Chicago P.D. Begins A New Era With Halstead & Erin’s Modern Replacement
Laura Hurley has been writing about the entertainment industry for more than twelve years, after a decade as a content producer and editor at CinemaBlend after writing for WhatCulture and Examiner. Attending events like SCAD TVfest and San Diego Comic-Con over the course of her career, she has been immersed in the world of network, streaming, and cable TV.
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Warning: this article contains spoilers for Chicago P.D. season 14, episode 6, "The Thin Grey Line."Chicago P.D. shifted focus from one of One Chicago's most well-established relationships to what seems to be the beginning of a new one in the latest episode of season 14. After the previous installment delved into Burgess and Ruzek's family unit, which evolved slowly but surely over nearly a decade and a half, "The Thin Grey Line" showcased the cop drama's two newest series regulars. The relationship already has shades of Halstead and Erin from the early seasons of P.D., but it's missing some of what made that romance work.
By this point, Chicago P.D. is all but infamous for how members of the Intelligence Unit regularly date each other. The workplace romance complications that cause problems for Severide and Kidd on Chicago Fire generally don't apply to the cops working under Voight in the CPD. That started with Erin and Halstead early on, as well as Burgess and Ruzek; now, the latest incarnation appears to be Torres and Imani.
The two formed a bond early on as the two newest and youngest regulars, and "The Thin Grey Line" dropped some obvious hints that more than friendship is brewing. While romances in this installment of Dick Wolf's TV universe generally add serialization to a format that could otherwise be painfully procedural, a modern version of Linstead may not be what Chicago P.D. needs just yet, especially not out of Torres and Imani.
Torres And Imani Need More Time On Chicago P.D.
In early seasons of Chicago P.D., Halstead/Erin and Burgess/Ruzek were the only two main romances within the Intelligence Unit, so a little flirtation between colleagues was still novel. By the sixth episode of season 14, however, there have been so many relationships within Voight's team that there weren't many degrees of separation between them all by the time Upton left. Even Atwater finally got a CPD romance before the end of his time. At this point, sparks flying between Torres and Imani feel like just another Chicago P.D. partnership turning romantic. Something has to change.
Admittedly, "The Thin Grey Line" didn't explicitly give them romantic moments, but there's a reason why the episode focused on reaction shots from Burgess and Ruzek whenever Torres and Imani shared a moment together. If Chicago P.D. wasn't building their partnership into something more, their closeness wouldn't seem any more romantic than One Chicago's best platonic pairing was over the years. The obvious reaction shots, combined with a heart-to-heart before the final credits rolled, set the stage for more.
The problem with Torres and Imani, compared to earlier Chicago P.D. romances, is that the show hasn't invested enough time in their relationship yet for fans tobecome invested as well. Even though both Arienne Mandi and Benjamin Levy Aguilar are series regulars, Imani and Torres usually get the kind of screen time expected of the most junior members of the team. Even the episodes that focus on each of them in particular usually focus on something other than their partnership.
Romances don't necessarily have to heat up as quickly as Halstead and Erin did, or burn as slowly as Halstead and Upton did, but they need more time to feel like they could rank among One Chicago's best relationships.
What Made Erin And Halstead Work On Chicago P.D.
Even though Erin and Halstead's relationship only evolved (and devolved) over the first four seasons of Chicago P.D., it remains one of the most important romances from One Chicago's first several years. Some of the appeal comes down to Sophia Bush and Jesse Lee Soffer's early chemistry rather than the writing in every episode, but P.D. deserves credit for giving the pairing regular screen time. The highs were exciting, the lows could be devastating, and the show kept their storylines interesting by investing in them.
Linstead was so key to Chicago P.D. that Halstead unraveled for a hefty chunk of his first season without her and didn't bond with Upton as his new partner right away. Their relationship wasn't always healthy, but Chicago P.D. always made it important. The drama didn't hesitate to fan the flames between Erin and Halstead, and it didn't hurt that Bush and Soffer were arguably the lead actors in the Intelligence Unit, behind Jason Beghe as Voight.
In fact, Halstead's two main romances worked well in different ways. With Erin and Halstead, Chicago P.D. wasted no time elevating their relationship into one of the show's most important elements. With Upton and Halstead, Chicago P.D. burned long and slow, to the point that One Chicago's 2026 crossover event was basically a three-hour Upstead reunion special.
Chicago P.D. hasn't made either Torres or Imani important enough for a potential romance to become one of One Chicago's best, although both characters have parallels to Erin and Halstead. Imani's closeness with Voight isn't unlike Erin's, except for Imani and Voight having considerably less history. For Torres, Halstead was actually his first mentor when he joined the Intelligence Unit.
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None of this means the procedural is doomed to fall short on an Imani/Torres romance if the drama delivers on the seeds that "The Thin Grey Line" clearly planted. Still, they need more time to feel like more than just another instance of Chicago P.D. hooking up two single members of the Intelligence Unit. Viewers can find out what's in store for them in new episodes on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
- Release Date
- January 8, 2014
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Derek Haas
- Directors
- Nick Gomez, Eriq La Salle, Carl Seaton, Fred Berner, Vincent Misiano, Bethany Rooney, Rohn Schmidt, Sanford Bookstaver, John Hyams, Nicole Rubio, Terry Miller, Takashi Doscher, Brenna Malloy, Lisa Robinson, Marc Roskin, Charles S. Carroll, David Rodriguez, Holly Dale, John Polson, Lin Oeding, Mykelti Williamson, Paul McCrane, Alik Sakharov, Charlotte Brändström
- Writers
- Craig Gore, Tim Walsh, Timothy J. Sexton, Mike Weiss, Mo Masi, Tiller Russell, Eduardo Javier Canto, Jamie Pachino, Mike Batistick, Cole Maliska, John Dove, Tiffany Bratcher, David Hoselton, Maisha Closson, Kim Rome, Katherine Visconti, Daniel Arkin, Todd Robinson, David Rambo, Denitria Harris-Lawrence, Mick Betancourt, Bryan Gracia
-
Jason Beghe
Hank Voight
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Marina Squerciati
Kim Burgess
A spinoff of Chicago Fire, this police procedural drama follows the detectives and the uniformed patrol officers of the Chicago Police Department as they work to crack cases and put criminals behind bars.
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