One Chicago Crossover Review: Now, That’s How You Do It

The One Chicago Crossover, titled ‘Reckoning Part I, II, III‘ isn’t just a great episode of TV for the three shows individually, it’s probably the best crossover the franchise has ever done. And that’s a high bar to clear. Chicago Fire Season 13, Episode II ‘Reckoning Part I,’ started the emergency, leading into Chicago Med ‘Reckoning Part II,’ with the crossover concluding with Chicago P.D. ‘Reckoning Part III.’ However, the entire crossover was a well-balanced story involving characters from the three shows, one that was engaging, emotional, and also very, very intense.

It was also a great hour for long-time fans of the franchise, as the crossover brought back Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) and Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer), and though it didn’t give them a happily ever after, it did give them the kind of hopeful ending we would have wanted them to get when they first exited. Because we can write what comes next. Or, the show can return to them in the future. Either way, it’s best to believe they’re out there, perhaps finding their way to each other.

All of this makes for a pretty powerful crossover, one that keeps you on the edge of your seat at all times, and one that offers a pretty clear path forward not just for Hailey and Jay, but for Stella and Kelly and even Hannah and Dean. What else could we ask for?

MORE: Remember the last One Chicago crossover? Here’s our review!

HAILEY AND JAY

It’s hard to draw up a better return for Hailey Upton and Jay Halstead than what this One Chicago Crossover gives them. There are better endings, of course. This is far from the ending we wanted for them, because this is, in fact, not an ending. It’s just the show opening a door that was firmly shut and proving that no matter what happened, no matter what mistakes were made, Hailey and Jay still care for each other.

From here, they can move forward. They will move forward. Even if we don’t get to see it. And perhaps, one day soon, we’ll check back in with them and find them in a much better place, together.

Of course, a part of me wanted this episode to end with a big bow on it, happily ever after. But perhaps, this is better. The way the show wrote out Jay was… not great. For a while there, it felt like the Jay Halstead that left, and the one who basically ghosted his wife afterwards, was not even the Jay we knew. He was pod Jay. And though Hailey’s departure from the show was just a logical conclusion of his, it still hurt because we didn’t have closure..

This Jay… this is our Jay. This Hailey, she is our Hailey. And together, they are our Upstead. The couple we invested in. The couple we continued to love. And though they don’t leave this crossover as that, and things are not perfect, they do walk out of these episodes together. And they do so with the knowledge that there’s love there still. There will always be. And it’s worth fighting for.

MORE: Here is our last Chicago Fire review and our last Chicago P.D. review

STELLA AND KELLY

‘Reckoning Part I, II, III’ brings a different kind of storyline for Kelly and Stella, because it once again confronts them with the reality of their profession. The job they do isn’t just hard, it’s dangerous. Cruz puts it all into perspective in this episode when he says that what happens to him happens to his family. And for Stella and Kelly, it would be doubly dangerous because the two of them do the same work.

But they seem to be past letting fear stop them. There is no outward conversation about the future in this crossover, but there are quiet moments of intimacy, of checking in with each other. Of connection. And just as Hailey and Jay are finding their way to each other, there’s a contrast with Stella and Kelly, who don’t have to figure out anything. Who are looking forward together.

We even get Stella coming to Kelly’s rescue somewhere in the middle of the crossover, and even that is treated like a normal thing. Yes, Stella will have his back. And yes, Kelly will fight like hell to make sure that whatever mess he’s in is not his last (and he will jump at the guy holding a dangerous chemical weapon, because he thinks he’s a cop). And though a day like this might still shake them, it won’t break them.

The next step for them seems clear. The rest of the fears you just have to face head-on, as things happen. You can’t stop living out of fear. And you certainly can’t stop loving.

MORE: What did Jessy Schram tell us about Hannah when we spoke to her?

HANNAH AND DEAN

This One Chicago crossover also seems to break the illusion that Hannah and Dean were under. Because they were never just two friends who were going to have a baby. There were always unresolved issues there. But it was easier to ignore them and focus on this new and exciting development. However, what happens when a situation that would require them to act in lockstep has them at odds with each other?

Hannah just did her job, and she did it as safely as possible. She gets to make her own decisions about her own body, and Archer should not be treating her like she’s a child. But he gets to be worried too, about her and about the baby. So, where does that leave them?

Clearly, they have feelings for each other. Now the question is, do they want to explore them? Would they rather not complicate their relationship, at least while Hannah is pregnant? But what happens afterwards? Either way, I think right now it’s going to be much, much harder to pretend there’s nothing here. Denial only takes you so far.

MORE: We didn’t like how Chicago Fire handled the Stellaride pregnancy storyline

LIZZIE AND FROST?

How did my girl Lizzie end up in the middle of two separate love triangles? Give the girl a break! She doesn’t just have to deal with a very complicated love life, but she almost died, too. Well, and she reconciled with her brother, so that’s good.

But perhaps, the most important part of this episode for Lizzie is that we saw her open up for the first time. It always felt like she wanted to do that with Frost; it’s just that she didn’t know how to. Sometimes when you’re scared of getting hurt, you pretend things don’t matter to you, so if they get taken away, you can say that you didn’t actually care. And Lizzie treated her relationship with Frost like it didn’t really matter all that much, because it was easier than letting herself admit she really liked him.

‘Reckoning Part I, II, III’ proved not just that she does, but that she’s already let him in farther than she’s let almost anyone else in her life. And it proves that Frost was willing to go the extra mile for her, even if that meant she would be mad at him. So, how can they really be over? Two-show relationships are harder, yes, but One Chicago has already pulled it off with one. We wouldn’t mind if they did it again.

Because the thing is, after this crossover, it’s really starting to look like what Lizzie and John have could really be something. And we really want to find out what comes next.

MORE: Is Marlyne Barrett returning to Chicago Med?

VOIGHT AND PASCAL

The crossover is also a good episode for both Voight and Pascal, one that shows the best parts of both of them as it makes them reckon with their past. It’s a good reminder that, especially for them, there’s a lot more story than what we’ve seen in these shows, even if we have been here for over a decade.

Pascal gets himself arrested doing what he believes is right, and in doing so, helps save the day. But there will likely be consequences, particularly considering we know Dermot Mulroney won’t be in the rest of the season. Ironically, just as we bid goodbye to him, at least for a while, we find ourselves in a place where we like Pascal more than we ever have. Who would have thought?

Then there’s Voight, and as someone who has been very hard on Voight in the past, I think it’s hard not to look at this hour and see what Jay sees. Voight has changed. The Voight of before would never have admitted his involvement in the Heart of Chicago fire to the team. The Voight of before would not have shared, because he doesn’t do that. And the Voight of before would have likely not felt guilty, either.

So yes, this is a new Voight. Not a wholly different one, but enough that he’s become a much more interesting character to follow. No one wants to watch a show for over a decade and have the characters remain the same people, after all.

MORE: What is Tracy Spiridakos up to now?

Things I think I think

• “We have a situation” sounds so ominous.
• Special Agent Upton, FBI. It’s so good to see you.
• Violet, just talk to Lizzie about Vasquez, please.
• Everyone seeing Hailey is soo cute. But I don’t think I needed Kelly and Mouch’s reaction to seeing her again more than I needed Kevin and Kim’s.
• However, knowing that she and Stella have at least kept up enough that Stella knows where she was is fun.
• Stella telling her husband who is never careful to be careful.
• Hailey saw Jay in that picture, panicked, and went nope never seen this man was not married to him or anything, you can’t even tell who it is, truly.
• “I knew this place would fall down without me,” lol.
• Of course she went to Voight.
• The first clue is that Voight was looking at news about the anniversary of the Heart of Chicago fire when Hailey showed up.
• Hailey jumped through all these hoops… just to protect the husband who ghosted her.
• Jay, you don’t deserve her…
• “You can warn Halstead, for starters.” I think after marriage, you don’t have to use his last name.
• “Are you alright?”/”It’s okay if you’re not.”
•  Lenox has become one of my favorite characters, I swear.
• Severide saving everyone, and then Stella saving Severide oh yeah..
• And she’s like not even surprised he’s in the middle of it.
• Jay saving Hailey, too. It’s a theme.
• “You got a head wound, I’m not going anywhere.” Look, it’s super sweet. Slightly hypocritical, but whatever. It’s like real Jay is back, and we won’t complain about that. You still have to grovel, though.
• What do you mean Cruz and Cap are sick?
• Violet deciding she was going to help no matter what, was so perfectly Violet.
• Also, Hannah!!!
• You’ll make sure to bring her in, Jay? You’re not her husband anymore.
• “You were trying to protect me.”
• No s**t, Sherlock.
• Later, she said. Later, Jay. Later.
• We casually get Frost telling Naomi he and Lizzie broke up.
• At least Kelly listened to Lenox and didn’t open the door before the hazmat team arrived.
• Cruz, don’t you dare say goodbye.
• I’m so upset that get Hailey and Jay’s reunion with anyone that matters.
• Jay and Dante’s small moment doesn’t even count.
• And Adam isn’t even here!
• “This isn’t the reunion any of us hoped for, but it’s good to have you two back.”
• Hailey and Jay, stop having married spats while driving, you’re not married anymore.
• “Don’t look at me, it’s her call.” Basically, about everything in your life now.
• Let’s ignore the questionable policing going on here for the sake of entertainment, but it is, as always, questionable at best.
• Cops should be jailed for things like what they do in this episode bad.
• “I got you,” Frost said, and I went back to shipping it.
• Oh, no. No. Is she gone?
• “She was my first girl from Girls on Fire to graduate.”
• I guess no one better to deliver the news than Dr. Charles.
• Miranda Rae Mayo really killed me in this scene. A+ work, truly.
• It was so nice to see Lizzie open up to John.
• Your siblings would sure have even more trauma if you died and they didn’t get to say goodbye, Lizzie.
• The most hilarious part about the Dean and Hannah fight was Lenox in the middle being like I see nothing, I hear nothing.
• “Something happens to me, it happens to them.” Such a good Cruz episode, too.
• So the baby is fine?
• “So you’re saying we created this monster?”
• Jay and Hailey talking about Voight, it’s like déjà vu.
• “Nothing’s changed here, we are right back in it.”
• “No, it has. We don’t have to do this anymore. Analyze Voight, protect him. We are not police and we are not partners anymore.”
• Ouch. It hurts because it’s true.
• “The past is the past, Jay. Let’s leave it there.”
• You deserved that one, Jay.
• I love how Jay went absolutely crazy when he thought something had happened to Hailey, that was the opposite of casual, my dude.
• That was badass of Pascal, not gonna lie.
• Most I’ve ever liked him.
• Imani being worried about Voight is a good touch to continuity. She’s the one who worries about him now.
• “Kidd and I are coming.” Never doubted it.
• Hailey and Jay there like they’re part of the team.
• “You’re different,” coming from Jay is BIG for Voight.
• “Hailey, I stayed to work this case because you were here.”
• “I came here because you were here.”
• You apologized, Jay, and it still doesn’t feel like enough. That woman deserves 348 more apologies and a lot more of an explanation.
• “I lost myself here. And I’m sorry I could not find my way back.”
• “I’m sorry that I lost you.” This works for me, I’m not saying it doesn’t, it’s just a tad annoying because what doesn’t work for me still is the way he was written out. Made no sense then, makes no sense still.
• “What time is your flight?”/”I don’t care.”
• That smile says it all.

Agree? Disagree? What did you think of ‘Reckoning Part I, II, II’? Share with us in the comments below!

Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D. air Wednesdays on NBC, starting at 8/7c with Chicago Med, followed by Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.