Chicago PD Season 10 Episode 11 Review: Long Lost

LaRoyce Hawkins is effortlessly one of many most interesting actors on broadcast, so it isn’t in the slightest degree shocking that he delivered one other highly effective efficiency.

In some ways, Chicago PD Season 10 Episode 11 was a decade within the making, lastly offering us the kind of content material on Kevin’s background that we have been clamoring for for the reason that sequence started.

The introduction of Lew, Kevin’s estranged father, peeled again a layer of this character that even his closest pals could not entry, which is considered one of many the reason why the hour was so thrilling.

An incredible character-centric not solely balances out the non-public arc of the designated character with the case of the week however it takes full benefit of the years price of fabric from that character.

What separates this hour from a lot of Kevin’s different ones through the years is that it wasn’t a shallow, surface-level dive into one thing topical to maintain up with present occasions.

Instead, this felt very private and tailored for Kevin, not as their solely Black man on the unit, however quite as a person who had an unlucky background and needed to increase his siblings from a younger age.

We’ve recognized that Kevin raised his siblings on his personal for years. We bought simply sufficient info to glean that his father was incarcerated and his mom died.

But till now, we’ve but to dig into that additional.

We all the time see Kevin as this sturdy, resilient, even-tempered man who is superb at his job, a strong man, buddy, and brother.

But we by no means bought to discover how his childhood experiences and background have formed who he’s as an individual now or nonetheless have an effect on him.

Everyone carries scars from their previous with them. The look of Kevin’s father unlocked a few of Kevin’s, and it was pretty to observe him work by way of all of that whereas engaged on such a tough case.

Lew: How are they?
Kevin: Jordan and Vanessa? They’re wonderful. We’re all wonderful.

Right out the gate, the hour was winsome as a result of it paired Kevin and Kim for a lot of the installment. For two characters who began within the trenches collectively and are primarily one another’s finest pals, there was such a disappointing scarcity in Burgwater scenes and interactions through the years.

It’s such a comforting dynamic, and if anybody might assist or remember of each other, it was them.

Kevin observed Kim’s shaky arms, presumably a stress tremor from her PTSD she merely is not coping with. One can respect that they don’t seem to be dropping this storyline or permitting it to vanish into the shadows.

It’s additionally one thing the others are choosing up on, which is an efficient signal for Kim, whether or not she needs to confess it.

And Kim dealt with Kevin fantastically all through the case. She cautiously prodded about his father when the picture struck him. She additionally revered his privateness and allowed him to share what he wanted when he wanted to and on his personal phrases.

Even although she requested Ruzek about Kevin’s father and the way a lot he might have recognized about the entire scenario, she left the dialog there till Kevin bought to speak about issues himself.

And whereas Kim challenged and questioned in the event that they had been making the correct transfer through the bust, she backed him the entire method regardless of her disagreement.

Kim was such an excellent associate and buddy throughout this installment, and it is what Kevin wanted as a result of he was going by way of it.

Understandably, Kevin could not reconcile the man he grew up with and the person who went away, and it is a disgrace that it took him 20 years to seek out out the reality of every little thing.

I do not bought the posh of being indignant. I ain’t carrying that round with me. I’m good.

Atwater

In the blink of a watch, he went from a father and household that defied stereotypes to 1 that fell sufferer to them.

It’s as clear as day now that Kevin has spent most of his life making an attempt to not be like his father. Because if his father might fall sufferer to the clutches of stereotypical life that had him within the system, how simple might it have been for Kevin or his brother to do the identical?

The hour touched a bit on Kevin’s near-constant want to not be one other statistic. His resentment towards his father had a number of the weight of that.

On high of every little thing else, he by no means bought to see his father your complete time he was in jail as a result of Lew refused so as to add him to the listing.

Kevin spent a lifetime not attending to ask her father what he did and why he did it, and there was no sense of closure. But it additionally left him out within the chilly relating to elevating his siblings.

If Kevin was solely a youngster when his father went away, it is a hell of numerous stress to placed on him. He bore the duty of caring for his siblings, thrown into the deep finish with it, and his father simply left them on their very own to determine issues out.

From Lew’s perspective, he did not need his son to ever see him in jail like that. He thought it was in Kevin’s finest curiosity to chop communication, however there is no method he might clarify that with out coming throughout as a coward.

How was it in Kevin’s finest curiosity to go away him alone, caring for youngsters at his personal younger age, with out understanding why his father went from a person who took midnight walks with him to an armed robber?

By myself I raised them, so I do not perceive why you are feeling you owe everyone however me!

Kevin

More than something, I beloved Kevin’s strategy to his father for the whole thing of the hour. Everyone from Voight to Ruzek moved cautiously and handled the problem with sensitivity, however Atwater was steadfast in his professionalism.

He was the one who ensured that they labored the case as they’d some other with out compromising something due to the non-public connection, and that tells you a lot of what you ever must find out about Atwater.

He’s all the time been probably the most morally and ethically constant, and this was no exception.

It’s additionally such a refreshing change of tempo to have somebody who’s clear with your complete workforce when one thing transpires. Secrecy and aspect huddles have been the downfall of a lot of the unit.

When given an opportunity to fall into an analogous sample, Kevin did not even entertain a world the place he wasn’t upfront with the unit. The irony of Voight encouraging that transparency wasn’t misplaced on me both.

There’s lastly some extra acknowledgment of Kevin’s constant position because the morally sound character out of all of them. He’s all the time been more true to the position.

He was proper about utilizing Lew to get to Reid.

If it had been anybody aside from Kevin’s dad, they’d haven’t any downside doing that. Kevin wasn’t going to sacrifice the case and nail Reid for the deaths of all these individuals as a result of he could not deal with being in the identical room as his father.

The dialog with Ruzek was notably illuminating and resonant as a result of it subtly distinguished how they might navigate conditions.

Ruzek is a recognized hothead. Anger is one thing that may rule and eat him. He has his personal baggage over his father, who could be absent from his life at occasions for completely totally different causes.

Some of Ruzek’s approaches generally is a results of that.

But Atwater, as he aptly talked about, does not have that very same sort of luxurious. Even with the playing cards life dealt him, all of the simmering feelings he feels, and every little thing in between, he does not have the posh of being indignant.

He did not have time to be indignant about his father as a result of he had youngsters to lift, examples to set, and items to select up. And he does not have the posh of anger now as a result of the chilly, exhausting reality of it’s that strolling this earth as an indignant Black man is an authorized loss of life sentence.

It was a line that summed up Kevin as a personality we have recognized for a decade. There’s an expectation and even necessity that he stays even-tempered.

And that is why it was so satisfying when he bought to lift his voice a bit and demand solutions from his father, expressing himself in a method that he is held onto for many of his life.

And simply as shortly as that frustration makes its method by way of, he’s quintessentially Kevin, providing up a spot in one of many buildings he runs so his father might have a safer and higher place to reside.

That remaining scene between Hawkins and guest-star Erik LaRay Harvey was chill-inducing, and ideally, that is the start of a storyline for these two and never an ending.

Kevin getting an opportunity to rebuild a relationship together with his father, as an grownup who can higher perceive the scenario, is much extra compelling than a number of the earlier makes an attempt at fleshing Kevin out.

Sure, our boy nonetheless deserves a love curiosity, and I stand by that, however that is way more rewarding. We, as viewers, earned this storyline for Kevin.

It scratches an itch that is been lingering for a decade. They’ve set issues up properly to discover that even additional, and hopefully, the sequence’ points with continuity will not rear their ugly head and deprive us of follow-up with this storyline.

It deserves to be a full-blown arc.

The good factor is that as a result of they had been unable to nab Reid completely, it is an unfinished storyline, and thus there’s an allusion that it will crop up once more down the road.

It’s nerve-wracking to know that Reid will not be happening for something, and he’ll seemingly mistrust Lew. It’s a catch-22 right here.

Ideally, you’d need Lew distant from Reid for his security in case Lew suspects one thing and feels Lew is the rat. But however, if Lew stops interacting with Reid, it’s going to solely trigger extra suspicion.

It’s a harmful sport Lew shall be enjoying, and he solely did it for Kevin. If Reid or anybody finds out Lew is expounded to a cop, it is over for him.

It was annoying sufficient throughout that cash change scene. As a lot as Kevin jumped the gun, giving the unit the okay to go in, you totally perceive why he did it.

Even with a number of the solutions, there are nonetheless some questions on Kevin’s father. Will there be a potential return of Jordan and Vinessa? A household reunion with everybody could be nice.

Lew took the autumn for the theft, however is there extra to the story, and can that have an effect on his life on the skin now? Reid was desirous to deliver that up.

The hour felt like a number of the finest perception we have gotten into Kevin Atwater in years, and thus it did not disappoint.

The case has the potential for longevity, which is one thing that’s working for this sequence as an alternative of wrapping each single case up by the tip of the hour.

And with Lew’s presence, we might additionally get to peel again extra layers to Kevin and spend extra time with him off the clock once more.

Wouldn’t it’s good to really see this constructing that he is been working for some time? Kevin has this entire different life that we sometimes hear about however aren’t precisely aware about, simply itching to be explored. Let’s get into it!

Additional Notes:

• 
  The Dante Torres stanning continues. The youngsters are simply so rattling nice undercover. I genuinely love how they handle to play with and avert stereotypes with him, counting on them to promote him undercover. It’s a tough sport, however they’re doing an honest sufficient job with it.

• 
  Every time that child says “homie” or “bro,” I smile.

• 
  The pair-ups had been nice. Not solely did we’ve Kim and Kevin, however we bought Kevin and Voight, one other rarity; they introduced again Hailey and Ruzek and, in fact, Ruzek and Torres. It’s so a lot better after they combine and match and put your complete workforce to make use of.

• 
  Did anybody else maintain their breath after they realized that the bloody tracks at that home belonged to a child?

• 
  Voight and Kevin mainly speaking through grunts whereas within the automotive was hilarious.

Over to you, Chicago PD Fanatics. Did you’re keen on this Kevin-centric? What are your ideas on assembly Kevin’s father? Sound off beneath.

You can watch Chicago PD on-line through TV Fanatic.

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