Midseason Report Card: ‘Chicago PD’ season 4 handles a shifting landscape

Every network show goes through change, but it does still feel like “Chicago PD” tackled more than most over the course of this particular season. It was still grappling with the departure of Roman at the start of the season, and then by the end of its fall run, it was saying goodbye to Jon Seda as he transitioned over to “Chicago Justice.” We saw harrowing episodes for some character like Trudy Platt, and a few personal achievements here and there as Burgess moved forward, we learned more about Atwater’s life away from the force, and before his departure, we saw the romance bloom between Antonio and Brett from “Chicago Fire.”

So do all of these individual stories end up leading to a great season as a whole so far? In the latest edition of our Midseason Report Card series, we’re going to do our best to try and figure that out.

What worked – There were many great storylines that we saw over the course of the first half of the season, but we do need to continue to single out the Platt story as especially given that it was the best material Amy Morton has encountered for her character from the very beginning. We also appreciate that the show continues to take on topical, at-times difficult issues such as racial tension, inter-office relationships, sexism, and police corruption without making them feel like soapbox moments. It has a knack for authenticity, which is rare to come by even within the cop-show genre.

Overall, we’d say the best way to describe season 4 to date is the most complete collection of episodes we’ve seen so far of the show in terms of combining a little bit of everything that makes the show great.

What we need more of – Ruzek! Much more Ruzek! He feels to us like the most under-utilized character on the show right now, and the timing’s right to see more of what is going on with his life. The only major critique we’d offer of season 4 to date is that it feels like we moved too quickly past what transpired with Voight over Justin’s death. Given the seriousness of what occurred, we would’ve preferred that it remain more of an ongoing story through every episode and impacted him more on an explicit level. We know he’s not the kind of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve, and we’re not asking him to do that. Even a slight reaction would be nice.

Overall – Yet another compelling, intelligent batch of episodes for the cast, the writers, and producers. While imperfect, we’d have a hard time finding a show that is. Grade: B+.

For further news pertaining to “Chicago PD,” head over here to check out some recent episode reviews. (Photo: NBC.)