Chicago P.D. 11×04 “Escape” is a pretty unremarkable episode with which to welcome Benjamin Levy Aguilar back to the show after a three-episode absence to begin the season. Torres was also absent at the end of the previous season, all with a very flimsy furlough excuse, presumably because of budget cuts and because honestly, Torres hasn’t been given anything big to do and his personal storyline isn’t so tired to the rest of the team that he can’t just be written off at a moment’s notice.
In a way, that’s the problem with Torres and the problem with Chicago P.D. in general. When Dante Torres was introduced, there was the hope that he was being introduced to grow the team. But that word, team, has lost its essence when it comes to this show, and it’s not even because budget and reality constraints require the show to do more character-focused episodes, no. As with most of the problems with the show, this is a choice.
A while ago, Chicago P.D. decided that the only way to tell the stories they wanted to tell in the way they wanted to tell them was to focus on one character at a time — and a couple in some episodes. That has been the strategy for the past few years, to the detriment of the team. Because even though the other characters make appearances in the background of character-centric episodes, they’re treated merely as extras.
That means we only see Adam in Adam-related episodes — and that in his episodes we will probably see a fair amount of Kim, but no one else. The same used to be true of Jay and Hailey, but now that Jay is gone, we end up seeing only Voight in the character-related episodes dedicated to everyone else. Sadly, Voight seems to be the one constant for everyone, because Chicago P.D. remains convinced he is the one character we all want to see.
But that takes us back to the root of the issue: There’s no sense of team in Chicago P.D., and there hasn’t been in a while — there are only the remains of what was built back in the day, and that doesn’t include Dante, which is why he feels like the odd man out.
And now there’s this storyline that’s …what? It’s surely not going to end well for Dante. It can’t even end well for Gloria. It doesn’t even feel like it’s going to advance Dante’s storyline or the team’s in any significant way. Maybe it’ll end up with another fictional bad guy in jail, but who truly cares about that?
It’s sad that this continues to be the question. What is Chicago P.D. giving us to care about? Precious little, every single week. And there doesn’t seem to be much hope ahead.
Things I think I think:
- I appreciate the normal Latino kid guilt, but is Dante ever going to be something other than a stereotype?
- Sometimes the little moments that we miss with this show make me so angry. I feel like I’ve missed so much of Dante and Kevin’s friendship.
- Whoever said men don’t gossip?
- I get the point of this episode, but I kinda hate the point of this episode. And I also hate that this show doesn’t seem to know what else to use Benjamin Levy Aguilar than for these episodes.
- Could they at least have gotten Dante a good love interest? Someone we can invest in? Someone his mom can invest in?
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago P.D. 11×04 “Escape”? Share with us in the comments below!
Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.
Yes I happened to agree Torres and Kevin both deserves better love interests than the women that the writers are sending them exspecialy Torres now speaking of Torres this new romance between him and that Criminal woman spells TROUBLE with the Chapial T. She got her under his skin and it worked honestly Torres should of been stronger than that Yes he is different from the other cops just like Vanessa was that what almost gotten her in trouble with Voight remember her old life and past almost cost her her job. For the record I like Torres he is a good cop but he needs tuff love even if it’s Kevin Atwater telling him about himself either his job or his old gang life and he can’t choose both look what’s going on with him now. So yes Torres deserves a woman that’s not a gang member, Criminal or a thief, he needs a good woman that’s not part of his old life or even if she was she wouldn’t allow a part of her past that use to be her love interests tell her different just like it is for Torres but a woman yes that knows what it means to be part of that life but with the help of her cops friends and her family she better herself and proven herself and her old life that she is a good cop and act just like cop and proven to others that she’s not like them she’s better than she was and so should Torres. And he has to face a guilty conscience just like in a way Jet not saying she felt bad about what she had done but she fell in love with a Criminal that kidnapped her and almost killed her for the record love that she had for him should of been out the window. Poor Torres just like Jet he deserves a better love interests well at least she’s with Bobby but still.
I agree with a lot of what you have said here. They need to go back to the way the show told stories prior to season 8 and allow everyone to shine in most episodes instead of having “the Hailey episode” followed by “the Kevin episode,” ect. I have not liked how they have handled Dante’s character since the midway point of last season. He hasn’t had nearly enough screen time.
Unfortunately, these budget cuts seem to be a real thing across One Chicago. Of all the shows, Med is handling it the best. We don’t see Dr. Archer after the kidney transplant- makes sense. This week we don’t have a patient needing psychiatry services, so no Dr. Charles- makes sense.
Torres, who barely has a year under his belt, is getting furlough time- makes no sense, Frankly, it would have been a lot better if we were told Dante was on an undercover assignment to explain his absence in the first 3 episodes and then tie that into this episode. It would have meant that the beginning of this episode would have been written a little different, but it would have made a lot more sense.