossed the line.  Do they regret it?  Are they looking at what happened to Al, Voight and Woods, and wondering if they are going down that path?  Would they cross the same line in the future, or will they choose a different course this time?  Can they make the same rationalizations Voight does?  Will they not cross a certain line, but cover for someone else if they do?  Al and Halstead had a conversation once about Browning, and Al told Halstead that no one made anyone do anything that night.  More conversations like this would be nice.  The writers set up these situations, and then there is no follow through.  They currently have Antonio saying he didn't see the shooting while Hank says it was justified, and the witnesses who did see it, say it was murder.  Will that go anywhere, or will it be another dropped SL?

[Guildford]

In all honesty I have less of an issue with Al being killed off than I do with the poor storytelling. It was a clusterfuck basically. If they knew they were going to kill him off they should have put more effort into his story towards the end, rather than have him basically sit at his desk looking mopey for the last half of the season. He was basically irrelevant all season and the show was poorer for it.

I will admit, unlike a lot of people, I am a Ruzek fan. I do get why people don't like him and have no issue with other people's opinions. I get what they were trying to do with him lashing out at Antonio and going along with Voight but with the shit narrative and the lack of continuity of the way these characters are written it was just off.

Al was his mentor, his first partner and they obviously had a close father/son relationship, hell Al moved in with him so instead of reminding us of that over the course of the last few episodes building up to this, it's just bang in your face. I get his grief and anger, I just wish they'd put some kind of effort into showing the reasons for it. If I recall the last time we saw them interact was when Al drove Ruzek to meet Voight. (I assume that also played into Ruzek's reaction his guilt over not being able to stop Woods, or should have but I doubt the writers even remember that Ruzek was caught up in the Festival of Woods. He knows he let Al down and that would eat away at him, again I don't think the writers are that smart though.). So I get his reaction, I still didn't like it but I got it. (Funnily enough the thing that annoyed me the most was throwing the orange peel on the floor...huh)

No one has a blank sheet when it comes to crossing the line, they have all done it to vary degrees when it suits them. Hell even Atwater has his moments, he beat the crap out of the guy in jail and showed no sign of stopping until he was dragged off him, he taunted a man to pick up a gun so he could shoot him, sure some go way beyond that but they all do it. None are beyond reproach.

I assume (again you can't trust the writers) that for all Antonio's moral grandstanding (I didn't disagree with it) he appears to have backed up Voight's version of events to the IA board because Voight walked out of there to continue on his merry way. So what was the point of his stance if he let Voight get away with it again?

The whole storyline felt like it was cobbled together from episode to episode with no thought to how it would look to veiwers. I remember one poster, a while ago saying the problem with this show is that they try and TELL us how characters feel rather than SHOW it. This is never more true than right now.

Edited May 10, 2018 by Guildford

[Kel Varnsen]

20 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

, I was glad Antonio was disturbed by Voight’s behavior and I hope he told the truth to the IA board,

I hope he tells the truth too. If he saw nothing say that, if he saw Voight murder the guy say that. I don't really need another year's worth of story where Antonio becomes Al version 2 because he will back up Voight no matter what.

Also wonder if there is going to be a storyline next year where Olinsky's family gets a multi-million dollar settlement from the city of Chicago because they couldn't be bothered to put Al in protective custody and had him escorted by a corrupt guard who set him up to die.

[milner]

That was awful. Al had no family at the hospital?  Voight never once said that Al died because of him. Was I meant to feel empathy or pity for Voight on seeing his little temper tantrum on the roof? I too wish he had jumped. This show has a strong cast and over the years lots of highly rated shows have survived and thrived when their so-called star has left. Chicago P.D. would be just fine Voightless 

[Xeliou66]

I thought it was odd that we didn’t see Al’s wife or daughter at the hospital. I bet by next season everyone will have forgotten Al existed and we won’t hear about him again, and the investigation of Voight shooting Olisnky’s killer will be dropped as well, never to be heard about again. Eid is a worthless showrunner with no sense of continuity. 

I absolutely despise Voight now and wish he had jumped off the roof, how he lives with himself is beyond me and he has nothing really to live for anymore. 

I don’t like how Voight seems to be ruining Atwater, Halstead and Antonio, they deserve their own show. 

[CheshireCat]

23 minutes ago, Xeliou66 said:

I thought it was odd that we didn’t see Al’s wife or daughter at the hospital.

His wife is odd. But I don't even know what happened to Michelle. She just disappeared off the face of the earth, didn't she?

[judyri]

His daughter died in a fire, it was a crossover with Chicago Fire. His wife should have been at the hospital, she wasn't even mentioned in the episode. Very poor writing.

[CheshireCat]

8 minutes ago, judyri said:

His daughter died in a fire, it was a crossover with Chicago Fire. His wife should have been at the hospital, she wasn't even mentioned in the episode. Very poor writing.

That was Lexi. Michelle is the daughter he had with someone while he was undercover and she just disappeared, as far as I know.

[Xeliou66]

Michelle was referenced a few times after she was last seen, but yeah she disappeared and we don’t know what she’s up to. 

[Dvldj]

22 hours ago, Xeliou66 said:

Well, I saw that coming 100 miles away! I called the shot in the last episode thread that Al would die, Voight would nail Woods and things will be back to normal by next season. Seriously, what utter shit this show has become.

Rick Eid has ruined the show, it used to at least be interesting even if I’ve always thought Voight is scum, now it is just a steaming pile of shit with stupid writing, inconsistent characterization, predictable plots and unlikable characters. I’m so glad this worthless excuse for a writer is off of SVU, a 10 year old could’ve written a better season than that! 

Agreed. This show is just worthless. I kept watching hoping it would get better but turns out I was just wasting my time. Oh well, not anymore. I won't be watching next season. RIP Al.

[MakeMeLaugh]

Best of luck to Elias Koteas--I will be looking for you in future roles. 

Was Voight really going to confess if Al hadn't been killed or was the set-up with the fake/bribed witness going to happen anyway?

Voight going all Nicholson in A Few Good Men on someone as dirty as Woods was hilarious. Sure, Hank.

I wish just ONE TIME the higher ups who are out to get Voight, or Boden on Fire, would NOT be the evil conniving dirty characters we have to keep seeing. I know there are honorable people in real life in these positions who should be investigating people like Voight. Promote Platt and have her go after him, especially since she was close to Al too and Voight certainly at least indirectly was involved in his death. I would also like to see Antonio and Jay kept as good cops but then I don't know what the writers feel they "have to" do with them.   

If a writer ever says "I have to....", it's bogus. They're writers. They are making it all up anyway--if they can't write around something and make it plausible to us, then they're not very good. I remember reading that some Madmen writers didn't like writing Betty, worded in such a way that the response was, "Really? Because you invented her." Same here--they did not have to kill Al, they do not "have to" keep writing the same thing over and over.