TV REVIEW: Chicago PD’s “An Honest Woman” Shows How Far Voight Will Go

On Chicago PD we’ve gotten to know Sergeant Hank Voight little by little. He first showed up on Chicago Fire as resident bad cop who’ll break any law – and Casey’s ribs – to help his wayward son. He evolved into a hero when given his own show, exposing his character one peel at a time. We’ve seen him be a father figure to Erin, take youngsters under his wing, and tonight we get an upfront look at how far he’ll go to help his family, and it’s over the cliff far.

Voight’s Tough as Nails

“An Honest Woman” begins with Voight being resident bad ass, and showing he really does eat gravel in the morning. Olive, Justin’s baby mama, checks in again to say hi and ask for a wee bit more money. She is eating for two after all. Hank is more than willing to hand over a wad and heads down to his super secret safe. Unfortunately, two thugs appear out of nowhere, following him to the basement, also wanting a piece of that possibly dirty money pie.

Voight doesn’t show up for work and Erin knows something’s gone down. He’s “never late and never sick,” she says. Halstead and her go to Hank’s house, find blood, and all the evidence that he’s been snatched.

Erin’s upset and Olinsky tries to cheer her up by reminding her “He’s as tough as they come.” We agree.

We see the bad guys beat Hank mercilessly, but he won’t break, so they bring in the big guns, or the big girl… Olive. It’s gonna take more than a crowbar to get to our tough guy. It’s gonna take a grandbaby.

Ian and Lucas, the Voight kidnappers, wrap plastic around Olive’s head and Hank gives up the combo pretty quick. The baddies grab the loot and take off not bothering to free Olive. She slowly suffocates with Voight watching. Luckily, the team breaks in without a second to spare. Olive and grandbaby survive!

Voight says “we keep this in house” and no one’s arguing. I’m thinking that safe was not full of money because he’s really good with a budget. Hank questions Olive, realizing that this isn’t “An Honest Woman.” She says she was in on it, but she had no choice. “They said they were going to cut the baby out.” Olive adds that her friend Josie must have been the one to turn these guys onto her.

Pictured: Jason Beghe as Hank Voight — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

Roman and Burgess Shenanigans

Side story of the night is a teenage scam artist who sells candies and steals things like Burgess’ badge while the officer gives her a pep talk about becoming a cop. Roman and Kim track her down while she’s impersonating a cop to protect little sister. They give her a warning and you can’t help but feel like they’ve made a difference. Roman and Burgess make a great team almost finishing each other’s sentences. I wonder if this will set up for some tension between Ruzek and Burgess. My Chicago spidey senses also say we could be the ones set up for a big fall. We know how those writers like to kill off characters (RIP Leslie Shay), so is Roman being built up to eventually bite the bullet? Just a thought.

Voight Goes to Extreme Measures

Olinsky asks Voight about the whole “in-house” thing with just one look, no words. Hank says, “This ain’t about the money. They said they were gonna slice my grandchild out of her. I believed them.”

Voight finds Josie and he isn’t messing around. She’s not giving up her friends, or so she thinks. Voight baseball bats the barstool out from under her and threatens the woman. Her guy, Carl, shows up and Voight uses a pair of pliers on his fingers to convince her to talk. She does.

Erin worries about Hank all night telling him, “Don’t blow this. Lean on your team.”

He visits Olive in the hospital, and she says she didn’t mean for any of this to happen. “The baby’s supposed to be a good thing.”

In the surprise lead of the night, Ian, the lower IQ’d bad guy shows up with a duffel bag of Hank’s money turning himself in. I’m thinking this was not the brains of the operation. Voight hauls him out of the station to a secluded area before we can blink. He holds a gun to his neck telling him if he brings in the other bad guy “you get to live.” Ian doesn’t think that sounds like much of a prize but changes his mind when the gun moves to his eye. Final offer. He takes it. “Now, you’re under arrest.”

“You better not be playing us,” warns Halstead while interrogating the loser.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you work for a psycho. We all do.” Hilarious and so true. “You guys are scarier than the criminals.” Again, very true.

Ian sets up a meet with his crazy partner, the whole Intelligence team in place for the bust. Lucas spots the set up with one glance at the sweat coming off of Ian’s forehead and shoots him in the head. His getaway includes grabbing an innocent woman, gun predictably pressed against her head. Hank lowers his weapon but Halstead sneaks up from behind threatening to put a bullet in his head. Lucas gives up.

Voight checks out the guy’s bag, furious that what he’s looking for isn’t there. “Where is it?!” He takes Lucas to a field on the outskirts of the city, the bad guy on his knees, A gun is in Hank’s hand but where’s the gunshot that’s sure to follow? It doesn’t come. Voight hauls him into the station. What?

Pictured:(l-r) Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead, Sophia Bush as Erin Lindsay — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

Olinksy’s been acting like his panties are in a wad all night, finally admitting to Ruzek that he’s been in a mood because his wife’s been stepping out on him with a family friend after twenty years. “Be angry, but you want her back, you should fight for her,” advises Ruzek. That may be the smartest thing Adam’s ever said.

The final few scenes in “An Honest Woman” packed in so many surprises, I’m still processing. Antonio shows up to his fancy pants security side job, and he gets more than he bargained for. The Mrs. of the guy who hired him makes a play, a hand on his thigh kind of play. Antonio turns her away but hubs shows up angry, accusatory, and crazy. Hmmm, more on this in a couple of weeks?

The next shocker has a State’s Attorney showing up with an offer for Erin. Thankfully, not a hot date offer, but a job offer. “Running your own task force for the Feds,” he says smiling. Erin does not look completely opposed to the idea. Hmmm, more on this in a couple of weeks?

Giving us those feels in the final scene, Justin’s back and bonding with grumpy dad. Olive is in the Voight fold, upstairs asleep. Justin and Hank talk with son revealing he’s having a boy. They laugh and bond. Justin says, “I want you to know that this is my family, and I’m gonna keep them safe.” Did Justin grow up? They shake hands and Voight reaches into the bag Lucas had. He pulls a ring out and says you should “make an honest woman out of her.” Aw, Voight, you are just one big softie going to extreme measures for your dead wife’s ring.

Chicago PD is the Jason Beghe show and tonight highlighted that point to perfection. Hank Voight made us both afraid of him and love him in the course of one episode. The frenetic pace and seat of your pants storytelling make Wednesdays on NBC as good as a Blacklist Monday. Here’s hoping the ratings continue to rise giving us more opportunities to witness that Voight rage tempered with the softness of his heart.

Chicago PD airs Wednesday on NBC at 10 pm.