Chicago Justice episode 12 review: A case hits home for Laura Nagel
The victim in the episode — the result of gang activity tied to prominent narcotics detectives in the police department — was a valued C.I. of Nagel. As a result of that, she was immediately invested in getting justice for what happened, perhaps too much so. This caused some other characters to try to encourage her to take a step back, and allow them to carry on more of the work in figuring out what happened.
As we got closer to the trial, we started to get a sense that the death of Nagel’s friend was far from the only death that came about close to these detectives. Detective Banks was the one who had the most decoration and acclaim for some of his efforts. This put Peter Stone in a pickle — if you come down too hard on this man, then you run the risk of making people distrust the CPD. If you don’t come down on Banks, however, you make it clear that he is above the law and he can continue to take money from dealers in exchange for ignoring crimes and allowing bad people to run rampant.
So what was the verdict at the end? After a trademark impassioned plea from Stone, he realized that his efforts were not in vain. Whether it be for a lack of good-enough testimony and proof, or simply a bias that kept the jury from incriminating a cop, Laura didn’t get the justice she so sought.
The downside of this episode
One of the primary issues that we have seen over the course of the season is that it’s taken a good bit of time in order to get to know some of the characters personally. As a result of that, we probably aren’t as invested in these people as we’d like to be by this point. It’s tough for this show given that there is a specific form that needs to be upheld here; it’s also even tougher given that this show filmed almost in a vacuum, without the ability to get much feedback from viewers throughout the season.
Overall Take
While this episode was not a perfect one, we do appreciate the Chicago Justice writing staff being bold enough to take on some of the tougher issues, including trying police officers who give other cops a bad name. There was great drama, but we’d appreciate more personal time with the characters. What does help the episode further is that Stone and Nagel didn’t actually get their way this time. Grade: B.
Ready for the Chicago Justice finale?
We hope so, since this one is going to be VERY emotional. You can get a little bit more in the way of news all about it just by heading over to the link here right now! (Photo: NBC.)
Now, be sure to share in the comments below what you thought about Sunday night’s new episode as a whole.