Chicago PD is known for its intense season finales where one of their own is in trouble. The season nine finale took a slightly different route while still trying to pull off the emotional intensity and suspense. It did pull off the suspense and action. But unfortunately, the emotional part didn’t come until the end.
The Chicago PD writers assumed that we care about Anna Avalos (Carmela Zumbado). We’d be worried about her when she goes missing after killing Javier Escano (José Zúñiga). It’s not that I don’t like her character, but her on the run doesn’t hit the same as Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) being thrown from the blast in the last episode. That shook me. We just haven’t known Anna as long as our Intelligence team. This would have been an incredibly intense episode if you’re worried about saving Anna as much as Hank Voight (Jason Beghe).
It started pretty intensely. It’s right where we left off. Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) woke Hailey up. Her ear was bleeding, but she was slowly coming to. Halstead updated Voight over the radio that Upton was okay. There was a sense of relief before the episode even began. The intensity comes from Escano cleaning house as they hone in on him.
Voight got the warrants he needed to search all of Escano’s properties. They entered the Bakery but found him bleeding to death. Before Escano even said Anna stabbed him, we knew it was her. As Voight noted, she’s unraveling. Now, Anna’s scared for her and her son’s life. She believed striking first was her best option.
It’s kind of anti-climatic for the Escano case. We’ve been trying to get him for a long time, now he’s dead. Sure, he can’t hurt anyone else, but there is no justice in this either. But busting Escano was not what this episode was about. It was about Voight saving Anna.
I have mixed feelings about saving Anna. She put her life at risk to get Escano. And while they had no actual evidence, they still got a lot from her being undercover. She probably should have been pulled since she wasn’t mentally stable. And finding out she was burnt through her over the edge. So it’s understandable why she went after him, but she still killed someone in cold blood.
I like seeing Voight saving his people. He’ll do almost anything. Some of the others have also tried their best to save CIs. And, of course, the rest of the team tried to reel them in. So, this is no different. Other than the fact that the writers think we care about Anna.
The emotional intensity came when Voight met Anna, and Hailey and Jay went after him while the rest of the team went to the suspected stash house. Hailey didn’t want to cover up anything again, and Jay wanted to save Voight from himself. However, at this point, it was hard to see how Jay could save Voight and how Voigtht could save Anna.
You could see how unhinged Anna was when she saw Voight in the parking lot. She drove off. She wasn’t paying attention and got into a car accident. Her head was bleeding, and the other driver was angry because she ran the light. He called the police while Voight got Anna to get out of the car. Anna pointed a gun at Voight in the middle of the street with many witnesses. She pleaded with him to let her go. But of course, he couldn’t. He kept saying he would help her—major props to Carmela for the superb acting in this scene. You could see her unraveling.
Halstead and Upton caught up with Voight just in time to see Anna shoot him in the shoulder. So, Upton shot Anna. Jay went to Voight to put pressure on this wound while Hailey did the same for Anna. Voight screamed get off me. And looked at Anna and said, “it’s you and me.”
During this scene, Chicago PD also jumped back and forth to the team finding Escano’s drugs. The team was clearing every room while the EMTs were trying to revive Anna. It was a nice juxtaposition.
While it’s understandable that Voight wanted to save his CI, you could start to hear in his voice that it was so much more than that when he was pleading with Anna and when he held her hand while they were both on the ground. Then in the hospital, he wouldn’t leave her side. She died, and Voight held her hand and put his hand on her forehead. He saw her as a daughter. It reminded him of how his son, Justin, died. The show has hinted that he never dealt with his son’s death. It’s evident in this moment that he never did, and now he feels like it was happening all over again. It’s heartbreaking. It makes you wonder where the writers will take his character next season. Will he be unhinged because he now has two tragedies to deal with? I do like it when Voight blurs the lines. That doesn’t work so well today, but it’s still fun. As long as you know, this is fiction. I can’t see him changing his ways before he goes down a dark path at least one more time.
So, while this episode wasn’t the emotional intensity that we’re used to, it’s nice seeing Jason take on different aspects of Voight. And this potentially sets up something interesting for next season.
What did you think of the season nine finale? Tweet me @PrimetimeDrama or @MandyTTCarr or comment below.
