TV REVIEW: Chicago PD’s “They’ll Have to Go Through Me” Lives Up to the Hype

The highly promoted crossover week began with a whimper Tuesday night on Chicago Fire.

It fizzled out quick when we figured out that the “crossover” was more of a “crossunder,” really an underwhelming aside when Severide discovers a pedophile’s stash of pics and brings in the cops of CPD. It literally happens the last five minutes of Fire, and we were left going “that was it?”

Expectations were not high tonight as Law & Order: SVU took over the reins to bust a pedophile ring. The series made up for lost ground quickly and lived up to all the hype in an excellent crossover between the two shows that put last year’s bombing episode to shame.

SVU Begins It All

Erin and Halstead show up in New York because Lindsay’s half brother Teddy was in the disturbing pictures of abused kids. Teddy is a troubled young man wanting nothing to do with the cops or his half sis. Eventually, Erin breaks him down with her dimples to help them crack the case.

Benson and her SVU crew work seamlessly with our Chicago favorites, the banter so natural, the interplay between the two units working with a rhythm indicating more years of solving crime together.

They end up tracking down the location of a bad guy and are in hot pursuit when Erin gets plowed over by a bike. She pulls a Casey and takes a mighty blow to the head, leaving her with a concussion. Voight flies in immediately and takes over. He sends Erin home, and Benson to the back burner. Olivia’s not having it and puts Hank in his place, several times. You gotta love the tension between these two.

At the end of SVU, Voight gets a phone call that the pervert with the box of pics has been killed, along with a cop. “I’m comin’ home,” says Voight. Let the games begin.

CPD Takes the Lead

“They’ll Have to Go Through Me” starts up with a scene of the dead cop. Thankfully, he’s not one of our favorites; he’s a character we’ve never seen before. Whew. Thought Chicago PD was going to pull a Shay. Not tonight.

Erin summons crappy mom Bunny to find Teddy who got on a plane but hasn’t checked in with half sis. Bunny tries to say she should have been a better mother to her kids. “Do not 12 step me, mom,” Erin says coldly, cutting her off. Just find my brother!

Platt is so super sensitive all night, we barely recognize her. She doesn’t have the one-liner of the week, instead she brings us to tears with a speech about the dead officer.

A bunch of people connected to the pedophilia ring start turning up dead. The scheme is an elaborate one… DCFS funnels kids to foster parents who send the kids off to the pedophiles. I needed a flow chart to keep up.

Meanwhile, Roman and Burgess are looking for the officer shooter. They get a lead and Roman gets a chance to show off his badassedness, saying don’t piss him off. I like this kid more and more each week!

Halstead and Ruzek track down the shooter, chasing and fighting him to the roof a building. Voight rolls up looking unamused; he sees the bad guy fall to his death and is left looking even less amused. That body count just keeps rising.

Pictured: Jesse Lee Soffer as Jay Halstead — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

Oh, That Erin Heart

Lindsay and crew rescue a couple of foster kids sold to the pedophile ring with Erin taking a liking to the little girl. She can’t let that girl go to strangers for the night.

Voight goes to Platt needing a favor – Erin wants to keep the little girl in protective custody. The scene with the girl and Erin is heartbreaking. Sophia Bush killed it, that voice, the reminiscing about her childhood. She tells the young ‘un, “I met a cop and he helped me. All that stuff is behind me. I’m here for you. All that stuff’s behind you. I promise.”

In the meantime, Benson comes to Chicago when Voight says he needs “help.” Is it just me or does Voight get a little spring in his step when he sees Olivia? Make it happen CPD writers!

Surprise, surprise, Bunny comes through and shows up with Teddy. Erin convinces him to help the cops track down the head of the snake of this pedophile ring. Erin brings him to the station and he sees a picture of the guy in charge on the big, bad guy board. In the twisty turn of the night, it’s the DCFS boss!

Cage Match or By the Book?

Voight takes him to the cage; he will find out where the rest of the kids are. Benson says no way, this is not a Chicago only case. She does things by the book even if it means hitting the criminal with said book. Benson gets her requested five minutes alone with the scum. She goes for the emotional plea talking about how losers like him are really human beings deep down. “I need you to fight for it, to bring it to the surface.” The ones who did the right thing still feel the sun on their face.

Believe it or not, this touchy feely thing works. The guy gives up the location of the kids. In an amazing scene where there are no words, just swelling music and slo-mo police breaking down doors, the unit rescues the kids.

Pictured: (l-r) Kelli Giddish as Amanda Rollins, Sophia Bush as Erin Lindsay — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

Oh Those Feels

One of the last scenes shows all the cops outside the station as the widow of the fallen officer is taking his belongings home. Everyone is saluting her in a “Coffin that Small” rip off. Stolen or not, the scene rocks, leaving us to reach for the Kleenex.

Teddy and Erin have the tearful talk you knew would be happening at the end of this episode.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you,” she tells her brother. “I’ll call you tomorrow?” So Teddy’s sticking around? This Aaron Paul twin is a scene stealer; let’s hope we get more of him.

Back at her office, Erin walks in on Nadia and the rescued little girl working on a cool handshake. Two Erin saves right there. Lindsay looks like a proud mama as she reassures the little one that everything will be okay.

In the final scene of “They’ll Have to go Through Me” Olivia and Voight are drinking a beer. “I wish I coulda seen more of your city,” she tells old gravel voice. Hmmm, with a Voight escort perhaps?

The crossover redeemed itself tonight with a huge body count and an even larger pile of used Kleenex. It was the Erin Lindsay and Sergeant Voght show with each acting the heck out of every scene. So what did you think of this one? Better than last year’s bombing?

Now the real question is will the characters on PD act like this crossover really happened? Last year the Fire/PD cross-pollination was the installment no one spoke of, kind of the Voldemort of the season. Here’s hoping our characters have longer memories now and we’ll be seeing more of Erin half bro, Teddy. I know I won’t forget this one featuring a disgusting case carrying a set of cops from Chicago to New York, then back again. I won’t be forgetting those Erin tears. And I certainly won’t be forgetting that crowd of cops saluting a fallen brother.

We’ll see you back here next week, same time, same place to watch Antonio try to squirm his way out of a whole lotta trouble centering around that vixen wife of his part time employer. Where’s Laura when you need her?

Chicago PD airs Wednesday on NBC at 10 pm.