Chicago PD season 6 episode 17 review: The crisis of Voight and Darius

Hank Voight

Chicago PD season 6 episode 17 started off with the shooting of Ray Price, but what it ended up becoming was something different.

Rather than being a case about an assassination attempt, this was actually one about someone with a vendetta against the Chicago Police Department and beyond, someone abused and wrecked by a system that was originally out to protect him. This was a story of Darius, a young man who was abused in juvenile detention after serving as an informant, and when it came to getting help from his supervisor, he did nothing more than look the other way. This kid wanted to be better, but he never had any support. On the other side of being released, he was broken, diminished. He gave something to the world of law enforcement and got nothing in return.

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When Darius hit his breaking point, he wanted revenge. That’s why he took action against many people who wronged him, and that included Hank Voight. As it turned out, Voight was actually the target of the bullet rather than Ray Price, and as Hank started to put the pieces together with this case, he understood why. This is why he felt a sense of personal responsibility within this case, and a desire in turn to treat to make things right if that was even possible. This is why he was intent to resolve this matter peacefully after learning that Darius was involved in a hostage crisis. He spoke with Darius’ mother and rather than having someone else enter the room or to have the snipers hit their shot, Voight decided to confront him head-on. He knew he wanted him dead, and yet he was still willing to take a risk.

Voight is a man with extreme confidence — we don’t think that he’s got a death wish, but at times we do see a lot of confidence from him without much of a reason for it. This may be one of those said times. He went into a gunfight without a gun, thinking that this was the best option to save both Darius and all the hostages. He did his best. The crisis at the end of the episode was well-plotted and intense, as you could see the sympathy in Voight’s eyes. This is a guy who knows how to be ruthless and how to treat bad dudes, but there was a recognition here that Darius doesn’t have a horrible heart. He’s just seen his heart destroyed and there was hope still for him to do the right thing.

In this case, it just didn’t happen — or there just wasn’t enough time. After trying to talk him down for several minutes, Darius did let the hostages go — but, rather than going with Voight in an attempt to work out a new deal, he stood into the sun and let himself be killed by snipers. In the closing seconds, Voight had only one pay to pay it forward, and at the end of the episode, he tried to give money to his mother for the funeral.

CarterMatt Verdict

This episode of Chicago PD was sad — perhaps even sadder than usual. It’s almost hard to even remember that scene with Burgess and her new boyfriend (Charles Michael Davis), given that it was so far before a lot of the violence and carnage elsewhere. This was an episode anchored most by Voight, Darius, and those difficult scenes they had together. While we certainly knew entering this episode that not ever person can be saved, the closing minutes here were as cold a reminder as you’re going to get.

The one criticism we’d over is that Chicago PD could have benefited from at least giving us confirmation that Price will be okay long-term — they kind of did around midway through, but soon after that shifted mostly to just the conclusion of the case and its violent, painful aftermath.

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