‘Chicago P.D.’ Recap: ‘Ten Ninety-Nine’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

CHICAGO P.D. -- "Ten Ninety-Nine" Episode 12001 -- Pictured: Jason Beghe as Hank Voight -- (Photo by: Lori Allen/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season Twelve Premiere of ‘Chicago P.D.’
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One thing that we can all agree upon, is that dealing with traumatic experiences can be quite the difficult venture. For we are deeply wounded, emotionally, when it happens, and depending on what played out, sometimes we are afraid, sometimes we cannot sleep and that can prompt us to do some strange things. Such as lash out that people that care about us, take part in toxic behaviors or drown our anxiety in substances that don’t heal, and sometimes… we do our best to avoid feeling anyting altogether. But eventually, we face it, and we resolve, be it a short while after or years after. Because that’s the only way we heal from it and if that sounds familiar, well that’s likely because such a journey has been commonplace in storytelling as of late.

Simply because we finally understand trauma and its power, and that is why we are seeing books, movies and shows, dive deep into the everyday person’s experience with the power of trauma, to help others, and that is why the season twelve premiere of Chicago P.D. on NBC is of note. Simply because… ‘Ten Ninety-Nine’ opted to take that exploration to a whole new level, by pondering upon what kind of struggle an officer of the law would have with fresh, unresolved trauma surging through them. Which as it turned out, would be ugly to say the least. Because despite the fact that Sergeant Henry ‘Hank’ Voight was back at work and hustling to solve cases, following his injuries, Hank was simply not himself in the slightest. 

In fact, he was transformed following his terrifying brush with death last season. Because there was zero friendless from the man, just a desire to put people away and keep moving and hustling to close as many cases as possible. Which ran the team ragged and and it almost… put Voight’s job in jeopardy. Because in the midst of his marathon run to solve cases in the coldest and most technical ways possible… one particular case really got under his skin. One that involved homicide at a drug house and this one caught his eye because it was clearly about revenge, about someone doing what the police were trying to do. Which was put bad people away and serve up justice. But rather than go through the right channels in this case, he put it all upon his department and pushed for evidence to come forth that quite frankly, could have the case thrown out of court.

Granted, he did just enough to skirt the line and avoid that, and he did bring about justice. But not before endangering lives. All of which spoke to how… trauma could do some real damage in the hands of a powerful man such as Voight. Because it pushed an amazing cop to toe the line and push harder than necessary to obtain justice, and one wrong move here could have cost him so much. But that is what trauma can do, it can force us to do stupid stuff in the hopes that those actions will somehow heal us, and while Voight had rationalization in his mind as to why this should happen… it doesn’t excuse the fact that he crossed lines and put people at risk.

All of which set the stage for a fascinating future examination on what it takes for us to wake up and heal from trauma and how hard a process that will be, and for Voight, the road back will be even more difficult considering how this episode ended. Since Martel was lost in the line of duty and that will only haunt him further. But not all hope is lost when it comes to his journey. For some spoke up in this tale and told him he needed to take a beat and heal, and they may have to press harder. Because Voight is outright struggling and well, this all brought forth one epic and moving episode. One that truly showcased a real struggle in a new and inventive light, and it will be interesting to see how the healing process plays out for Voight as this new season of storytelling continues. Until next time.

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