Recap of Chicago PD Season 4, Episode 21, Fagin, from 5/3/17.
Last night’s Chicago PD delved into a theme that happens daily across the world — child soldiers.
When a crew starts robbing banks all over Chicago, Jay and Erin are accidentally pulled into it, only because they were the closest to the location when the robbery was already in progress.
By the time they got there, the crew had already fled, but had left behind two victims: a guard, who died on scene, and a bank teller, who had been shot in the leg.
The detectives quickly help out around the bank, tend to the wounded, and were just starting to report to Voight about what had happened when a Detective named Hailey Upton shows up and demands to take over their crime scene.
She is from Robbery and Homicide and says she has been chasing this crew for weeks and that they should clear out and let her do her job.
Voight is obviously none too happy about it, but takes the team back to the district. Of course, this is Hank Voight we’re talking about, so he obviously doesn’t let go of the case.
Before Upton had gotten there, one of the patrolman had recovered a device and they bagged it as evidence.
It turns out it was a cell jammer, which blocks out all cellular signals, so people inside the bank wouldn’t be able to call 911.
This crew is clever, quick and have already hit multiple banks in the past three weeks. Only this time they have gone beyond that and killed a security guard and shot a bank teller.
Jay manages to track down where the jammer came from, so Al and Ruzek go over to the store to question the owner.
Although the information they get there lead them to the wrong crew, Ruzek cracks their pattern and they figure out what their next targets are most likely going to be.
So they split into teams and Erin and Jay go together to one of the targets.
When they’re talking to the security guard about the security camera footage, they see that the crew is in that bank right at that moment, with the robbery already in progress.
They run down, shots are fired and the crew gets spooked, running away. They chase them down and catch one of them, while a second one tries to flee and points his semi automatic to Erin, who doesn’t hesitate to a shot at him.
He dies instantly and, when she takes the motorcycle helmet off to identify the perp, she is shocked to see he was just a kid — probably no older than 15.
Right at that moment, I knew this was going to be a cross for her to bear. This is Erin Lindsay we’re talking about and we know she cares — especially when it’s children.
And she killed a 14-year-old boy, self defense or not, and that’s definitely going to haunt her.
When she and Jay go to the morgue to get an ID on him, the boy’s mother shows up. The way she accuses Erin of killing her child, her baby boy, nearly destroyed her right then and there.
But they need to keep moving and the other boy they apprehended at the scene, 14-year-old Corey Jenkins, refuses to talk.
He recites a speech about how he won’t talk unless there’s a public defendant and a juvenile advocate present, and it’s so well rehearsed, that it’s clear someone is putting him up to this.
They find his file and quickly link him to a guy named Lavar Spann, rap sheet a mile long, but has been out of the life in a while, after a FBI agent shot him and left him partially paralized.
With the settlement he got because of that, he bought a used car lot, and Upton’s theory is that he is recruiting these teenage boys to do his dirty work for him, since he can’t physically rob banks anymore.
So Voight takes her, Ruzek and Atwater to the lot, armed with a search warrant, so they can look into this.
Spann plays the innocent card and they can’t find anything that ties him to the case. When they ask for a warrant to search his house, Steve Kot (from Chicago Justice) tells them they have no evidence that could justify a warrant like that.
In fact, they don’t have much of a case at all, especially because Erin shot and killed an african american teenage boy, who never even fired his gun.
They need to find a link to connect Spann to the robberies, so they set up a surveillance team with Jay, Al and Upton.
We find out that Upton made detective by merit, after working on an undercover operation for a year.
She can’t elaborate on the details, but you know what? I like this girl. Tracy Spiridakos has been a pretty great addition to the cast and I hope she sticks around for a while.
We need more girl power in this show and, with Marina Squerciati away on maternity leave, we have a spot to fill temporarily. But I hope she gets to stay afterwards.
I admit my first impression of the character was not great, but by the end of the episode she had convinced me she’s good police and had me curious about her back story.
Once they do surveillance and identify the kids working for Spann on the car lot, the team identifies finger prints on some of the bullet casings.
When they hit the house where the two brothers lived, the boys are already dead. It looks like Spann is tying up loose ends fast, but that was what made Corey Jenkins decide to talk.
The two dead boys were his best friends and now he wants to help. Atwater convinces him to testify, but Voight tells him not to in private.
If he publicly testifies, he’s dead. Even if Spann goes back to prison, he can still make Corey disappear.
The poor kid is scared out of his mind. He’s in the foster system and has no one and his two best friends just died. He is terrified.
So they can’t charge Spann with bank robbery and murder, but they can put him back in jail for breaking his parole by giving alcohol and drugs to these kids — evidence that they have because of the surveillance they did.
Corey goes to juvi with the assurance that Voight’s got his back when he gets out; Spann goes back to jail and the team wraps up the case.
Voight and Upton had started out on the wrong foot, but he definitely warms up to her and, by the end of the episode, he offers her a spot in Intelligence, while Burgess is away.
Chicago PD: Other things of note
1. Erin is a mess after this case. It’s Jay’s birthday and he invites her to get a drink with everyone else after shift.
It looks like they’re slowly working their way towards one another again — at least Jay seemed a lot more open with her.
So after their shift, Jay is already at Molly’s celebrating his birthday when Erin shows up. S
he gives him a gift and says she just wanted to wish him a happy birthday, but she is going to head home.
Jay follows her out, though, and this is the movement forward we’ve been waiting for.
She confides in him that she’s not okay and that he was just a child.
When he gives her a hug, my Linstead heart soared. They’ll be back together soon, guys. Mark my words. I miss them.
2. I am so curious about Upton. I loved her back story with Platt and the sergeant and I teared up at the same exact moment when she told Trudy that she became a cop because of her.
3. Erin is still letting Jay drive. In case you didn’t notice.
Last, but most definitely not least, next week’s episode looks intense. Check out the promo:
Chicago PD airs every Tuesday at 10/9c on NBC.