Chicago P.D. Season 12, Episode 21 ‘Open Caskett‘ is an explosive episode, one that doesn’t throw a stone, but a bomb at the entire Intelligence team. In a way, that’s a really good thing for a show that, at times, has felt like it skirts consequences way too much. And yet, it’s not like we want Deputy Chief Reid to win. So, it turns out that in this case, we really are rooting for Voight.
Or at least, we’re rooting for the team. For Dante, who made a really bad choice, but whom we’ve grown to care for in the past two seasons. For Kim, who covered for him, because she protects her team. And for the rest of the characters, for Adam and Kevin and Kiana, even if Reid doesn’t have anything specific on them. Because Reid came for all of Intelligence, and that means all of Intelligence is going to fight back.
In a way, it’s the perfect setup. We have our issues with Voight; we’ve always had them. And in a lot of ways, Reid is right; he and Voight are cut from the same cloth. We know where Voight’s literal bodies are buried. But in so many ways, he’s wrong, and that’s the game the show wants to play. It just has rarely played it as effectively as it does this episode.
Hank Voight never needed to be a hero to be an interesting character. He didn’t even need to be a hero to be someone we’d root for. We just needed a worse guy than him on the other side, a reason for his morally grey everything, and for the show to stop pretending he was ever the good guy. Hank Voight is and has always been questionable, at best. That’s where he thrives. That’s where the show thrives.
So, this version of Chicago P.D.? The one that isn’t pretending what Voight does is good, the one that is just trying to tell a good story while accepting the character they’ve built all these years? That’s kind of an interesting show. And with Chicago P.D. Season 12, Episode 21 ‘Open Caskett’ blowing up Intelligence, the setup couldn’t be clearer for Hank Voight to do… well, Hank Voight things.
Will we be rooting for him? Not in the way we would root for a real person. We don’t want cops like Voight out there. But on TV, characters like him have a purpose, as long as they’re used correctly, as long as they’re not held as an example. He can be a corrupt cop and better than other corrupt cops. He can be a corrupt cop and care for his team. He can be a corrupt cop and an interesting character. He won’t ever stop being a corrupt cop, but we’ll take the other things.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago P.D. Season 12, Episode 21 ‘Open Caskett’? Share with us in the comments below! And if you have your own opinion on the show, leave a review/rating on our Chicago P.D. hub!
Chicago P.D. airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.
Love the show. This is one of the best episodes ever love it when Hank digs in ready for war
Omg!!! So good last night!!!!
I have always rooted for Hank Voight. He’s not corrupt like evil corrupt. I’m very glad that there’s an another episode because we all know that Hank would never let Intelligence get disbanded 🤗. I can’t wait til the team takes down Reid.