‘Chicago P.D.’ Recap: ‘Penance’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

CHICAGO P.D. -- "Penance" Episode 12008 -- Pictured: Benjamin Levy Aguilar as Dante Torres -- (Photo by: Lori Allen/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 1208 of ‘Chicago P.D.’ To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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It is definitely safe to say, that fans of the hit NBC series, Chicago P.D., were nervous heading into this week’s fall finale. After all, a lot was on the line. For we had no clue if Cook was safe or if Gloria did something terrible to her in retaliation of her shattered love affair with Torres, and Torres for that matter… well he too was of concern. Because any way you slice it, the secret was about to come out, bringing potential devastation for his career and his freedom and thankfully, this week’s story wasted little time in letting us know if Cook was okay, and what was going to happen to Torres in the interim. A feat that ‘Penance’ accomplished, by picking up right after that loud bang went off. 

Wherein we came to learn that Gloria ditched Cook, but did not harm her and shortly after that… she called off the buy. To preserve her freedom of course, and well, that led… to a reckoning. Because Voight needed some answers and that put the truth on the table, whether Torres liked it or not. But at last, it was out in the open and that forced Voight to make a hard call. In that, he offered the team options on how they wanted to handle this. So, if they wanted to report this to Internal Affairs, they could. If they wanted to stop the chase and focus on the fallout of this, that was an option as well. But they could also, chase after kilos of drugs and bring down a cartel if they played their cards right and well, everyone went along with that, and the chase resumed.

After of course, Voight had a gruff little chat with Torres. To get his head into the game. For he was remorseful and broken about this, and Voight needed him at his absolute best. Because this was going to be a tough takedown with Gloria knowing they were onto her. Especially after she turned down a deal to bring down the cartel for her freedom. So, Torres did indeed focus and poured over evidence with the team to find a way to bring this to its close and what they found, was stunning. Because they discovered the cartel was ready to take Gloria out in retaliation and that prompted intelligence to swoop in and save her, in the hopes of getting her to finally turn evidence over. But despite escaping a brutal gunfight, she was adamant she would never help the police.

In large part because she was angry with Torres and wanted to punish him over anything else. But eventually, she understood how this was falling apart and that her only shot to see another day outside of a prison cell, was to play ball. Which brought about a buy and disaster. Wherein neither Gloria nor the cartel’s leader survived a firefight with the team. Which should have brought about good news for Torres. Because Gloria could not turn state evidence against him, and no one seemed to know outside of intelligence what he had done. But alas, this ending was bittersweet at best. For Torres still had to atone long term for keeping this a secret from his team and putting them in harm’s way, and… this didn’t stay a secret.

Because somehow, DC Reid got wind of this and confronted Voight about it, in the most suspicious way possible. Because he didn’t ask for anyone to turn in their badge or face any penalties. He simply wanted a partnership with Intelligence. What that involves exactly, we don’t know yet. But while we wait, we can celebrate one epic midseason finale. For this one really did force Torres to atone for his sins and he paid the price dearly and in blood, and that made for one engaging tale that kept us on the edge of our seats and truly has us wondering what lie ahead for the team. Because it will take time to heal wounds from the lies, and Intelligence may be heading down a new path for certain, one that comes at quite the cost when this show returns on January 8, 2025. Until next time.

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