TV Review: Chicago PD Season 1 Episode 4 "Now is Always Temporary"

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Now is Always Temporary is here. The episode followed a familiar format: there was the main story with the cast, a side story with the two officers Atwater and Burgess, and some small character background exploration.

Let us start with the story that I really liked. It was the call that Atwater and Burgess go on involving the woman hoarder. After being instructed to arrest the woman who was hoarding and did not clean up in the allotted time given to her, Burgess refused to go through with it. In some way, she seemed justified - it was just some crazy woman who wasn't hurting anyone.

After Sergeant Platt yells at them for being soft, she orders Atwater to take the lead and go back to arrest her. After they come back and investigate further, Burgess discovers a missing child being hidden in the wall.

Naturally, this upsets Burgess - they never would have found the child if they were soft and left it alone.

There was a nice moment after in the bar where Atwater tells her to stay who she is - having a big heart isn't a bad thing.

While Sergeant Platt is clearly made to be a comedic character, I don't find a lot of the humor transferring on screen. However, I think an experienced cop on the lower levels (from the main cast) is an interesting fit for Atwater and Burgess. Her hard lesson - no soft cops allowed - was a profound one to watch both of them learn.

I felt like it was a very natural moment many cops go through. It was also good to have the EMT's who rescue the kid not be Rafferty and Shay - that would be overdoing the cameos.

We've established that the shows are in the same universes, now we have to show that there is more than one EMT ambulance in Chicago. Chicago PD did a good job in that regard.

We get some new background on Olinsky. It turns out he is separated from his wife and is living in the family garage. We meet his daughter Lexi in this episode, after Olinsky is called to the office of the principal to discuss the joints found in Lexi's locker.

Later on, we witness Olinsky's father/cop personality when he tracks down Lexi's boyfriend and gets him to reveal that Lexi was holding the weed for him. Naturally, this pissed off Lexi, but in the end she still showed up to dance with Olinsky for the father/daughter dance - except in their driveway because she was suspended from school.

Sweet moment, and not flashy which is okay for this. The most important thing was it fit Olinsky's soft-spoken lone ranger character.

My goal for Voight's son is almost happening. Based on his actions last episode, I had hoped he would go to jail for longer. It seems like he is on that track.

After being pissed at the job his dad set up with the city, he tried to hit up Voight for 10k for a start up business which Voight obviously didn't go for.

At the end of the episode, we find him being bailed out of jail by Voight after a bar fight. I hope that this is the spiral downwards for him to do something dumb and be put away for good.

Jay is continuing to stalk the family of the man who murdered a kid so many years ago. This time he punched the father in a bar.

That triggered a call to Voight, who tells Jay to back off. Something tells me that won't happen just yet.

The main story involved the group investigating a domestic dispute. Very quickly, it gets more complicated and ends up being a counterfeiting ring they bust up. There are specifics of how it turned into that, which aren't very important. As much as Chicago PD tries to not be the same old cop show, it is unavoidable for their main stories that take up the bulk of the episode.

Some stories are disguised better - this one unfortunately was not. Interrogate witness and get new name, find new name and interrogate that person who gives you this, etc.

I don't think there was anything wrong with the case - there is just a limit to how good something like that can be by design.

The casual viewer might view Chicago PD like Law and Order for the potential familiarity, but that is not why I love Chicago PD. Detective Lindsay punching that person out at the end was sweet though, I'll say that.

The most touching moment came at the end of the episode when Lindsay drove a hooker who was essential to solving the case to go get a score. Lindsay had promised her ever since she gave up the information they needed, but instead for the whole episode Lindsay handcuffed her to one of the outdoor cages. What seemed like a backing out of her deal or a maybe a trick, turned out to be a tough lesson Lindsay wanted to teach her.

After she was completely sober and still not on drugs, Lindsay wanted to give her a choice.

She parked on a street where the hooker could score on one side, or she could enter the nearby clinic to get clean and turn her life around.

After giving the hooker her card, Lindsay drove away and was true to her word: it was up for the girl to decide.

As she drove away, Lindsay started to break down watching the girl on the corner. It wasn't emotion for just the girl - this was from someone who sees a lot of herself in the girl.

It was a nice glimpse into Lindsay's past.

It didn't spell it out exactly how bad she was before Voight saved her, but it allowed us to see that Lindsay had it bad enough to recognize how fast this girl could screw her life up permanently if she continued down this path.

I hope that like Voight and D'Anthony, this girl comes back to Lindsay for help so we can see Lindsay reveal more of her past while helping her out.

Photo Credit: TV Fanatic