Ahead Of NBC’s Chicago P.D. Losing A Member Of Team, I Really Missed One Star From The Latest Episode

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Be warned: this contains spoilers for the fourth episode of Chicago P.D. Season 13, titled “Root Cause.” You can watch it now with a Peacock subscription.

The start of Season 13 of Chicago P.D. focused on resolving several storylines: Voight rebuilding his team, the emotional challenges faced by Burzek as new parents, and the introduction of a new team member. The episodes also hinted at a major villain for the season and revealed a potentially heartbreaking past for Voight. However, I’m still thinking about a character who wasn’t in this episode, especially knowing one team member will be leaving soon.

A New Chicago P.D. Big Bad?

Although Chicago P.D. usually focuses on individual cases each week, each season often features a major villain for the Intelligence Unit to investigate. It will be difficult for the show to create a villain as compelling as Chief Reid from last season, and many viewers enjoyed the storylines involving Upton’s previous adversary, Sean O’Neal. It’s too soon to know for sure, but Raymond Bell, who was introduced in the episode “Root Cause,” could be a significant antagonist for at least the first part of Season 13.

It turned out Gary Bell was the killer this time, but honestly, it feels like his dad, Raymond, is the real reason Gary became who he was. Voight definitely noticed Raymond didn’t seem to care much when he heard about Gary, and I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of Raymond this season.

The episode revolved around a photograph of a young Hank Voight found on his car. Throughout most of the hour, Voight avoided explaining the photo to Imani, but she figured out it showed him as a child. The mystery of how the photo got there – and who put it there – wasn’t solved, and Voight remained tight-lipped about his past, as expected.

Right now, we have a lot more questions than solutions. It’s possible Raymond is a distraction, and the main focus of the episode is actually the mysterious photo. Regardless, this episode was significant for Voight, who had Imani by his side and received support from Burgess, Torres, Ruzek, and Platt.

What About Atwater, Ruzek, And The Rest Of Season 13?

I realized I accidentally left Atwater off the list of characters who supported Voight in “Root Cause,” and that’s because he wasn’t in the episode. It’s fairly common for actors on the One Chicago shows to miss an episode now and then, especially after changes to the shows’ production and subsequent renewal by NBC.

It’s pretty common for characters on TV shows to be absent from an episode without explanation, but I was really disappointed to not see Atwater in an episode where most of the main cast was present. This is because Patrick John Flueger, who’s played Ruzek alongside LaRoyce Hawkins’ Atwater for thirteen seasons, is taking a short break from Chicago P.D.

It’s unclear how the show will deal with Ruzek being gone, but I’m interested to see if they handle it similarly to how Chicago Fire managed when Taylor Kinney took a leave of absence last year. The news definitely made me think about the rest of the Intelligence Unit and who might take on bigger roles this season. It’s especially interesting timing with Atwater being absent from an episode! While I’d love to see him promoted to detective eventually, I always enjoy episodes that focus on his character.

Good news for fans of Chicago P.D.! An upcoming episode will heavily feature LaRoyce Hawkins. According to NBC, the episode, titled “Miami,” will air on October 29th.

Atwater reunites with an old friend from his academy days after a bombing rocks downtown Chicago.

Let’s hope Atwater has a better reunion with an old friend this season than Ruzek did last year! The preview for the upcoming episode, “Miami,” shows Atwater will be working in uniform during at least some of it, and there’s more to come…

Don’t miss the latest episode of Chicago P.D., titled “Miami,” which airs on NBC Wednesday, October 29th at 10 p.m. Eastern. It follows new episodes of Chicago Fire at 9 p.m. and Chicago Med at 8 p.m. You can also watch all three shows anytime by subscribing to Peacock.

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2025-10-29 13:09