TV Review: Chicago PD Season 1 Episode 10 "At Least It's Justice"

Chicago PD is back.

"At Least It's Justice" deals with the immediate aftermath of the death of the pedophile Jay has been stalking from last episode.

There also was a case. Let me talk about both and then tell you where I would have done things differently.

The case this week was by far the least interesting the show has ever done. I say that with love.

It started off great with CPD getting called to a Firefighter scene.

Mills and Severide had helped a trapped man who was in an accident, only to have the guy punch Mills in the face and run off.

CPD and CFD find the reason the man ran away - a mutilated torso in the trunk.

Intriguing, right? It was also (I believe) the first time a case started off from an original Firefighter call. Cool.

They identify the body as a DNA expert for the states attorney's office. They track down the man who he was going to testify against, who ends up being in some weird orgy.

After Severide doesn't identify him as the man who ran, he picks out who did run from mugshots.

The group raids the salvage yard he's in, and find him in a barrel dissolving in acid.

They go talk to the lawyer he was calling, who says the man who ran from the Firefighter scene was fearing for his life after some guy took over his salvage yard to sell stolen cars.

They track a stolen car and the group gets into a fire fight with the guy in a huge parking lot. After the man shoots a local patrol officer, he somehow disappears. Think about it.

The camera did a pull-back crane shot to show how big the place is, which is fine.

But you're telling me all the main characters (outside of Jin and Jay) are there, and he slips through their fingers AND local PD who are also there? What? That tells me those cops don't know how to set a parameter well.

I know that isn't the case, but that's the only logical conclusion one comes to after watching him escape seemingly dozens of cops.

It's not a plot hole, but it's enough of a weird moment between the choice in story, location, and the way it was shot to make you say 'no way that happens.'

The story gets a familiar Law and Order vibe where they find a sextape between the Lawyer and Sims, so they bring her in.

She says she was blackmailed, Voight and Antonio say she orchestrated the whole thing because the DNA expert was killing her cases, yada yada.

As good as cases can be in this show, they will never be why you watch it to begin with.

After the weirdly shot and written parking lot shootout, Ruzek uses the opportunity to talk to Burgess about firing her weapon for the first time on the job. This leads to the flirting and kiss.

I'm pretty neutral on the situation, but I think the natural connector here was the first time firing her gun, so on that account the show did a good job bringing them together through that experience.

I'm interested to see what happens with Ruzek's significant other now.

At the beginning of the episode, Jay is stripped of his gun and badge by the commander and Voight until the case of the dead pedophile Jay had been stalking got solved.

The evidence against him was security cam footage showing he followed him the night he died.

For the most part, this story played out well. It provided an opportunity for a lot of character interactions - Jin shutting him out, Antonio getting pissed because he brought Jay on (then later giving him the file on the pedophile), and Olinsky talking about the Browning case a little.

The only real character interaction that was missing was Lindsay, who gives him a card for a good union rep.

For two people who almost became romantically involved, wouldn't she try and catch up with him after he got his gun taken away to find out if he really did it? I found that odd.

I never really got the sense that Jay did it, and I think they could have beefed up the evidence against him. Since he really wasn't pushed too far into a corner, I wasn't surprised when they explained the pedophile's father lying on his statement and Jay photographing the pedophile coming home 1 hour before he died.

It would make sense for the father to snap like that. The twist would have hit harder however if Jay was looking more guilty than he did.

Severide comes by at the end of the episode and kisses Lindsay a few times in the hallway of her apartment.

I can dig it. I like this pairing - if anything for the fact that the characters are on different shows and it only promotes more crossing over between the two characters.

All in all, Chicago PD squeaks by this week. The benefit of having so many juggling stories per week is the fact that most of them will save any bad ones that come across. I can forgive a clunky case if there is enough good side character work.

And there is some fine character work done here. I'm interested in more crossing over between characters happening soon.

Photo Credit: NBC.com