The good thing about Chicago P.D. Season 13, Episode 16 ‘Restored‘ is that it at least attempts to go somewhere different with Dante Torres’ character, and it continues to give Benjamin Levy Aguilar a chance to showcase his strengths and Dante’s frankly absurd collection of white shirts. But trying is not the same as succeeding, and by the end of the episode, it feels like we’re more or less back in the same place, with an okay episode that didn’t give us all that much about Dante.
We’ve had a fair bit of episodes centered on Dante in the last few years, but it feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of his character. The same things keep getting reinforced, over and over. We get more or less the same dynamics with the rest of the team, and even when new things get explored, it’s a little surface-level. We like him, yes. But we don’t love him because we don’t know him. And at this point, he’s been around long enough that we probably should.
In fact, the only time it felt like we were working towards something deeper with him was in some interactions with Kiana last season, and then she was written out, and we were back to square one. We barely got screentime between Dante and Jay when he came back, and nothing with Hailey, even though Dante was fairly close with both of them. And he hasn’t really bonded with Imani, who’s the new face on the team, though this episode gives us more of them than we’ve had before… and there’s chemistry there.
That leaves us with the established relationships Dante has with the people who have been around the longest: Kevin, Kim, and Adam. Of those, we’d say Dante is perhaps closest to Kim or Kevin, but that’s mostly on vibes. Kim covered for Dante. Dante and Kevin have had some moments of understanding. There isn’t much more.
Even with Voight, who pretty much treats Dante like he treats the rest of the team, like his responsibility, it’s hard to say there’s much of a bond. Instead, it feels like everyone on the show probably feels about Dante like we do: he’s nice, we like him, but he’s probably not first or second on our list of favorites.
This episode doesn’t do much to advance any of those relationships. It doesn’t really do much for Dante’s character either. We know he’s a good guy already. We know he’s got a complicated relationship with religion, but ultimately wants to believe and finds it a comfort. We know he hasn’t always had the easiest life, and he cares for his mom and his community.
It’s just that, at this point, we’re a little over the show telling us these things, over and over. We need the show to show us something different. Give us a reason to care. A relationship to invest in. Something. Anything.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago P.D. Season 13, Episode 16 ‘Restored’? 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.
