[Criticism] Chicago PD season 5: the change is now!

Chicago PD is back on NBC for the launch of its fifth season with the episode Reform. Between departures, returns and changes, it's time to catch up on Voight and his team. Our review.

This new season of Chicago PD faces two departures. In addition to succeeding Matt Olmstead, the new showrunner in charge of the series, Rick Eid, must deal with the departure of one of the main characters of the show, Erin Lindsay. The beautiful Sophia Bush has indeed decided to leave the series at the end of last season, taking her character away from Chicago. As the character is still alive, it is possible to imagine a future return. To compensate for this loss, the series brings back one of its key characters: Detective Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda). After the failure of the spin-off Chicago Justice last season, it was necessary to find a way for the actor to stay in the franchise, and what better than a return to his family?  

A departure and returns

This episode serves us as a reintroduction into a universe that we know well. Lindsay's departure left a deep impression on her colleagues, especially Jay. Fans have enough to feel destabilized just like Hank Voight's team is. It is perhaps regrettable to build this first episode on this (almost) single data. Chicago PD must move forward and prove that it does not only exist through its casting but also through its stories.

The series has proven to us time and time again that the treatment of the news and the shocking scenes are its centerpieces. The return of Burgess to the team is in this respect badly brought. The character might have deserved a more exploited return and not just a few lines of dialogue. His story last season was interesting and we hope that this absence will be a little deeper in the next episodes.

Forced reinstatement?

Following the cancellation of Chicago Justice, Antonio Dawson returns to the series at the end of the episode full-time. We will have to see what happens in the future because this return rings a little wrong. The writers had not necessarily foreseen the cancellation of the series and want at all costs to recover the character, even if it means doing it in a wobbly and unagreed way.

The season is fully launched with the introduction of a new character, a politician who should bring consistency to the plots while Lieutenant Denny Woods is back, always ready to bring down Hank.

In conclusion, through a standard episode, Chicago PD finds colors with this season premiere. Lindsay's departure, Dawson's return and Burgess's return accompanied the many changes. It now remains to be seen if all this will be beneficial to the series that will celebrate its hundredth episode this season.