Chicago P.D. started off in a unique way this week, without giving any of the “previously on” scenes to start things out for the episode called In The Dark.
Instead, we saw as Upton was having trouble sleeping and she first went for some water and then got back in bed to do some more thinking.
It was during that thinking where she flashed back to shooting Roy, to having to tell Burgess that Roy got away, and even up to right after when she lied to Halstead about what was going on with her.
There was then a montage of things Upton was doing to try to sleep, including meditating, with each effort failing to yield any sleep for her. It wasn’t completely clear how much time was passing, but it seemed like we were watching a time jump take place in the world of Chicago P.D.
This was a way to cover what has been going on during recent episodes, but to do it only from Upton’s point of view. It worked well to set up the rest of the episode, which was largely going to revolve around Upton’s internal guilt and inability to get past the actions she had carried out.
For our readers, though, here is a breakdown of what happened on the last episode of Chicago P.D., where we learned more about Halstead’s past. Prior to that, Halstead got used by Voight to unknowingly take out a suspect that could have proven what Voight and Upton had done.
Chicago P.D. Season 9, Episode 4 recap
During another sleepless night, Upton decided to just go to work early. Ruzek was there working on files from a drug case they had just completed. As they joked around a bit, a call came in on the radio, and they decided to respond.
Upton and Ruzek arrived at an abandoned home nicknamed the “death house” and went inside. Two officers were there and they showed an unlocked area where a kid had been held and possibly tortured. The smell was horrendous and one of the officers was vomiting from it.
Nobody else was there, but a call came in a bit later of a kid breaking into a garage nearby. Upton responded to that call as well and found an injured kid hiding out in the corner of that garage. She coaxed the child out and it turned out to be a nine-year-old boy who had been missing for eight months. It was clear right away that Upton was taking this case badly and it was only compounded by her sleep deprivation.
Through interviewing the kid, Intelligence was able to piece together a location that the abductor had taken him to. It was a quarry, and when they went to investigate it, seven bodies of young children were found in the water. Voight let everyone know they were now searching for a serial killer.
Voight sent Upton back to the station to ask questions of a man who was in charge of the abandoned property. It was right around then that it appeared Upton was starting to lose track of time and that she was blacking out for large chunks of time despite actually being awake. She was also suddenly appearing to have injuries but with no explanations for what was happening.
Upton is losing it on the job
After washing her face in the bathroom, Upton seemed to snap back to reality, only to see that the guy she had been asking questions was seriously injured and bleeding out in the interrogation room.
Voight and Trudy came up in time to get the man help, and he was taken to Chicago Med. When Halstead went to talk to Upton, he told her that the man had pulled a loose screw from the table and slit his own wrists. Upton blamed herself for allowing it to happen and started having a panic attack. As she was breaking down, she almost told Halstead about Roy, but Voight walked in, and she clammed up. Halstead could see something was really wrong there.
Through some more investigating, Intelligence figured out that their suspect was the brother of the man they had in custody (who tried to kill himself when the police got close to figuring things out). They decided to investigate several other properties that the brother in custody had been in charge of, and at one, Upton found a small boy who was trying to escape. She was then tackled by the suspect and after a fight, she shot him twice and killed him.
Halstead confronts Voight
That case was closed, but Halstead needed to know what Voight was holding over Upton. He used a friend to track the GPS in Voight’s vehicle, which led him to where Roy had been buried. Voight showed up there, as he had an alert for when anyone checked his GPS. Halstead confronted him about Roy and Upton, to which Voight ended up confessing everything that had happened.
Halstead blamed Voight for putting Upton in that position and punched him right in the mouth. Voight stood in silence as Halstead drove off, and the next scene was Upton waking up (startled) to find Halstead standing in the doorway staring at her. She knew that he knew, and there was a silent moment before the credits rolled.
Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 19/9c on NBC.