Spoilers ahead for the Season 9 finale of Chicago P.D. on NBC, called “You and Me.”
Chicago P.D. wrapped the ninth season by closing the high-stakes case on Escano, but there was a lot of collateral damage along the way, and there are some reasons to believe that Voight might end up making some changes in Season 10 after how it all went down in this finale. Whether he would change for better or worse is anybody’s guess at this point, but the case nearly falling apart combined with the death of Anna and some second-guessing from others in Intelligence lead me to think that something is going to have to give.
How The Case Went From Bad To Worse
The explosion from the end of the penultimate episode knocked Upton and Halstead flat, and she was down for the count long enough for him to panic, try to stop her from moving too much, and call for an ambulance. Anna was sent to a safehouse under protective custody once it was clear that she was burned, but after everything she went through undercover combined with finding out in the worst way about Escano and her rape, she was a wild card who shouldn’t have been left alone… as Intelligence found out when she killed Escano and tried to castrate him.
Nobody was exactly mourning him, but the case changed from Intelligence closing in on Escano to Intelligence having to decide what to do about the fact that Anna was obviously responsible for his death. Voight, feeling guilty for putting Anna through all that she went through, was ready to cross lines and destroy evidence to clear her, but it wasn’t meant to be. A public confrontation went sideways as Anna unraveled; she shot Voight and was then shot herself with a wound that ultimately turned out to be fatal.
Now, Voight has lost plenty of people before, including his son and Olinsky, so why should this case and the death of a C.I. pack such a major punch and perhaps result in change for Season 10? Let’s break it down.
Anna Died
Even though the cops did manage to find the drug stash by the end of the episode, it wasn’t in time to save Anna. Voight had developed an attachment and a blind spot when it came to her, to the point that he was trying to throw Halstead off and reach her to comfort her right after she shot him. He refused to leave her hospital room and receive treatment when there was still a chance that she’d survive, and it seems plain that this is one death that will stick with him.
And Anna died despite his efforts to go back to his old standbys of breaking rules and hiding evidence. If ever there was proof that Voight doing things his own way no longer works the way that it used to, it has to be a panicked Anna causing a car crash in broad daylight, pulling a gun on him, and shooting him right when other cops arrived on the scene. Anna was his C.I. and he took her on as his responsibility… and Anna died after going through a hellish experience. That could linger with Voight.
Upton And Halstead Aren't 100% On Board
Fans weren’t the only ones getting a bit of deja vu when Voight decided to go off the books while trying to help somebody he cared about, as Upton was determined that the Season 9 finale would not turn into a repeat of the Season 8 finale and Roy Walton’s death. She wasn’t going to let Voight destroy evidence and cover for Anna when she committed murder, and she didn’t shy away from standing up to him about it.
Halstead was more willing to compromise by trying to guide Voight’s worst impulses to finding a slightly better but still sketchy solution to the problem. He raised the (admittedly fair) point to his wife that he and Voight did the same thing for her to keep her out of prison after she killed Roy, but she reminded him about the huge mess that it made for the first half of the season.
Even though Upton more or less broke bad for a while and even orchestrated a man’s death after her own trusted C.I. was killed, the aftermath of killing Roy evidently knocked her back toward the straight and narrow, and close to the straight and narrow tends to be where Halstead is more comfortable. The new dynamic between the three cops may not work in Voight’s favor, as it seems clear enough that Upton and Halstead’s loyalties are more to each other than Voight at this point.
I do wonder if Voight will hold a grudge against one or both of them for Anna’s death. She died because they rushed onto the scene and were able to take her down after she fired on Voight. The episode didn’t show exactly who pulled the trigger, but the camera did flash over to Upton, so I’m assuming that she ultimately killed the C.I. A grudge would certainly mix things up in Season 10!
The Case Was A Disaster
At the end of the day, the fact that the team closed the case and found Escano’s drugs doesn’t really cancel out that the case was a disaster. The Intelligence Unit more or less fell into his trap at the end of the penultimate episode because Voight didn’t realize that Anna had been burned, and it was a lucky break that neither Halstead nor Upton were seriously injured by the truck explosion.
Anna sneaking out of the safe house and then killing Escano right after Voight talked an ASA into serving up the warrants they needed to get the evidence and hand her the case didn’t exactly make them look good. The evidence was piling up, to the point that I’m not sure Voight would have been able to destroy all of it before more people than just Upton and Halstead caught on.
Anna’s death and his own gunshot wound made for a tragic ending to the finale, and it’s hard to say that all’s well that ends well just because Atwater, Ruzek, and Burgess found the drug stash. Voight followed his instincts in the handling of this case, and this case was disastrous and deadly. Could that be enough for him to change his ways, for better or worse?
All of this said, despite Chicago P.D. having the theme of “home” in Season 9, this show is generally more about the cases than character development, so it’s possible that the fallout of the case, Upstead’s reactions, and Anna’s death won’t extend any farther than the end of “You and Me.” Still, I’d love to see it continue to affect Voight, and learn whether he would handle it by reforming toward the straight(er) and narrow(er) himself, or start to get worse rather than better.
The good news is that Chicago P.D. has already been renewed for Season 10, so fans can look forward to seeing Voight back on NBC in the fall. Chicago Med and Chicago Fire – both of which ended their seasons on cliffhangers, although one was more immediately dangerous than the other – will be back as well, and you can revisit all three One Chicago shows over hiatus by streaming with a Peacock subscription.
