The death of a child will always make for a difficult installment.
They had quite the case on Chicago PD Season 10 Episode 19, as the series returned with an Atwater-centric where the case involving a father and son had Atwater re-evaluating his own relationship with Lew.
And the team went into overdrive, scrambling to spare a pre-teen from going to prison for something that wasn’t his fault.
We were due to check back in with Atwater’s personal arc regarding his relationship with his father, and once again, it was through a case that they managed to bond deeper.
The opener was nice as we caught a glimpse of Atwater in his personal life, running the apartment building that he owns. It’s something that he’s talked about in passing, and he even tried to get Ruzek to go in on the endeavor with him before. But this is the first time we see Atwater in action and the fruits of his labor.
He was absolutely adorable with Mrs. Castillo. You could tell she loved him to pieces, and she expressed nothing but gratitude to him for providing her housing and helping her with everything she needed.
Atwater is so personable, and he seems to know a little of something about everyone in the building, which is the mark of a great landlord.
And that’s why it was chilling that an accident as terrible as Malik’s shooting happened in the basement.
The shots fired had everyone edge, and once he got to the basement, he found Lew there, trying to keep the kid alert. Tragically, Malik didn’t make it, resulting in this challenging case that almost cost another tween his life.
Atwater had a personal investment in resolving this case with the best possible outcome, and Lew’s involvement from the moment he found Malike himself was inevitable.
But it was a challenging situation for this father and son who don’t really know each other and haven’t figured out how to navigate each other in any real way.
I need you to make sense and talk fast at the same time; what the hell were doing in there?
Atwater
They’re still tentative with their relationship, at least before this, and it presented some challenges for them as Kevin can’t help but be suspicious of everything his father does or feel compelled to rein him in.
And Lew is a person who still doesn’t know how to behave or what to make of a son in law enforcement. He still doesn’t know who his son has become in his absence.
Anyone who knows Kevin well enough would know that he would do whatever it took to untangle all the issues in the case and attempt to protect Oscar as best as he could.
Things got intense when they realized that Oscar was the person who was behind Malik’s shooting. Mrs. Castillo’s honesty about what she saw shows how trusting she is of Kevin despite her natural and understandable reluctance to share things with law enforcement.
But once they got Oscar as its lead, they faced a conundrum. It was one thing when they found the drugs under his bed. But then he pointed a gun at them when they closed in, and no one wants to face a kid with a gun.
As much as Lew should’ve stayed in his lane, I’m glad he was able to talk Oscar down and retrieve the weapon. And he was an unexpected advocate and support to this kid the whole way through.
But Oscar wasn’t helping himself when he copped to shooting Malik and the drugs and wouldn’t tell them anything else to point them in the direction of who was the adult behind everything.
The entire hour was essentially spent trying to save this kid from getting tossed into juvie or, worse, killing his friend, and the unit was working harder to prevent that than poor Oscar was.
Unfortunately, Lew didn’t see it that way and resorted to making a scene or two, putting the tension between them on full display.
The way that Carlos popped up seemed to come out of nowhere and was sudden and forced in just to move the case along.
And finding him is what finally brought Ruzek into the mix so that he and Atwater could have their modern-day Miami Vice (because that reference was hilarious) action.
Ruzek knowing how to talk their way into the building, was funny. But then it got serious when they had to run after Carlos, and he kicked both of their asses.
Atwater: You alright?
Ruzek: Oh, I’m not gonna lie to you; I’ve been better.
Atwater: Damn!
Ruzek: What the hell just happened, man?
Ruzek got the brunt of that beatdown, and it was honestly shocking to see him take so many hits like that. He’s always been a bit of a brawler himself, and it’s a rare occurrence when someone gets the upper hand on him.
I love Ruzek to pieces, but it was such a change of pace to see him on the opposite end of such a beatdown, and the man had jokes when it was over, too.
It shouldn’t have been as funny as it was, but leave it to Ruzek to find the levity in the situation.
And with the force and amount of times, Carlos slammed that door on Atwater’s arm, I thought he’d spend the rest of the hour walking around in a sling!
Carlos was just an ass all around, though.
He didn’t waste any time putting a knife to Lew’s throat when Lew’s attempt to implicate him with the drugs and gun went awry, and because of Lew’s elbow jab while fleeing, Carlos ended up slicing Lew up a bit.
But at least Atwater got a few licks in when it came time for capture.
Lew’s attempt at bringing Carlos to the Intelligence Unit gift-wrapped was admirable, but he can’t always go half-cocked while trying to assist the police.
He always ends up causing a bigger mess, and he often jeopardizes himself and his parole. It would suck if he did something so wrong that they couldn’t get him out of it, and he found himself back in prison.
At the very least, Lew needs to communicate better and learn how to give Atwater a head’s up.
It was diabolical when Carlos sat in the interrogation room and was perfectly content, allowing his 12-year-old son to take the fall for him.
He didn’t give a damn about his son. The connection meant nothing to him, and he was so cocky about it that it was sickening.
Atwater: That is your boy; that is your son.
Carlos: I know you think that means something to me, but it doesn’t.
Voight: So let me get this straight, you’re going to let your 12-year-old boy do time for you. That’s your decision?
Carlos: I guess so.
Poor Oscar was in the room keeping his mouth shut and trying to protect his dad because all he wants is this connection with him, and Carlos didn’t give a damn about him.
It was unfathomable even to Voight and Atwater. But at least he provided them with enough to show Oscar, convincing the kid to turn on his father once he realized that he didn’t care to protect him.
And even then, Oscar still wanted to know if he could visit his father in prison. He craved this connection with this awful man and lost his best friend in the process.
It was something that Atwater could relate to, and that came out well with all his interactions with Oscar.
And it prompted him to have a more honest conversation with Lew about the two of them no longer judging each other and learning to trust each other more.
Carlos doesn’t care about his son, but Lew obviously loves Kevin and is doing his best to connect with him and forget a relationship, starting anew.
I loved how the radiator situation that required bleeding the valve was a metaphor for their own relationship and starting over.
And now Kevin can lean on his father as he maintains this building since it’s evident that Lew is familiar with these things. It’s something that they can do together, and it’ll bring them even closer.
All these kids in the neighborhood, they remind me of you, what I missed. That’s why I try to help them. I don’t know, do something right this time.
Lew
Kevin and Lew have reached a promising turning point in their relationship, and it’s sweet to see it.
It wasn’t the flashiest of cases or even the best Kevin-centric we’ve had over the years, but it did the trick and was a quiet return to ease us back into the season after a hiatus.
Over to you, Chicago PD Fanatics.
What were your thoughts on this case? Are you happy that Lew and Kevin are on the same page? How many ice packs will Ruzek need after that ass-whooping? Sound off below.
You can watch Chicago PD online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. She is an insomniac who spends late nights and early mornings binge-watching way too many shows and binge-drinking way too much tea. Her eclectic taste makes her an unpredictable viewer with an appreciation for complex characters, diverse representation, dynamic duos, compelling stories, and guilty pleasures. You’ll definitely find her obsessively live-tweeting, waxing poetic, and chatting up fellow Fanatics and readers. Follow her on Twitter.