Chicago P.D. 11×01 Review: “Unpacking”

Chicago P.D. 11×01 “Unpacking” is an episode about Hailey Upton, about who she is deep down, what she has become during her time at Intelligence, and what she wants to be going forward. In a vacuum, it’s a pretty well-crafted episode that sets the stage for Tracy Spiridakos‘ Hailey departing Chicago P.D. by making her look at the kind of cop she is now, and how that influences the kind of person she is. The problem, of course, is this show doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Hailey Upton’s character isn’t a character we met yesterday, and though the show picks a decent thread to force her departure – and hopefully a reckoning about Voight, the episode still ends with Hailey asking the man who has set the tone for what Intelligence has become for advice. And, of course, there’s the fact that during the hour we see Hailey has signed and then mailed her divorce papers.

The issue isn’t as much that Chicago P.D. has chosen to go ahead with this storyline when they could be setting an exit that would satisfy Upstead fans, it’s that the show has had to break Hailey down to do so. Well, that and the way they wrote Jay Halstead out of Chicago P.D. still smarts, even a season later.

So, let us discuss the issues with the storyline, the Upstead of it all, and whether Hailey Upton is truly a “good cop” as we unpack Chicago P.D. 11×01 “Unpacking”:

FINAL DECREE OF DISSOLUTION

The problem isn’t just the storyline (though the storyline is bad, doesn’t matter how little time they had to plan for Jesse Lee Soffer’s exit), it’s that there were so many ways to do it better. Last season, the show had the “excuse” that Tracy was staying and Jesse was leaving, so they had to write that broken version of Hailey because they had to get her to a place where she could move on. This season, however, there is no excuse. This is a choice the show is making, and it’s a bad one.

For Upstead, of course, and for fans of the couple. Not because they were owed something, because TV doesn’t owe us anything, but because after investing in a relationship for so long, it’s heartbreaking to see the same show that gifted you with that thing take a hammer to it for absolutely no reason.

But for Hailey too (and for Jay, though we’ve discussed why before and there’s no need to go into it again), because the mistakes made in writing out Jay have ended up conditioning her character’s arc.

What could Hailey do in the position the show has put her in other than divorce Jay? I don’t blame her for making the decision, I would have made the same one. And it would have hurt, but I would have felt justified. The problem isn’t in her decision, it’s that for years we met and got invested in a story about two people who would never, could never end up where Hailey and Jay ended up. And now we are here because the show would rather we forget about who those people were, just as they have.

Sorry, not sorry, but we can’t. We won’t. We own the DVDs.  

I’M NOT A BAD COP

To hear the words come out of Hailey’s mouth in this episode is to feel like this whole hour, this whole season, and maybe even past seasons, are a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because Hailey isn’t a bad person, and she certainly doesn’t want to be a bad cop. But her instincts are shaped by her time in Intelligence, and that means that she has a hard time giving people the benefit of the doubt, even when they deserve it.

And she’s got absolutely no one to call her out on it. Intelligence could still somewhat work as it is if these people were ever willing to truly call each other out. But that’s not the show Chicago P.D. is, not the dynamics they have built.

It’s the Voight way or nothing.

Chicago P.D. has always been a show unwilling to deal with the realities of policing, and though this episode is much more self-aware than previous installments of the show have been, it only is so because it serves the Hailey storyline – which isn’t enough. If Chicago P.D. really wants to delve into social commentary, it needs to commit to it, just as they’ve committed to copaganda for over a decade.

WHAT DO I DO?

What does Hailey do now? Hopefully whatever the opposite of what Voight thinks, if he can ever come up with an answer. Because the truth is, where Hailey is right now, she is, in so many ways, because of Voight. And though the show seems to want us to forget about the fact that Jay left Hailey and the unit because of who he was becoming under Voight, and now the setup for Hailey is pretty much the same – we can’t.

The issue with Voight’s character has always been that the show tries to play fast and loose with the fact that he is a bad cop, a bad influence, and overall, not a great guy – good intentions aside. If Chicago P.D. had ever embraced Voight the “morally grey” character, we would have all been better for it. Instead, we’ve had to put up with his moralizing and characters going to him for advice that he is not at all qualified to give.

Where does Hailey go from here? How does Chicago P.D. write her out? There is still a chance they do so by making her remember that the type of cop she is, the woman she wants to be, isn’t at all what Voight wants in his unit. That her place isn’t in Intelligence, and that she isn’t – shouldn’t – be defined by Voight, or by Jay.

That can even be done by reuniting her with her husband (or ex-husband?). As much as the Upstead wedding was very much them, there would be certain symmetry in all of it crashing and burning only for Hailey and Jay to be able to choose each other again, outside of Intelligence, where they can be the people they always wanted to be. Do I trust the show to go there? No. But I think, even if they don’t, somehow, that’s going to be the ending I hold onto. It’s the only one that makes sense for the Hailey and Jay I know and love.

Things I think I think:

• I get the desire to start the season with Hailey, as Tracy Spiridakos is exiting the show, but the way they “answered” the what happened to Adam cliffhanger felt so disjointed. Fans deserved to see that scene between Adam and Kim that was cut from the finale.
• Opening on Voight, just as we ended last season on Voight, is a CHOICE all things considered.
• The 6-month time jump also is.
• JASON? JASON HALSTEAD? Who the f*ck is Jason? It’s been 10 years and this show wants us to believe Jay was always Jason but no one, including his brother, ever mentioned this? Come ooooooon. This is a bad joke.
• Furlough for Torres? I mean, I guess at least we have an excuse.
• The crisis prevention unit should be in every episode.
• Sure, sure, Hailey is just going to leave the divorce papers on her desk for everyone to see. That tracks.
• “It would be real simple if the problem was bad cops.” Indeed.
• “Is he fit to do this?” No.
• You all know this.
• “It’s Adam’s spot.”
• Finally some anger, Hailey. Finally.
• “I’m not mad at Jay.” I call BS, Hailey.
• You literally had no closure. Of course you’re mad. BE MAD.
• At least there’s this: Voight can’t tell you what to do. You gotta figure that out yourself.
• The message at the end is nice, but a trigger warning would have been better.

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago P.D. 11×01 “Unpacking”? Share with us in the comments below!

Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.