Recap of Chicago PD, Season 5 Episode 5, ‘Home’
The latest Chicago PD was every bit as intense as it was heartbreaking. Following up on last week’s episode, we saw the fallout of Atwater encouraging his little brother to identify a killer in his neighborhood, on top of an awful case of human trafficking.
Kidnapping cases are always hard, but when they involve children, things just get a million times worse than they already were. Tonight was no different — the moment Voight opened that shed, and a little boy ran out, I knew this was going to be on of those episodes that were hard to watch. What started out as a drug bust, suddenly turned into this massive case of children being sold online, and things just snowballed from there.
The case
Once they found the Viatnemese little boy, and two other dead kids, the Intelligence Unit soon discovered that he had actually been adopted recently. With the help of a translator, they managed to establish a timeline of his time in the States, and found out that the first family he had been placed with had given him away to another couple. Then this second family gave him away to a man, who was the one who had locked him in the shed with the other two boys.
After they managed to locate the first family, Kevin and Ruzek paid them a visit, only to find out that the adoptive dad had been away on a business trip, and didn’t even know his newly adopted son had been missing. We soon find out that the mom thought the kid was too difficult, and had decided to give him away, without Dad’s consent. Things became very ugly, but they managed to find out who the second couple really was.
It turns out that this second couple actually thought they were helping to save kids from abusive homes, and had no idea they were helping a black market of children auctions. The whole thing was as ugly and awful as it sounds, and the whole team was affected by it, but the case really hit close to home for Kevin.
Atwater
I really love Kevin. He brings levity to the team, and I love his camaraderie with everyone — especially with Burgess. Following up on last week’s episode, things didn’t go as smoothly as he had thought they would after Jordan, his little brother, identified a killer.
The teen had been terrified something was going to happen and, after that final scene last week — with Atwater with Jordan and Vanessa at a restaurant — and how Kevin kept waiting for something to happen, I knew this was going to come back to haunt him.
So in the middle of this awful case, Kevin got a call from Jordan, saying that something had happened to Vanessa. He rushes home with Kim and is horrified to find out that some of the kids in the neighborhood had attacked his little sister, threatening to rape her because her brother Jordan was a snitch. The situation rattles the whole family, obviously, and Kevin is just so torn about what to do.
Even though these two kids are all the family he has, it’s not safe for them to live with him anymore. So he makes the hardest decision of his life — especially after Jordan took it upon himself to avenge his sister, and Kevin found him just in time to stop him from doing something really, really stupid — and ultimately chooses the option to send them away to Texas, where they’ll be safe.
I have a feeling this arc is not over, though. This will come back somehow and bite him in the ass.
Voight
Now let’s talk about Hank Voight. I’ll be honest and say that I have never been a fan of his, but he had been getting better, especially after Justin died and Erin was all he had left. But now that she moved to New York, it feels like he has reverted back to his season 1 self, with complete disregard to rules and morals.
I have been noticing this for a couple of episodes now — particularly in episode 5×03, with the Gloria Morales case — and I have to say, I don’t like it. At all. If this is how they are going to handle the consequences of Lindsay leaving, I already really, really dislike it.
I hate that he has been spying on Antonio — and that lack of trust is really telling — and his recklessness seems to only be getting worse. I have no idea if we’re ever going to see Erin again, as Sophia Bush has 100% left the show, but a big part of me hopes that we’ll at least get to see her one more time to put Voight in his place.
Other highlights:
– Al is such an enabler. I know he’s Voight’s best friend and all, but don’t encourage him to do stupid stuff, Al. Jesus. I thought you were the more centered one of the two of you.
– Is it just me or was there a different kind of vibe between Halstead and Upton? If that’s true, abort mission now. I know Lindsay is gone — and my Linstead heart is completely broken — and I know Jay is eventually going to move on. I don’t care with who, as long as it’s not Upton. Not this soon. If they go down that road, it just feels even more like they’re just replacing Sophia Bush, and that is just not okay.
Chicago PD airs on Wednesdays at 9/8C on NBC.