Chicago P.D. 9×14 “Blood Relation” is about what family means, and the ways that words can be twisted to fit so many different things. Because the case is about destructive “family,” while the court case is about blood family vs. the family you choose.
Let me start by making one thing clear: Blood isn’t the only thing that makes a family. Family is made up of love, support and choice. You can love the people you are related to by blood and choose to have them in your life. But sometimes, the people you are related to by blood aren’t your family. Sometimes, family is the people you choose along the way or the ones the universe puts in your path.
That’s what happened with Makayla, Kim and yes, Adam. They’re family. It’s as simple as that, and blood relation doesn’t matter more than the love they feel for each other, the way they fit together. And though this episode ends in about as cruel a cliffhanger as Chicago P.D. has given us in a while, nothing changes that one truth.
So, let us talk about Burzek as an united front, and what family means as we review Chicago P.D. 9×14 “Blood Relation”:
UNITED FRONT
Adam and Kim are a united front this episode, like they have been with everything Makayla-related for a while. And though Kim herself doesn’t have the right words to explain to a judge what they are, or even what they can one day become, she is clear about one thing – she, Adam and Makayla are family. The rest they’ll figure out together, because that’s what family does.
It doesn’t feel like enough, at least not at first. But it ends up being so because the episode also makes clear that Kevin, and the rest of the team, they’re family too. Not the same kind of nuclear family, but family, nonetheless. And they will be there when Kim and Adam need support, and they will be there next week, as Adam and Kim search for their kid. That’s what family does.
Before that horrible cliffhanger, there’s a moment with Adam and Kim that is about relief and love but that is also clearly romantic. A kiss usually is. They don’t talk about it, because there are more important things, and they likely won’t get into it next week, because, again, more important things, but they need to get into it soon. They need to talk about their relationship. They need clarity. For themselves. For Makayla. For the family they’re building together.
BLOOD DOESN’T MAKE YOU MORE FAMILY
“Blood Relation” or not, Makayla’s uncle is wrong about Kim and Adam not being Makayla’s real family. But he’s not the only one who thinks this way, not the only one who dismisses the bonds of choice, which are truly the most important. Makayla is a kid, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t choose Kim, didn’t choose Adam in her own way. And Kim and Adam are adults. As an adult, you don’t just suddenly find yourself with a family. You make the choice to make some people your family. This is especially true of someone as young as Makayla. There’s no accident here. And we should never consider families of choice less important, or less “real” than people who are related by blood. Family is family—period. No qualifiers.
Next week, Kim and Adam get to fight for their family, and I truly hope that’s the end of this storyline that has seem them both, but especially Kim, faced with trauma after trauma, after trauma. Worse yet, it’s seen her face all of this without ever being allowed the space or the screen time to grapple with what the things she’s lived through means. And that’s without going into how she’s still in the dark about what really happened to the man who kidnapped her and tried to kill her not that long ago.
Female characters in general—and Kim Burgess in particular—deserve more than to have each and every storyline be about how much pain can be inflicted upon them. And that doesn’t mean we don’t want to see the bad. We do. The bad is a part of life. We just also want to see the good, the happiness, the romance, the moments where she gets to be a mom, where she gets to be a friend.
And when bad thing happens, we want the characters to be allowed feelings about the things that happen to them—on screen. This feels like a good start, but we need so much more.
Things I think I think:
- It’s always fun to get Marina Squerciati speaking some Spanish.
- UNCLE KEV.
- Of course they have their own handshake!
- The way I needed Kim to talk to Kev about this. And this makes it two weeks in a row where the women of Intelligence interact with Kevin and the episode is better for it.
- Look, I know this sounds like a fic, but they should have called EVERYONE to testify.
- Kim worrying about whether she’s good for Makayla is actually a sign she is, because she cares enough to worry about it.
- What’s with this unit and rushing after a suspect without backup?
- The quiet support from Adam as Kim was on the stand? That was EVERYTHING.
- Oh yay, another kiss we’re not talking about!
- This is a cruel cliffhanger, okay? CRUEL.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago P.D. 9×14 “Blood Relation”? Share with us in the comments below!
Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays on NBC.
This has been another great episode in a season full of them. There are a lot of possibilities for how the next episode could unfold. Episode 15 is an episode where the new dynamic between Jay and Voight could be tested with Ruzek pushing back at Jay. I also could also see this as a case where Jay is OK with Hank’s way of doing things because getting MaKayla will be paramount. This should be a case centric episode with all hands on deck and hopefully plenty of Trudy until the end of the episode when Burzek hopefully has a big moment.
While the obvious suspects are MaKayla’s uncle and members of her father’s gang, this is One Chicago and obvious isn’t always the answer.