Chicago P.D. 9×19 “Fool’s Gold” isn’t about Kevin Atwater personally, not as much as I would like. It’s still an interesting episode that allows Kevin to do the one thing the previous Kevin-centered episodes barely did: get scenes with the members of the team he rarely gets to interact with.
It’s a small thing, but it also isn’t. Kevin Atwater feels like he’s alone on an island sometimes. As the only character without a ship in the unit, even the episodes that focus on him this season have mostly focused on who he is outside of his job, a good — an important — thing. But we’ve gotten plenty of episodes focused on who Kim, Adam, Jay, Hailey and Voight are as cops. Kevin deserves that focus, too.
Particularly considering that, most times, it feels like who Kevin is as a cop, particularly in the world we live in, is the best, most interesting and impactful story that could be told. But nah, we gotta spend some time on the kind of cop Voight is, right? That’s super duper important.
Kevin Atwater is good
It’s hard to tell stories about the police these days. We don’t live in a black and white world, and though we never have, we now all exist in a collective understanding of what that means. It’s hard to look at the police and just think good things. In fact, for a lot of people, it’s easier to look at the police and think only bad things.
Police shows hardly ever go into that, because, well …how can they? Particularly without enough POC characters to focus the stories on. Chicago P.D. has tried, and it has both succeeded and failed, mostly because they only have Kevin to tell those stories right now and also cause, you know, Voight exists.
But this episode is about what we would like to get from police — the benefit of the doubt. Even if they’re wrong. Especially when they’re wrong. It’s better to let fifty guilty people walk than to make one innocent person “pay” for something they didn’t do. Simple as that.
But we’re back to Voight
Three episodes to go, and we’re going back to Anna. To Voight. To the way of telling police stories that hasn’t worked for so long, that has never truly worked for Chicago P.D. Do I really expect something good to come out of it? Do I expect a satisfying end to the season? Of course I don’t.
At least not when it comes to Hank Voight. There are still ways, of course. Outs the show has refused to take, again and again. But they feel like pipe dreams more than realities now. But resignation doesn’t mean acceptance. I can enjoy the good things about this show, the other characters, the dynamics, episodes like this one, that give Kevin Atwater a chance to shine. I can’t enjoy or support the Voight way. No one should.
Things I think I think:
- Kevin, we already ship you with someone else. We refuse.
- When Kevin said, “I got you,” I felt that.
- NOT THE CAAAAAAAAR.
- Voight giving instructions and Jay being, like, three steps ahead of you is chef’s kiss.
- I shouldn’t be THIS excited to get Kevin and Jay scenes, and then Kevin and Kim scenes. But here we are.
- When Kevin said he believed her, well, I believed her. Because I believed Kevin.
- Look, I’m not sure I agree with Kevin that giving up is the answer, but sometimes you have to actually give people space, which isn’t really what he’s been doing.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago P.D. 9×19 “Fool’s Gold”? Share with us in the comments below!
Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.
