The Chicago P.D. season premiere finally arrived after the long summer hiatus.
Changes were coming after Tracy Spiridakos exited the show, and a new member of Intelligence would soon be revealed.
Tracy played Detective Hailey Upton, but the character left Chicago during last spring’s season finale.
Hank Voight had been taken hostage and was close to death, but Upton risked her life to save him.
Voight was struggling with issues over that serial killer case, where he lost a boy he was caring for and, ultimately, lost Upton when she left town.
It was also time to meet actress Victoria Cartagena as she began playing Detective Emily Martel on the Chicago P.D. cast.
Recap of the Chicago P.D. season premiere
The new episode began with a glimpse of an Intelligence chalkboard. It had many names on it, past and present, paying homage to characters that had previously been on the show. That included Upton, Jay Halstead, Al Olinsky, and Antonio Dawson. It didn’t have a spot for Erin Lindsay, though.
The board also introduced viewers to the new Intelligence member, with the words “Detective Martel” written at the bottom. It was a sly revelation that time had passed since Upton left, but that Intelligence was also down a few people.
Voight was shown dressing to go on a call, revealing the scars from his ordeal last season. He took a call in the middle of the night when nobody else from his team was at the station. A montage was shown of Voight responding to many additional calls on his own.
No audible dialogue happened for a while as Voight took on way too many cases for Intelligence. It was revealed that the new detective was at the academy with Adam Ruzek, and they appeared to be friends. She had also been on the job for a month without a proper welcome from Voight.
An intense case for the Chicago P.D. season premiere
The primary case involved the murder of several drug dealers in one location.
Ruzek questioned Intelligence taking the case since they owed paperwork on “half a dozen” other cases. But Voight was adamant.
A dealer run off by the organization decided to go after dealers still working there.
Voight got the information by leaning on an addict on the scene. ASA Chapman (Sara Bues) showed up to tell Voight his warrants were “paper thin” and lacking details. He wasn’t putting in the work before arresting people. She noted that he was burning through cases and running from what he experienced last season.
As the case progressed, Voight learned that the dealers who were killed had been selling laced drugs (battery acid in the drugs). It had killed the suspect’s sister, and he was out seeking revenge.
A dramatic moment was when they got close to catching the suspect, as he got the drop on Ruzek and held a gun to his face. Ruzek was shaken up, but Martel saved him.
Later, as Ruzek was chatting with Martel, we learned her former partner was recently shot on the job.
They caught the suspect in the killings and got information from him to try to take down the drug boss who had been putting the “poison” on the street.
Voight used an informant, and they brought down that drug boss.
Deputy Chief Charlie Reid (Shawn Hatosy) showed up at the scene to introduce himself. This new character will be important later.
Back at the office, Chapman showed up to force Voight to talk. He confessed to seeing Olinsky and revealed that it opened his eyes to showing up more on the job. He also insinuated that he didn’t care about burning out.
While leaving the scene, Ruzek and Martel were bonding about life when they heard gunshots from a different location. They got out to investigate. Another shot rang out, and Ruzek looked over to see Martel was shot and laying in the street.
The episode ended on that shocking note.
More from One Chicago
A new actor has joined the Chicago Fire cast. He now plays the chief at Firehouse 51 and replaced fan favorite Chief Boden.
Here’s a recap video of Chicago P.D. Season 11. It fills in the information gaps about what Intelligence dealt with last year.
Previous episodes of Chicago P.D. are streaming on Peacock.
Chicago P.D. airs Wednesday at 10/9c on NBC.