10 harsh realities of remembering Chicago PD’s first season, 10 years later

There are several hard truths about Chicago Police season 1 which becomes apparent in the new showing. The popular police procedural debuted in 2012 as a mid-season replacement and first spinoff of Chicago Fire; 10 years later, it’s still one of the best shows on A Chicago universe, although there have been many changes in the cast and direction of the stories. This includes eliminating patrol officers from the Chicago Police casting and development of several romantic couples.

These changes demonstrate that, like many programs that have been on the air for a long time, Chicago Police has evolved over the years. Like many Chicago PoliceThe best episodes occurred in the early seasons and later seasons; However, upon rewatching Season 1, it’s clear that some things don’t work as well in the rewatch. Many of these aspects of the series were not noticeable at the time and almost all of them have been improved. over the last decade.

10

Voight used to go so far it was impossible to believe

Although breaking the rules made him attractive, it’s shocking that he still had a job

One of the central premises Chicago Police has always been that Hank Voight is a maverick who has little regard for the rules and policies established by the Chicago Police Department. Although he has softened somewhat today, he continues to violate suspects’ rights as he sees fit. During the first season, this trend was so pronounced that It is unbelievable that he remained employed for so long but continued to lead the Intelligence Unit regardless of how violent he became towards suspects or how much he damaged the reputation of the Chicago Police Department.

This unrealistic idea was incorporated into the plot of the pilot episode, in which Voight has just been released from prison and is warned by a supervisor that if he breaks protocol he will no longer have a job. In retrospect, this aspect Chicago Police was always sillyas a police department is unlikely to hire someone who has already served prison time and who they don’t trust to follow protocol, let alone put that person in a position of power.

Furthermore, Voight kept his job throughout the first season, despite attempting to beat up a police officer in the pilot episode, whose failure to share information led to the death of one of Voight’s officers.. This is doubly hard to believe considering this happened after the warning. However, the fact that Voight is able to remain employed despite his bad behavior adds to the myth of him as an untouchable cop who can do whatever he wants.

9

Chicago PD felt a lot more like a Western than a cop show

Voight and others in his department lived by their own moral code

The Intelligence Unit functioned as a unit that fought Chicago Police Department protocols as much as crime. Voight not only broke rules and laws with impunity, but encouraged his team to do the same, telling them to “be honest with me…don’t say anything to anyone else.” He also chose team members who would go along with his constant rule-breaking without much trouble; e.g. he hired Ruzek because Ruzek used excessive force during a training exercise.

As a result, Voight’s unit looked much more like a modern western than a police unit. Voight and his team lived by their own moral code, often breaking the law in the name of justice, and acted more like a vigilante squad than a branch of the Chicago Police Department. Much of what the department did is less comfortable to watch today due to growing awareness of police brutality, even though at the time it seemed justified.

8

Platt was much colder than now

She had an adversarial and unpleasant relationship with Burgess

Today, Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) is a fan favorite, but she wasn’t as likable during Chicago Police season 1. As a sergeant, his favorite thing to do was bust Burgess’ chops. She actively disliked her for reasons that weren’t entirely clear at the beginning of the series and expressed this by sending her on wild geese hunts, accusing her of being lazy or being rude. It was only when Burgess became a member of the Intelligence Unit that Platt treated her well, and many of their interactions in the early episodes came close to bullying.

Although Platt is fondly remembered for her guidance to patrol officers, during the first season it seemed like she was resentful or jealous, as she never missed a chance to come down hard on them, especially Burgess. His attitude did not soften for several years, but was especially pronounced during the first season, making his scenes harder to appreciate upon rewatch.

7

There were many more characters to follow

The cast list during the first season was overwhelming

Chicago Police It was always a collective show, but when it debuted it had a much larger cast. These days, most episodes focus on a core group of police officers plus one or two incidental characters. However, during the first season, Chicago Police […]had eight detectives, as well as recurring characters such as Platt, Commander Perry, and the families of some detectives, mainly the wife and children of Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda), for a total of 17 characters to follow.

While this large cast gave the series an even stronger ensemble feel, it’s impressive in retrospect. This is especially true considering that the series now only focuses on Voight and five detectives, many of whom don’t appear in every episode. It’s harder to keep track of who’s in each episode and what they’re doing with a large cast, which distracts from the stellar writing throughout. Chicago Police season 1.

6

Patrol officers were unofficial parts of intelligence

Although this aspect was forgotten, it seems silly in retrospect

Patrol officers were removed Chicago Police in season 4, leaving audiences nostalgic for them. That’s why there was so much excitement over the addition of Kiana Cook to the Season 12 cast, and why Cook’s quick promotion to Intelligence in Chicago Police I felt disappointing. However, the truth is that the rangers were not completely separate from the Intelligence Unit. During the first season, Burgess and Atwater were unofficial members of the unit who worked on the Patrol but were often called upon to help with important cases.

This is how Cook was used before being promoted to Intelligence. However, Cook’s involvement with the unit was more organic. She met Ruzek after responding to a shots-fired call and worked with him on Martel’s death before asking Torres for help on a different case. On the other hand, Atwater and Burgess were patrolmen who had worked with the Intelligence Unit for a long time. It’s not surprising that they both ended up in Intelligence, as they were being treated as if they were members of the team while also receiving the lowest salary associated with the Patrol.

5

Voight had less freedom to run his department as he saw fit

There was a lot more supervision for him to escape

Part of the myth built around Voight is his invincibility. His ability to disregard the law and do whatever he wanted in the name of justice is a big part of his character, and there is widespread agreement that he has mellowed considerably after Season 5 or so. However, there was a trade-off: In the early years, Voight was more vigilant and rebellious, but he also had to endure much more supervision of his activities.

The tension in the first season came from his constant mockery of Commander Perry and other superiors who sought to align their actions with police department protocols. While these conflicts made Voight a relatable character, they became repetitive, which reinforced the point that Voight’s lack of consequences for his behavior was unbelievable. Voight was probably toned down in later seasons, both because it added credibility to having him get away with half the things he did and because of the greater awareness of police brutality in society, which made his vigilantism less palatable.

4

Male police officers flirted with co-workers all the time

The Chicago Police Department Was Kind of a Boys’ Club

Modern episodes of Chicago Police I focused on several couples. Halstead and Upton were a prominent couple who took up a lot of air time before Halstead left at the end of Season 10, and Ruzek and Burgess have been together for years and are raising their adopted daughter while planning a wedding. That’s why, the lack of real relationships and the “boys club” atmosphere during Chicago Police the first season is shocking when rewatched a decade later.

During the first season, Halstead could have had his pick of girlfriends, as he gave off flirty vibes with Burgess and Lindsey. He also tended to be overprotective, threatening men who whistled at police officers on the street. Both habits helped illustrate the type of treatment female police officers often received on the job during the first season. Elsewhere, Ruzek’s indecisiveness about his fiancée turned him into someone afraid of commitment and not a worthwhile partner, rather than the stable family man he proved himself to be in later seasons.

3

The “father-daughter” relationship between Lindsey and Voight borders on inappropriate

It seems strange in retrospect, especially considering Lindsey’s initial secrecy about it

Long before Haliey Upton was his right-hand man, Voight counted on Erin Lindsey (Sophia Bush), a young police officer who considered herself his daughter. Voight took her in when she was a troubled teenager and raised her alongside his son, Justin; however, it seemed like a conflict of interest for Voight to first use her as a CI and then hire her to work with him, considering their relationship.

This conflict was part of what led Lindsey to keep the nature of their relationship secret, which added to the feeling that it was inappropriate. It was a strange approach to their characters and didn’t add much to the show. The rest of the crew would eventually learn more about Lindsey and Veight’s connection. Bush left the show at the end of season 4ending Erin’s story as a result.

2

The team wasn’t that diverse

The Chicago police have improved in this regard

Chicago Police The season 12 cast is diverse, with officers of different races and ethnicities. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in 2014 when the series began. Atwater was black, but the character was a patrolman with less screen time rather than a member of the Intelligence Unit, and although Dawson was Latino, the rest of the cast was white.

Unfortunately, diversity on screen was something that wasn’t thought about as much a decade ago; Still, the Chicago Police Department had a lot of room for improvement in this regard. Fortunately, yes. The inclusion of Dawson, and to a lesser extent Atwater, helped combat stereotypes during the first season. The series’ attempts to cast diverse characters have greatly improved in more modern episodes.

1

Cops playing dirty was standard practice

Both Voight and his enemies ignored the rules when it suited them

Voight was far from the only one who followed his own set of rules during Chicago Police season 1. In many ways, the series was a war between protagonists who broke the rules for good reasons and antagonists who did so for selfish reasons. There were power dynamics at play, in which high-ranking police officers who resented Voight failed to share critical information or otherwise broke the rules to make his job more difficult. Voight, however, encouraged his team to do whatever they wanted in the name of justice.

Chicago Police The first season shed light on police corruption, but it often seemed to glamorize or encourage vigilantism, including on the part of police officers. Although Voight has softened in recent seasons, the focus is still on the cops who will do whatever it takes to clean up the streets; however, this is done in a less disturbing way in the series’ more recent seasons.