Chicago P.D. 11×05 “Split Second” is one of the best episodes of Season 11 of the show. Giving LaRoyce Hawkins a chance to shine in a storyline that is not focused on Kevin Atwater’s race translates to an emotional, well-acted hour of television. Ironically, of course, when the show manages to pull off hours like this one, it just serves as a stark reminder of what every other hour isn’t.
The episode works because the show isn’t heavy-handed with the message, and because the journey Kevin goes through during the hour feels real. Being a first responder is, in many ways, an impossible job. It’s running towards danger while others run away, knowing that in most cases, you’re not going to be able to help as many people as you want to. The odds are always against you, but still you try.
So that’s what Kevin does, and the decisions he makes feel like the wrong ones in hindsight, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t do the best he could under the circumstances. That’s all we can ask of Kevin, and that’s all he should really ask of himself.
Except, of course, it’s not. We are always our harshest critics, and Kevin Atwater is no exception in that regard. He spends the entire episode blaming himself for the things he didn’t do, and questioning the things he did do. There’s no winning for Kevin. Not with others, no. With himself. No one else is blaming him. This is a burden he’s shouldering alone.
But that’s always the heaviest burden, the one we place on ourselves. That’s the one that keeps him up at night, the one that takes him back to the crime scene, the one that keeps him from pursuing a suspect because he’s afraid he might lose another civilian.
Whether that’s good or bad, that’s up to Kevin. In the end, this is one of those cases that’ll stick with him, one of those lessons that will remain. It’ll shape who he is as a cop, and who he will continue to be going forward. Maybe that’ll mean that next time, he’ll make a different choice, perhaps it’ll mean a different outcome. It’s hard to tell. But the impact remains nonetheless.
The hope is, of course, that the show can find a way to take the moments from Chicago P.D. 11×05 “Split Second” and apply them going forward in a way that we can see. That’s the beauty of storytelling, we want to be able to follow it. To see 1+1 equal 2 on screen and be able to say, yes, I get how this equals 2. Not to just see the 2 and have someone tell us it’s obviously 2.
And that’s what’s been missing from Chicago P.D. lately. That’s what we need more of. Episodes like this one are a good foundation, now the show just needs to put them together.
Things I think I think:
- I’ve really enjoyed what they’ve done with Kevin’s dad, and I did not expect that to be the case.
- Truly cannot imagine being the kind of person who sees danger and runs towards it.
- The most relatable thing in this episode is Kevin blaming himself for not being able to do basically the impossible.
- “It’s me,” says Adam, and I almost wish that had the weight it used to carry.
- Of course Kevin doesn’t want to talk! No one in this show ever wants to talk!
- The Intelligence Unit as a whole needs therapy.
- “Swallow you whole, if you let it.”
- Again, the Intelligence Unit as a whole!
- The ending was hard, because …knowing there was a chance doesn’t mean that, in the moment, in a split second, it was that as simple as it seems now, with the benefit of hindsight.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago P.D. 11×05 “Split Second”? Share with us in the comments below!
Chicago P.D. airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.