They did not reinvent the wheel right here by putting an Intelligence unit member in peril for the umpteenth time.
But many elements of Chicago PD Season 10 Episode 20 performed out like an motion film befitting of the sequence’ model of “Action Barbie” as Hailey fought for her life throughout a very darkish and gory state of affairs.
And by the top of the hour, after many Jay mentions, she realizes it’s time to hand over the battle for her marriage with Halstead.
The hour was darkish, grim, and extremely gory. Hailey spent a lot of the hour lined in blood, slip-sliding in it midway via and looking out just like the protagonist in an motion thriller by the installment’s finish.
They had enjoyable with all of the blood packets, and the severed hand was particularly gnarly.
But amid all of the grimness as Hailey discovered herself in a dire state of affairs, the whole lot went again to and mirrored on Hailey and her marriage to Halstead.
We’ve been watching the sluggish dying of Upstead for almost all of the season, and it has been brutal, even for these of us who weren’t followers of the pairing.
Hailey has been on this bizarre and twisted limbo since Jay left, and he is spent most of that point away, barely taking any of her calls.
Halstead’s departure was already controversial and resulted in a less-than-ideal sendoff to the liking of many followers. If that wasn’t already powerful for a lot of, it is what they’ve executed to his character since he left that is been an particularly bitter capsule to swallow.
As somebody coming off New Amsterdam’s remaining season, the place they utterly and totally annihilated Helen Sharpe’s character in some of the egregious cases of character assassination in years, it genuinely sucks when that occurs to a beloved character.
While I do not suppose the problem with Halstead is in the identical realm as that with Helen Sharpe, it is nonetheless been an uncommon, notable occasion of some weird character decisions after the very fact.
You want extra time, I gave you that. You needed your time.
Hailey
In this installment alone, one knew it was unhealthy when there was a short interval the place based mostly on how issues have gone so far this season, it would not have been shocking if Lee was protecting for Halstead by some means with this cash state of affairs or Halstead inadvertently was how Hailey acquired dragged into this mess within the first place.
The incontrovertible fact that it did not look like a stretch speaks volumes about how the viewers perceives Halstead nowadays.
And so it was becoming that Hailey’s devotion to Jay, this ghost of a husband and a wedding that she has, is how she wound up zip-tied in a dingy lavatory of some kind of lure home with a squirrely man who was far too consultant of herself.
Every Hailey-centric this season has tied again to how misplaced she is with out Halstead and the way she struggles to navigate her life with a husband who is not bodily nor emotionally there.
Kim: What if it has one thing to do with Jay?
Torres: I attempted him. He’s off the wing for a bit. I do not suppose they’re doing nicely.
Her loyalty to Jay is what prompted her to reply that cellphone name from Lee, and she or he went down a horrific path consequently.
Lee was a large number. He was annoyed from the start. He barely needed to belief Hailey though he had contacted her. He acquired them kidnapped, held onto worthwhile intel the entire manner via, and jeopardized her life.
To suppose he did all of this for a lady who did not give a rattling about him was enraging. It was arduous to sympathize along with his blind loyalty to somebody who did not deserve it and his stupidity.
He let Vicente and Eli chop off his freaking hand as a result of he was attempting to guard Jessica. Hailey was getting her ass whooped left and proper when she wasn’t kicking ass, that’s, and he simply acted prefer it wasn’t occurring and apologized with out giving her something to work with within the interim.
I assumed if I acquired the cash, she’d come again to me.
Lee
So most of the captive scenes with Lee had been so rattling irritating as a result of not solely did it look like Lee lacked any sense of survival, however he wasn’t attempting to maintain Hailey alive both.
It’s like she was doing the lion’s share of the work to maintain them each alive and dealing in opposition to him within the course of. But Hailey is at all times fast on her ft, and she or he was nice at exhibiting her skillset adapting to the whole lot thrown her manner as greatest as attainable.
And one factor you will by no means say about Hailiy Upton is that she is not a fighter. She was kicking ass the entire manner via, placing all these nights of grappling and sparring with Torres to good use.
Trying to get Lee to speak or share something was like pulling enamel. And Hailey’s expression when she realized she was on the verge of dying as a result of he was defending somebody he cherished was one in all resignation.
Lee: I’m so sorry.
Hailey: I do not want an apology. I want you to start out speaking.
She might perceive that place too.
It’s unhappy that when Lee acquired some battle in him and was keen to assist, pun not meant, he acquired killed attempting to assist Hailey.
It did not must go that manner for him, and as if it wasn’t traumatizing sufficient that Hailey acquired kidnapped and needed to hearken to him get his hand reduce off, she needed to watch him die, too.
Was the installment action-packed? No doubt. Was Hailey a badass? Most undoubtedly, was Tracy Spiradakos nice in it? Of course.
But this sequence has relied too closely on traumatizing the hell out of the identical couple of characters past motive, and it is particularly obvious and agitating when it is the feminine characters.
How typically can we see Hailey and Burgess get put via the wringer like this? It’s utter insanity at this level!
When Hailey was mendacity on the bottom after inflicting an accident and stabbing Vicente within the jugular, she was drenched in blood and regarded like Sissy Spacek in Carrie.
Only Hailey’s superhuman coping mechanisms hold her from being a strolling open wound at this charge.
And this whole case was a painfully bloody, traumatizing, and lethal lesson in how she must study to let Halstead go.
Voight’s recommendation could not be higher and extra apt. If she’s the one one preventing of their relationship, it is time to let it go. It does not imply she loves Halstead any much less or did not give it a correct go.
I needed to cheer when he mentioned she wanted to like herself extra. Because completely nobody deserves to be going via a wedding like what Hailey is enduring.
Halstead is not speaking along with her in any respect. He’s full-on checked out of their marriage, and she or he spends extra time speaking to his voicemail than him.
He is not behaving like somebody eager to return or be along with her. Their relationship proper now could be completely one-sided. And once more, actually, nobody deserves that.
For Hailey’s personal well being and peace of thoughts, she wanted to let it go, as painful because it was.
She’s the one individual on this marriage. While that is not what she would’ve envisioned, she was nicely previous time to just accept the message Halstead is sending along with his actions and shut that chapter till a time comes once they can have a correct dialogue and finish issues correctly.
In all of this, they’ve made Hailey a sufferer in her relationship with a person they spent the higher a part of ten years placing on a heroic, honorable, morally centered pedestal.
The switch-up is jarring, to say the least. And it is sacrificing ten years price of Halstead’s character growth to prop up Hailey and make her sympathetic right here.
It’s not that Halstead wasn’t a flawed character. Hell, we have cited all of the methods he was earlier than. But this explicit transfer feels so out of character and weird.
Nevertheless, I’m glad Hailey took heed of Voight’s paternal knowledge. Hailey has been a shell of herself all season as a result of her husband deserted her.
She’s been clinging to this concept that he was coming dwelling, not shifting any of his belongings and nonetheless carrying that horrible utilitarian wedding ceremony band as a logo of one thing that is simply now not there.
Halstead has clearly moved on as he is determining what he wants and taking this time to seek out himself or no matter he is supposedly doing.
Hailey: Lee died for her. He would not give her up, not even for me.
Voight: You name Jay?
Hailey: No. He’s nonetheless within the wire for one more 12 hours. He’s not even going to know I’m gone.
Voight: You know it is okay to let go for those who’re the one one preventing. It do not imply you do not love him. It simply means you’re keen on you, too.
And she deserves to maneuver on as nicely. Hailey crying whereas taking off that ring felt like an indication of the Upstead chapter closing.
She watched Lee die for somebody he cherished who wasn’t matching his efforts; she needn’t do the identical.
Something that emerged from this installment was the particular bond that she and Torres have shaped. The opening montage of their exercise periods was among the finest scenes of the hour.
They’ve constructed up a rapport which is sweet to know since Hailey has been isolating herself from the others since Halstead left.
And Torres stays a breath of contemporary air and an excellent addition to the sequence. He immediately knew one thing was flawed, and he did his diligence, checking each avenue in his try to seek out Hailey earlier than enlisting assist.
He would not be deterred from following his intestine both. And had he not been checking in along with her and in tune along with her course of, she might’ve gone for much longer with out the staff realizing one thing was flawed.
Once they found out one thing was flawed, it was all arms on deck, and I find it irresistible when this unit goes to bat for one in all their very own.
Voight regarded like he was out for blood, particularly when he noticed the video footage of her ambush. You might visibly see the panic and that swap that goes off when he thinks for a second that he could possibly be on the verge of shedding one in all his individuals.
You felt to your core each phrase he uttered to Jessica, and also you knew he meant each risk.
Halstead is gone, however Hailey has her household through this unit, and that is one thing.
Over to you, Chicago PD Fanatics. How would you charge this Hailey-centric? Is this the top of Upstead? Sound off beneath.
You can watch Chicago PD on-line right here through TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior employees author for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching manner too many reveals and binge-drinking manner an excessive amount of tea. Her eclectic style makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complicated characters, various 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 Twitter.
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