Chicago P.D. Season 13, Episode 5 Review: ‘Miami’

Chicago P.D. Season 13, Episode 5 ‘Miami‘ is, ostensibly, an episode about who Kevin Atwater is and what he wants out of his life. It just ends up being an episode about how this show has never really had a clear idea of what to do with Kevin. From failed relationship to failed relationship, with a stop on family drama lane and without forgetting the stereotypical plots, rarely has Kevin gotten to just be and grow, and consider where he stands and where he’s going next.

He doesn’t really get to do much of that this episode either, though the show does try. It gives us a one-line explanation about what happened to Val Soto (see you at the CIA!), and then just moves on by throwing a new person on Kevin’s path that’s supposed to make him consider all those things he never really gets a chance to unpack.

The problem, of course, is that we are too afraid to care about this new person, which robs her a little of the emotional impact she’s supposed to have. Instead, the brief conversation Kevin has with Kim about what happened, and the bomb scare the two are involved in later, hits harder than anything that happens with Fox. When Kim yells about Kevin after the bomb, we feel that. When Fox yells at Kevin about not knowing her, we’re like, she’s right. He doesn’t know her. Neither do we.

Karen Obilom does a pretty good job as the character, but as good as she is, and as important as the conversation Fox has with Kevin about no one having her back, and him being the one who is always left behind, feels for our knowledge of who Kevin Atwater is and what he’s feeling in this moment, the episode then ends and… what? Where do we go from here? We thought we knew, after Val. We thought we knew plenty of other times before. We’ve been wrong.

“I’m the one who is always left behind,” Kevin says in this hour, which feels like setup for the opposite. For someone finally choosing to stay. Except Fox doesn’t stay. Can’t. She’s got her own life, her own path, and it’s taking her to Miami. It wouldn’t even make sense for her to stay, and yet the fact that she doesn’t means that we’re already back to square one.

Where does Kevin’s path take him? We don’t know. He doesn’t know. If there’s something that can be said about this episode is that, at least now, Kevin is thinking about it. About what life could be. About what he wants it to be, and who he wants to share it with.

He’s lived so much of his life for others. For his family. Relationships that didn’t work out. For the job. This is a decent setup episode for what’s next, but that only works if the pattern changes. If what comes next for Kevin actually works out. And if the show chooses to give his path the attention and emotional weight it needs. Hopefully, that’s what’s next. because we like the idea of figuring these things out with Kevin.

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago P.D. Season 13, Episode 5 ‘Miami’? 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.