Chicago PD has returned, but when something, it makes us really feel extra nostalgic than ever for what the collection was.
In some ways, Chicago PD Season 11 Episode 1 highlights some gripes viewers have had in regards to the collection for a while.
All these points had been pushed ahead, thus making a highly-anticipated season premiere simply shy of underwhelming. Scratch that, as we outlined in our Chicago PD Review, it was the epitome of underwhelming.
We have a lot of issues to face this season with a restricted variety of episodes (the shortest to this point), a new character we nonetheless should adapt to, and, most notably, the upcoming departure of Hailey Upton.
The excellent news, though that is getting referred to as into query as of late, is that with Hailey sticking round for many of, if not your entire season, there’s time for the collection to orchestrate a respectable exit that respects the collection, what it constructed, the character and actress, and followers.
But if the season premiere signifies what that departure can be, we’re off to a tough begin.
A constant drawback with Chicago PD is how imbalanced they’ve turn into with their storytelling and character focus.
We usually have characters who fall to the wayside with little or stalled growth and others who kind of monopolize a lot of display time and plots.
And as a result of the collection has spent a nice deal of time just lately working round its solid by focusing extra on character-centric installments in rotation quite than main case-first with one thing that requires your entire group, it is extra noticeable than ever when some characters devour the collection.
It’s the place we’re with Hailey Upton and have been for a lengthy whereas.
And now, Chicago PD Season 11 faces a predicament because it’s her ultimate season, and at a time when many viewers would favor to see her take a backseat, she’ll seemingly be entrance and heart.
But the issue is that she’s usually been entrance and heart for thus lengthy that now it is merely extra of the identical.
They’ve oversaturated the collection with Hailey storylines and points that have a tendency to pull on endlessly. Sadly, none of them are scintillating or new.
They’ve overplayed the Hailey card.
The Chicago PD season premiere ought to’ve centered extra completely on Adam Ruzek and the ramifications of his taking pictures.
Even with the six-month leap, it was the extra urgent storyline that demanded fast consideration and focus.
And but, as soon as once more, as was the case with Kim Burgess’ taking pictures, Ruzek in some way took a backseat to Hailey and her deteriorating psychological well being and respective points. It was confounding earlier than and simply as a lot now and is a routine drawback for the collection.
It’s a puzzling maneuver to push this sole character ahead so usually and steadily on the expense of the others and the narrative. And they’ve completed it in such a redundant manner that it is also been a disservice to Hailey.
It’s additionally confirmed to be troublesome from a storytelling perspective when Upton is a character who usually isolates and alienates herself from all the opposite characters outdoors of Halstead, who is now gone, and Hank Voight.
Limiting her to solely interacting and having storylines linked to the identical two individuals negatively impacts the opposite characters once they should combat for some semblance of presence or an equally expansive storyline.
If the season premiere proved something, it is that as upsetting as it will likely be for some followers and viewers, Hailey’s departure could also be a blessing in disguise.
We’re spinning a wheel together with her storylines in such a manner that it means that the collection does not know what to do together with her anymore.
We’re rehashing the identical storylines with Hailey, whether or not it is impulsively leaping to conclusions about mentally in poor health suspects (this is the second time she’s completed this) or making questionable choices in the sphere underneath the guise of realizing higher (which has turn into her whole persona).
What’s disappointing about Hailey’s arc is that it is at all times repeated with little variation. We spent all of Chicago PD Season 10 watching her depressed, dropping her grip on issues, fighting issues that occurred with Halstead, and usually being unhappy.
And let’s not overlook that almost all of Chicago PD Season 9 was Hailey spiraling and traumatized.
We’ve been on Hailey’s poor psychological well being practice for a lengthy whereas, and understandably, many viewers need off of this experience.
The time to make some ahead motion together with her rising and figuring issues out for herself was in the course of the 19 episodes that included time jumps since Halstead departed in Chicago PD Season 10 Episode 3.
It’s as in the event that they’re caught in a rut with this character, her explicit storyline relating to this identical subject material and angle of character exploration dragging on nicely previous its expiration date. In distinction, arcs for different characters will be blink-and-you-miss-it-fast with much less thought behind them.
Hailey’s arcs have run out of fuel, and retreading the identical issues for her character has delay the viewers. It’s laborious to sit up for the prospect of going through much more of the identical as we gear towards her departure.
If something, it results in an amazing sense of dread that we’ll seemingly face a closely Hailey-centered shortened season as they work towards writing her off, and it will not be to the satisfaction of viewers.
We acknowledge that Hailey’s departure impacts the collection. We’ve mentioned it as a lot, and whether or not you are a fan of the character or not, it goes with out query.
But Hailey’s leaving additionally opens up new potentialities for the collection.
With Halstead and Hailey gone, seeing what’s in retailer for Voight can be intriguing. Both characters usually took up a lot of his time, as that trio had a storyline intertwined for the previous two or three seasons.
In some ways, it had all their characters coming throughout as inaccessible to the opposite group members, and as a lot as we all know that the unit is presupposed to be close-knit, the collection drew an unstated line.
Voight has misplaced many individuals whom he cared about, and his job is his whole world.
He considers his unit his household, and extra just lately, there’s been a extra paternal position that he is taken with among the group members as he fumbles by means of attempting to mentor and exist with them throughout a few of their extra private points.
Voight can usually be an island by himself, however there’s an unstated need to not be that anymore, and if Hailey departs for higher alternatives or what’s greatest for her, it makes you surprise what position Voight will take with the opposite characters.
It would imply we might study extra of Voight’s dynamic with them, a few of whom we now have but to see a lot of your entire collection (Kevin Atwater) and others we have not explored in extra element in a while (Adam Ruzek).
Of course, Hailey’s absence may imply that Voight spends extra time mentoring somebody like Dante Torres, taking the beginner underneath his wing to forestall among the burnout and darkish paths that consumed Halstead and Hailey.
Torres is robust to learn, stoic, and has a darker previous than the standard fare of cops and detectives. He and Voight share some similarities, and it is a relationship that is recent, new, and value digging into deeply.
The unit may revitalize itself with the second-generation method to Voight mentoring and spending extra time with Torres.
He goes into that dynamic with the heavy previous of the place he went fallacious and all his errors and troubles with earlier unit members like Erin, Olinsky, Dawson, Halstead, and Hailey.
Hailey’s departure additionally signifies that there can be a refreshing shift in how the unit capabilities. Essentially, Voight does have to have a “second” that he leans on or bounces issues off of, and he can discover a model of that with Atwater, Kim Burgess, or Ruzek.
It additionally speaks volumes in regards to the development of that trio of characters as we have adopted their journey by means of their recruitment to the unit as much as them serving as some type of a companion for Voight as they’ve greater than earned their bones and turn into seasoned cops all worthy of detective standing.
In some ways, proximity to Voight can assist a character nicely, therefore the way it has benefited Hailey, whether or not individuals cared for the storylines that resulted from it or not.
We’re attributable to discover Voight’s reference to these different characters extra, and one factor the season premiere does tease is how deeply affected he was but once more by one thing horrible occurring to one among his personal.
Ruzek’s taking pictures weighed closely on him and appeared to hang-out him months later, and he refuses to contemplate anybody else for Ruzek’s place, even quickly.
It’ll be good to see that model of Voight directed towards the 4 remaining characters.
Because the 4 different unit members are nearer or on the trail towards it, Hailey’s absence signifies that we’ll seemingly have a extra cohesive unit.
Without shifting focus or splitting time as much as focus extra completely on Hailey and Voight or Hailey by herself, the collection may faucet into that sentimentality of earlier seasons by having a extra interactive unit with each other.
We know the budget-cutting incentives have affected how the collection tells tales and the way it chooses to deal with characters.
It’s impacted actors’ display time and characters’ presence. But somebody of high billing like Tracy Spiridakos exiting and doubtlessly pursuing even greater ventures will profit the price range quite than hinder it and the way viewers take pleasure in and devour the collection.
The dangerous information is that we’ll be down a character and a widespread one, at that. On the opposite hand, we cannot should sacrifice a lot display time with the remaining characters; every may get extra consideration and have extra complete storylines.
In hindsight, it is unimaginable to think about simply what number of storylines Hailey has had her hand in over the previous few seasons. As a end result, it usually seems like she’s dominated a lot of the collection.
In addition to the character-focused hours the others have, she usually has some position or extra important components in ongoing plots and main plots all through the season, so she’s at all times there.
But in her stead, the collection may take a completely different method to pursuing future plots.
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Hailey’s departure presents a possibility for the collection to concurrently faucet into the wistful really feel of earlier seasons whereas additionally turning a new web page in the saga, revamping the collection.
There’s trepidation about her exit, however there’s additionally an pleasure to see how the collection transforms with out her.
There are fully new angles the collection can discover with house to look at the remainder of the group.
Even among the tried and true arcs about psychological well being and the way the job impacts a particular person’s psyche and weighs on them will be pleasing from the attitude of any of the opposite remaining characters.
Everyone behaves and responds to such issues in another way, and numerous components can influence their portrayal.
The collection has at all times grappled with regulation enforcement who coloration outdoors the strains and lift points with their questionable strategies.
Voight helms the unit, and his old-guard policing has been taken to process and dissected by means of the collection’ tenure, evolving together with the numerous conversations about regulation enforcement, overreach, and a lot extra.
But the collection post-Hailey could dabble much less with the questionable methodologies of policing.
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Voight, for higher or worse, relying on the viewer, has simmered down on a few of his excessive antics and walks a tightrope with how he approaches circumstances and criminals.
Resident impulsive hothead Ruzek has advanced and grown organically and is not susceptible to land himself in as many pickles as he as soon as did.
Atwater was by no means a character who stepped too far outdoors the road in comparison with the others, not egregiously and detrimentally so, and is the closest to a “by the books” cop that the collection has.
And we have watched Burgess’s journey, particularly just lately, and the way motherhood has affected her. She’s additionally grown, working by means of her trauma healthily and productively, thus giving us one of many higher arcs relating to psychological well being.
We can transfer on from a lot of the arcs that concerned questionable shoots, coverups, biases deeply affecting circumstances, and unethical and immoral maneuvers that raised flags.
Their arcs usually appeared to plague Voight, Halstead, and Hailey greater than the opposite characters and with such a frequency that they turned cyclical.
Hailey’s go away poses an thrilling shift. She and Voight have usually tried to carry each other accountable, however it’s sometimes implosive and backfires greater than something.
But there’s potential for Voight to search out a new stability with one other group member that will not end result in coverups and physique burying.
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There might be a character that may maintain Voight accountable however is additionally strong-willed sufficient to not fall in line with emulating a few of his darker traits.
The unit will at all times cross strains, however we will graduate from the group doing it in the worst doable methods.
And if a character like Torres is the one to get referred to as into query every now and then, it might really feel extra pure for somebody simply beginning and coming into his personal as a cop quite than somebody established who goes wayward when the job turns into an excessive amount of.
As we settle into this season of Chicago PD and brace ourselves for the route they take Hailey main as much as her exit, there could also be a mild on the finish of the tunnel on the positives and advantages of this exit.
Over to you, Chicago PD Fanatics. Would the collection profit from Hailey’s departure? Let’s hear it in the feedback beneath.
Chicago PD airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC. You can stream it the next day on Peacock.
Jasmine Blu is a senior workers author for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching manner too many exhibits and binge-drinking manner an excessive amount of tea. Her eclectic style makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for advanced characters, numerous illustration, dynamic duos, compelling tales, and responsible pleasures. You’ll undoubtedly discover her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on X.
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