It was time for a Burgess-centric installment, and we got an intense, dark hour and an unexpected lead in the Sean case.
While in many ways, Chicago PD Season 10 Episode 8 felt like a perfunctory and long overdue acknowledgment of Kim’s trauma from her shooting, the hour delivered an exciting case, some domestic moments with the Burzek family, and gave us the incredibly underrated dynamic of Kim and Hailey at the end.
Chief O’Neal may have thought he was tossing a case to the unit to distract them from his son, but he’ll quickly realize that you can’t slow down the inevitable and save the wicked.
It was as clear as day with O’Neal when he showed up at the scene and threatened and ordered Voight to take on this case.
He claimed that the unit didn’t have anything actionable on his son, their sex trafficking case was a dud, and he wanted them to direct their attention elsewhere.
While his maneuvers were shady as heck, it’s good that Voight and the unit took this case on after all. No one could’ve anticipated it would evolve into all of this and lead the team down a borderline chaotic path toward capturing a serial killer.
Only this unit would stay winning even when they got set up to lose.
From the moment Kim noticed the wounds to the torso, it was evident that this case would drudge up memories from her kidnapping and leave her processing that all over again.
As much as she tried to throw herself into the case and convince herself and Ruzek that she was fine, it was evident that she wasn’t.
The whole case knocked Kim off of her game. She was more aggressive than you’d expect from her, which we saw when she handled Tyler’s wife roughly.
She was constantly distracted. Her mind would wander, and she was plagued with many flashbacks to her harrowing ordeal. The tip of the iceberg was when she left the precinct without her gun.
The only thing that made that situation unlike Kim and worse was that she assumed she left it in the safe at work when she actually had it sitting in her locker instead.
It was one of many moments where I held my breath and wondered what the outcome would be. We all knew it was more than just a bad day for her.
But Kim wasn’t ready to own up to what she was dealing with and even claimed that she had already worked through her shooting stuff. Yeah, right; when?
And that’s where addressing her trauma via this case felt perfunctory because it’s doubtful they’ll revisit it anytime soon. It’s one of those things that’ll only come about when it’s most convenient.
With a case like this, I only wanted the girl to go to therapy or at least acknowledge what she was going through or talk to someone, even Ruzek, about it.
Goodness, Ruzek was the perfect support for her, too. He’s so attuned to Burgess and knows when she’s trying to keep it together.
He kept this careful eye on her the whole hour, but it wasn’t until later that he pointed to her about what she may be facing. He spent most of the time reassuring her, like when she left her gun or checking in as best as he could.
And when it was all said in done, he let her know he was there for her if she needed him. Others may disagree, but we don’t necessarily need to have these grand romantic moments between the two to have still the heart of who they are to each other on display in such a great way.
Ruzek: Tell me what’s going on? Talk to me.
Burgess: What?
Ruzek: Come on. Kim, I know we don’t talk about it a lot, when you were shot. You were alone fighting for your life. This case…
I only need a little confirmation on what they are or aren’t as long as the fundamental dynamic that is Burzek is intact. Ruzek said a moutful without getting into anything when he reminded her that whatever was going on with her, they’d work through it together.
He has her. He always has her. Kim’s problems aren’t just hers alone. They’re their problems. They’re this united front, partners in life in the most accurate and purest sense.
It’s such a beautiful commitment, and it’s hard not to feel warm when Ruzek tells him he always has her. Kim knows that, too, and maybe she’ll confide in him further about things someday, but that wasn’t the case here.
They’ve come a long way from the disaster that was their relationship during Chicago PD Season 9, so thank goodness for that.
The domestic moments in Casa de Burzek were cute, too. Mac seems like a genuinely happy, healthy child, and their arrangement works for them.
Sometimes it just randomly hits you that Kim is a mom, and she’s SUCH a mom. And Ruzek is a dad, and who would have ever imagined he’d be in that role, let alone happily thriving in it?
But back to the case, which was one of those things where we dove right in, it took us in a few different directions, and at times, it was hard to follow how we got where we did because everything happened so fast.
The dark, gritty, and intense case-heavy installments are fascinating, especially when we see the policework at play with most of the characters.
Ruzek: Tell me what’s going on? Talk to me.
Burgess: What?
Ruzek: Come on. Kim, I know we don’t talk about it a lot, when you were shot. You were alone fighting for your life. This case…
With her every breath, move, and facial expression, you could tell Kim was taking this one to heart, and it was transporting her back to some of her darkest hours.
Marina Squerciati always slays her performances, which are equal parts nuanced and expressive. She was serving so much face during this installment it was surreal.
One minute, she’d serve up such a chilling look that it would intimidate anyone in the vicinity, and the next, she’d look so vulnerable that you wanted to hug her.
Her frustration over leaving her gun and staying behind morphed into such raw emotion and terror when she heard that gunshot and ran in after Ruzek despite not having anything to defend herself.
And emotional journeys like that continued throughout that sequence, repeating when she heard that shot and couldn’t breathe again until Ruzek shouted that he was good.
Her way of connecting to Linda by relating to her so much that there was no denying how triggering this case was for her was a great scene, especially as she reassured Linda by telling this woman all the things that she probably wished she had heard while she was fighting for her life.
They’ve been putting the squad through it with these emotionally charged scenes of them talking with victims either in their final moments or close to them. It’s been serving as a reminder of what they risk on this job and the toll it takes on them along the way.
They had Kim talking about what had happened to her barely. She mentioned more than once that she had similar wounds as the victims, which was in this matter-of-fact manner.
It’s an acknowledgment, which is at least something. We had her reflect on things in the shower, those close-ups of her scars, ones she has to see every day.
We saw the hand tremors, the flashbacks, and the bouts where she was practically frozen in place as the memories seized her.
She pushed past all of that to get the job done. I’m curious if this is something they’ll continue to explore, or is this just a throwaway one-episode plot to appease viewers who were puzzled and irritated by how the series initially swept past all of this the first time around?
Will they revisit this trauma, or will it just disappear entirely until the next time they want to put her character through it? It’s always hard to say with this series.
You don’t have to be scared anymore because you’re not alone. You’re not alone, and we’re right here with you.
Burgess
They never have any of their characters properly deal with anything or even learn or acquire some healthy coping skills or hit up a therapist, who, by now, they need one to become a series regular at the rate they’ve gone with this brood.
Kim’s latest way of dealing with things was to throw herself into something else, which was not only very Hailey-like of her but also made their pair-up and discovery some of the best of the hour.
While Kim took priority during the hour, the other characters only partially disappeared, maybe except Voight. Ruzek was a constant support to her the whole way through.
Torres and Atwater’s scenes in the parking garage were great. Atwater got his Fast ‘n Furious on and learned that Torres’ mother is driving him to work enough to make you chuckle. They’re great, freaking partners together.
The quad of Torres, Atwater, Burgess, and Ruzek working together is pure, quality content, and any variation of that foursome is elite.
Torres fits right in with the Burgess, Atwater, and Ruzek trio that has become a staple for the series.
And Hailey got put on the back burner for most of the hour after Voight gave her time off, which we knew only gave her more time to focus on Sean.
She was prominent or close to leading enough of the installments that it wasn’t too surprising or disappointing that she fell into the background for this one.
However, they made up for it with those final moments with her and Kim. One of the greatest things to come from this season thus far is that they’re actually allowing Hailey and Kim to share screen time one-on-one, talk to each other and work together.
They’re an underrated yet dynamic duo and enjoyable to watch, even though they can stress you out when together. The first thing to come to mind when they wandered into that abandoned cabin without calling it in or anything was that both of them have a knack for finding trouble, getting hurt, or having endless traumas unleashed on them.
Somewhere in there, it’s something to be said about the storylines they opt to dole out on female characters exclusively.
But those final moments played out like a horror film.
Kim and Hailey just broke this supposedly dead-end Sean case wide open, and all it took was for them to work together. The second Ruzek mentioned something about the cabin in Wisconsin; it was clear that it would factor into something later.
I didn’t anticipate “later” being the end of the installment. It was concerning that the two women hopped into a car and drove the hour away to Wisconsin to check out this cabin without telling anyone or calling it in.
The cabin was beyond creepy. It only got worse when we got to the abundance of mushrooms taking over the area, followed by that skeleton.
Kim was right about how there had to be something to motivate Sean to do this. Sean trafficking contrasted harshly with all his good work with the kids and teens.
In Mark’s mind, money killed his parents.
Kim
It was like he lived dualing lives that didn’t overlap. But that skeleton is key to everything. The question is, who is it, and how has it contributed to this? Can they take Sean down and find the girls he got rid of before it’s too late? Will the chief continue to stand in their way?
Over to you, Chicago Fanatics. What do you think of those final moments? Are you relieved that they finally tackled Kim’s trauma? Sound off below.
You can watch Chicago PD online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
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