Chicago PD season 5 episode 9 review: The Voight vs Ruzek stand-off

Chicago PD season 5 episode 9 review

Chicago PD season 5 episode 9 was entitled “Monster” and at the heart of the hour was this: Who is the biggest monster of all? Is it the person who commits the crime, or the person who acts out after said crime is committed?

This is something that Voight had to address tonight in taking on a case related to a judge, one that had many echoes and parallels to the death of his own son. The judge lost a daughter in the midst of a drug epidemic and was desperate to do anything that he could in order to get justice. However, as Voight told him, there was no justice. With that, there was no real escape and no way to actually make things right.

At the end of the case there was a victory, but just how much of a victory was it, really? The judge didn’t exactly seem to be feeling any better about things being wrapped up at the end of the episode — or his role in its resolution.

While this case was a fascinating one to watch from the vantage point of echoing Voight’s past, we know that what many people are going to be taking about now is the stand-off in the closing minutes. Over the course of the episode Voight determined that it was Ruzek who was leaking information from the unit to Denny Woods, and decided to confront him about it away from the cage and in the middle of the night. Olinsky drove Ruzek to some dark location under the impression that they were speaking to a CI, and instead Voight was there waiting to confront him.

What Voight and Olinsky do not know is that Ruzek decided that he didn’t want to turn over some of the information to Woods, largely because he considered Voight to be his family just as much as his actual family. He decided that he was willing to risk both his future, plus the future of his own sister, in order to ensure that nothing happened to his boss. It was a surprising decision, but we feel like given what we know about Ruzek a big part of this was due in part to him not wanting to be continuously manipulated by Woods. He doesn’t want to be controlled.

As for what happens with him next, though, this is the mystery that you’re going to have to wait on until the new year. At least Ruzek isn’t dead … for now.

CarterMatt Verdict

While there have been so many drug-operation cases this season that they’ve started to blend together, the Ruzek story was powerfully-constructed and the closing minutes of the episode sent a chill down our spine. We also appreciate the Chicago PD writers not skimming over Halstead continuing to live a double-life under the cover that he formed earlier this season. He’s finding some sort of solace in this, wrong as it is.

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