Spoilers ahead for the winter premiere of Chicago P.D. Season 10, called “This Job.”
Chicago P.D. moved on from the Sean O'Neal case that took a huge toll on Upton before being resolved back in the fall finale, with “This Job” shifting over to focus on Torres and (to a lesser extent) Ruzek. The case of the week involved home invasions, sexual assault, and eventually murder, and Intelligence had to join forces with another cop, Tom Borkowski, to work the investigation. Over the course of the hour, Torres did almost all the right things, but ultimately crossed a major line for the first time since joining Intelligence. While his goal is for the move to pay off in the long run, that just may not work out.
How The Case Pushed Torres To Cross A Line
Borkowski quickly made a bad impression on Torres with his goal of solving cases for personal achievement rather than just putting bad guys behind bars, and the cop was dangerously close to crossing lines early on right in front of Ruzek and Torres. The young officer did what he could to defuse the situations, but had his faith completely shaken when Borkowski’s claim that a man named Alex had fallen down some stairs didn’t match up with his serious injuries.
Torres eventually did some digging with Platt’s help and took his suspicions to Ruzek, who initially didn’t seem inclined to help since Borkowski had the CPD power to do some damage to Torres' career. But Torres could see Borkowski in a more objective light, making the point to Ruzek that Borkowski only went out of his way to ask one of them why they’d become a cop. Ruzek ultimately had his back, and after discovering some suspicious (although not conclusive) video footage, they went to interview Alex and got the full story.
Alex had drugs on him when the cops arrived, and fled the scene rather than risk being caught violating his probation. Borkowski cuffed him and pistol whipped him until he passed out, but later made a deal with Alex not to say anything about the drugs as long as he kept his mouth shut about the assault. Alex agreed since he needs to stay out of prison and take care of his mother. He also shared some valuable intel about the case with the two Intelligence cops, and they were left with a big decision to make.
They could play it by the book and report Borkowski, which would involve charging Alex with obstruction of justice and parole violation, then scaring him into officially giving up the intel. Torres realized that Alex would be deemed unreliable, so their other option was to get Alex to make the ID and then backstopping it on their end, which would mean not reporting Borkowski. Torres realized that there was only one right answer of what to do, but it “just has the wrong results.”
They ultimately decided to protect Alex and not report Borkowski, and Torres got the last word in their final confrontation by saying that “this is why I became a cop,” but he wasn’t exactly riding high at the end of the hour. Ruzek found him at a bar after he lied under oath at an arrest hearing, going on the record that Borkowski was a solid and clean detective. Visibly upset, Torres told Ruzek that he “just became a part of the blue wall,” and that Borkowski would be able to just keep on working. Ruzek responded with “for now,” which Torres echoed. But is there any hope of that day ever coming on P.D.?
Why Torres Might Not Get His Payoff
The idea that they will someday oust Borkowski from CPD ended the episode on a semi-hopeful note, but I’m not confident that Torres crossing the line and perjuring himself will ever pay off in the form of getting rid of the bad cop. After all, Chicago P.D. is rarely serialized beyond the occasional big arc, like Sean O’Neal in the first half of Season 10 and Anna back in Season 9.
Borkowski as a dirty cop was a fitting one-off antagonist, but doesn’t seem like a character who could be at the center of an arc spanning the rest of the 2022-2023 TV season. It just doesn’t feel like a sure thing that Torres will ever get closure beyond the knowledge that the bad guy did go to jail, and Alex got to go home to his mom.
None of this is to say that Torres will become Voight 2.0 because he crossed this line by lying under oath, and he already bent the rules earlier in the season after a case hit far too close to home for comfort. Plus, the Intelligence Unit is a team made up of cops used to bending the rules, and Torres still has the moral high ground in comparison! Still, actor Benjamin Levy Aguilar crushed his performance of Torres in the wake of perjury, and I’m hoping that Chicago P.D. will indeed pay off on this plot with Borkowski.
So, what lesson should Torres take away from this ordeal? Well, on the micro level, he might be better hanging out with Atwater as Halstead’s successor as mentor than spending his free time with Ruzek. On a macro (and more serious) level, it’s possible that this could be the beginning of Torres going from occasionally bending the rules to breaking them on a more regular basis. After all, Upton was once on the straight and narrow before being corrupted by Voight, and Halstead did his best to toe lines rather than cross them for the better part of a decade.
That said, Voight has softened a bit in the wake of Halstead deciding that he needed to leave before losing himself completely, and the rest of the unit seems game to look out for the younger officer. Only time will tell if this case sticks with Torres and affects how he does his job moving forward.
For now, you can look forward to new episodes of Chicago P.D. on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, following Chicago Fire (which introduced a new problem for Firehouse 51 in its winter premiere) at 9 p.m. and Chicago Med (which found a way to make changes for one doctor) at 8 p.m. You can also revisit past episodes of One Chicago streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, and find some upcoming viewing options with our 2023 TV premiere schedule.
