It’s good to have Adam Ruzek back.
With his first centric in quite some time, Chicago PD Season 13 Episode 14 leans into the qualities of Ruzek that work incredibly well: his evolution as a family man, while giving us peeks of the badass who always lies beneath the surface.
It also played with some of the usual tropes.
Initially, it seemed like the hour would do the same things that it always does.
By now, because of the centric formatting, we can almost always anticipate the types of episodes each character will get.
For Ruzek, we can always expect some domestic Burzek moments, commentary about raising Mack or dealing with Disco Bob, a prickly character who is an acquired taste, usually a dirty cop, and Ruzek’s life almost hanging in the balance because of the actions of someone else.
When Cade came into the picture, it seemed like we’d have yet another dirty-cop plot, which the series has often assigned to Ruzek to the point of redundancy.
For a bit, it felt like Cade would be similar to Sal Ortiz on Chicago PD Season 13 Episode 6.
And Cade was moving so shady that it was easy to believe that he was a dirty cop. But this season has been having a blast with making seemingly shady characters red herrings to throw us off, and that’s exactly what Cade was.
He still was an acquired taste, to say the least, and I didn’t trust or care for him the entire time. But at least we were able to figure out that his efforts with Boogie were to protect everyone and the cases.
Initially, it genuinely seemed like Cade was setting up Boogie to be murdered by whoever was after him. And the idea of him seeking Ruzek to bring Boogie in was a bit weak.
But in the end, it was a good thing that he did. Cade’s biggest issue was trying to play cowboy and playing things too close to the vest. He could’ve avoided a few things if he just communicated with Ruzek outright.
Boogie was switching out drugs and had dealers with cut versions that amounted to nothing to get over, and that’s why he had so many people after him.
But because of his actions, if that came out, it would mean he was a burnt CI, and all the cases ever linked to him would get overturned, too. Cade’s eight-year investigation and case, as well as all the cases Ruzek used Boogie for, too.
Protecting that, preserving those cases was vital for Cade. After all, the job is all he lives for anyway.
He took pride in not having friends and family to tie him down. To Cade, that made him a better agent. But his being all alone at the hospital recovering from surgery with no one to call is just a sad state of existence.
What good is the job when there’s no one to come home to and find comfort in?
Cade certainly brought them into a mess. But some of the strongest parts of the hour were the intensity of the shootout scenes.
With Cade down, it was just Ruzek left to fend for them while they were under gunfire, and it was actually terrifying. It felt like it took them FOREVER to get there to save them!
The guns running out of bullets, the perpetrators busting down the door, all of it was just so stressful, but Ruzek is so quick on his feet with everything, and I was impressed with how he was formulating a plan, running off sheer adrenaline.
The fight sequence was pretty epic, and they legitimately had him feeling like an action hero for most of the hour in that way.
There were definite nods to action movie heroes, and that’s such a suitable role for Flueger.
He held his own while we waited ten years for backup to arrive, and all without a weapon. And Kim gets credit for driving almost as fast as she runs, or at least appearing to — seriously, why did those eight minutes feel like a damn eternity?!
Ruzek’s shining moment was also showcasing that he could easily be a Voight successor.
He’s always been an interesting character because he had the training from someone like Olinksy. And thus, he always has that old-school vibe to him, much like Voight and Olinksy, because he comes from a cop family.
When it comes to his family, there’s nothing he won’t do, and the scene of him telling Booogie exactly what it would be from the cage was thrilling.
It was the best deal to protect all of those cases, and Boogie definitely needed to get out of town; otherwise, he’d be dead.
That level of wheeling and dealing, and the threat and instilling that fear, was peak Voight. It turns out, we didn’t need him in the hour after all; Ruzek gave us the energy we needed.
What we get with Ruzek, especially watching his maturity and journey as a family man, is that he carries some of that old-school grit of Voight and Olinsky, but with a modern, more well-rounded spin. It’s like he’s learned from their mistakes.
He’s course-corrected in a way they never achieved.
Ruzek has learned to perfectly balance being both a cop and a family man, where those roles aren’t opposing identities but rather make him a stronger, better man on all fronts.
I love that he told Kim as much, and the domestic Burzek moments also reaffirm a shift in the series and maybe even their role in it.
We made some progress on the front of Mack’s schooling, and more importantly, by the case’s end, Ruzek realized that change isn’t a bad thing.
He truly has changed because of Kim and Mack, and he’s all the better for it. Maybe moving away from his childhood home, leaving Canaryville, and creating their own home and life, continuing to build their family together.
I truly adore all these soft, domestic touches and what that means for the series as well as the characters. At least they get it right with Burzek.
We had to wait a while for Ruzek’s return, but he delivered!
Couch Chats:
- Patrick John Willis Statham Neeson Stallone Cruise Flueger, come get your Baddie Chain.
- The camera work in this hour was … interesting. I understood what they were going for, but it wasn’t to my particular taste and maybe even distracting at times.
- Cade not only called Ruzek and demanded he show up in the middle of the night, but also showed up at his house and peeked through the window, which pissed me OFF.
- Ruzek’s sandwich looked delicious, and I hope he got to eat it while it was still hot. He deserved a celebratory one after surviving that case.
- The downside of these centrics remains the way they sideline all the other characters. My goodness, Imani, Atwater, and Torres may as well have been furniture.
- Voight not being in Chicago PD is so strange! It also meant Burgess was running things, which I wish they had leaned into a bit more. But Ruzek’s dominating the hour made Voight’s absence feel less pronounced.
- Seeing Imani Lewis play Boogie’s girlfriend made me miss First Kill on Netflix (and remember our lovely chat with her about it).
- Mack’s message to Ruzek was so adorable! I love their relationship. She’s such a Daddy’s girl.
- So, again, does NO ONE know that Atwater is going to be a father?
Over to you, Chicago PD Fanatics. Did you love having Ruzek back? Do you think he could be Voight’s successor? Sound off below!
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