‘Chicago P.D.’ Recap: ‘Water and Honey’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

CHICAGO P.D. -- "Water and Honey" Episode 12005 -- Pictured: (l-r) Toya Turner as Kiana Cook, Jason Beghe as Sgt. Hank Voight, Benjamin Levy Aguilar as Dante Torres -- (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 1205 of ‘Chicago P.D.’ To revisit the previous episode, click here. This article also contains discussions regarding abuse of a minor, which may be triggering to some individuals.
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One particular type of television show that rarely celebrates Halloween in any capacity, are crime dramas, and it makes sense to why. Because it is hard for an audience to settle into a story about hardened detectives when they are wearing delightful costumes that celebrate the season through and through. Not to mention, it’s also strange to have gumshoes dig deep into spooky matters. Such as say a ghostly apparition or a something supernatural. For these are individuals that deal in facts, hard evidence and science, and likely won’t be spooked by anything that seems to resemble such matters. But believe it or not, there is a viable way to tell a Halloween style story in a crime drama, as evidenced by this week’s episode of Chicago P.D. on NBC.

For ‘Water and Honey’ informed the audience that the trick, is just to offer up the right kind of case. One that harbors the spirit of Halloween but is grounded in the elements that draw us to Halloween themed storytelling and it accomplished that feat, by bringing Officer Kiana Cook back into the fold. For she responded to a 911 call that seemingly went nowhere. But her gut told her something was wrong. So, she stopped by intelligence to enlist Ruzek’s help. But since he was out for the night, Torres stepped in and just like that… he and Cook were indeed embroiled in a supremely eerie case. Because a deeper investigation of the potential crime scene, revealed that a horrifying crime had been committed. Wherein a 14-year-old girl had been murdered and well, there were some creepy elements that accompanied the discovery of her body.

Because in the distance on this dark and rainy night, was a spooky specter of sorts. A flash of a person that appeared, and of course… some digging into the victim’s world, revealed a house of horrors where she lived. Since she lived in a bit of squalor and the body of her guardian was discovered inside the house, and it turned out that he was killed in a horrifying manner straight out of a horror story. Since it was revealed that he was held down in a chair and force-fed honey until he choked upon it. All of which really did offer up a scary story vibe. One that hung over the story as the clues rolled in. Because it turned out that the ghost in the distance was a friend of the deceased, and likely had answers as to what happened, and she most certainly did and painted quite the horrifying picture.

Wherein she, the deceased, and another were abused in a Juvenile Detention Center by its warden… and they wanted revenge. So, they basically took care of anyone that harmed them but were not prepared for the strength of the warden, which led to the original murder in this case. Which meant it was up to the team to find the third and final member of this revenge trio, to save her from being the warden’s next victim. Which added a sense of urgency since she was also his daughter, and that brought forth… an intense manhunt, and a harrowing fight in a watery basement… where our heroes were victorious, and justice was served. Not to mention, Cook received an invitation to join the team. A move that would help her get her career back on track and would add to the richness of the intelligence team.

All of which made for a powerful episode, one that really did offer up a chilling, Halloween vibe, and yes… it is wholly obvious that this is what the writers’ room wanted to accomplish, and it worked. Because at no point did the spooky elements overpower the story. They just enhanced it and added to richness of a story that was grounded deeply in the most frightening storytelling element of all; the evil that men do. Because that darkness was on full display here and it was unsettling and gross, and the only comfort we received on such matters was that the warden will spend the rest of his life in a jail cell. But that aside, this really is a blueprint as to how to make a crime drama tie into the Halloween season, and now that we know how it can be done, we can turn our attention to Cook’s entry into the intelligence team and all the good she will do, courtesy of her incredible skill set. Until next time.

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