Chicago PD Season 7 Episode 11 Review: 43rd and Normal
Lizzy Buczak
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Baby Burzek is lucky.
It might not have seemed that way for much of Chicago PD Season 7 Episode 11, but by the end, it established that the unborn child will have so many badass people loving and caring about him/her.
Burgess and Ruzek didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on the pregnancy news at first, but it's understandable as the whole situation is new, unexpected, and still a complete shock.
Burgess wasn't sure how to feel about it aside from knowing that she was scared.
She was acting from a place of fear -- fear of what's next and fear of what it means for her career.
That fear of the unknown explained her short and cold attitude towards Ruzek.
At the same time, Ruzek wanted to be supportive.
Burgess: How did you know?
Platt: I've been a cop a long time. Plus, if you listen hard enough, you and Ruzek have voices that really carry.
He wanted to show Burgess that he's a good guy while also respecting her boundaries, and yet, he found himself upsetting her at every turn by saying all the wrong things. Truth is, there was no right thing to say.
It was tough to watch them both stumble around this very exciting development mainly because they were both right to some extent.
Burgess is the mother, this is her pregnancy, and her career will be the only one that's impacted by it.
But that didn't allow her to brus off Ruzek's opinions, concerns, or feelings.
While Ruzek may not be physically carrying the child, he is the father and has a say.
More importantly, he wants to be a father, he wants the responsibilities, and he wants to be there for the good and bad times.
That, in itself, is a huge win.
Seeing Burgess in life-threatening situations that could hurt her or the baby wasn't easy for Ruzek and in a misguided way, he took matters into his own hands.
It wasn't right to undermine Burgess as a cop or disobey her orders, but his protective nature took over.
Atwater: How did you end up catching this with Ruz?
Burgess: I had a doctor's appointment, and I'm pregnant.
Atwater: You're pregnant?
Burgess: Yeah.
Atwater: Cause of Adam?
Burgess: Ohhhh yeah.
Chicago PD succeeded by showing both sides equally rather than presenting a one-sided argument.
There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to having a baby but there is a right way to handle it.
It's a good thing that Ruzek and Burgess found a way to communicate with each other by the end because communication will be key in all of this.
Burgess laid out all her concerns, Ruzek laid out all of his, and together, they came to a mutual understanding for this modern family that will work for them.
Ruzek's suggestion of getting married was silly and again, came from a place of fear, and it's a good thing that Burgess shut him down and checked him immediately.
Just because they're having a baby together doesn't mean they need to be together or make things official.
Right now, they're on two completely different wavelengths and they aren't "meant to be" in the same way that they were in Chicago PD Season 1.
Will that change in the future? Maybe. The baby might bring them together and as their fears subside, they'll find that they have feelings for each other.
But all that matters right now is that they're in this together and made the most mature and responsible decision for their unborn baby.
On a different note, when did Chicago PD become so funny? There were several moments where I found myself laughing out loud.
It was mostly Ruzek's lines, which painted him in this new "funny man" light, but Platt's line about Burgess and Ruzek having voices that carry was also one for the books.
Platt may not get as much screen-time as she deserves, but any moment where she appears is golden.
How thoughtful was the "Mom Cop" mug? The gift wouldn't mean nearly as much if it came from anyone else, especially considering how Platt and Burgess' relationship has evolved over the years.
Burgess heeded Ruzek's concerns about working while pregnant and mustered up the courage to tell Voight.
It's unclear how far along Burgess is, but it did seem a little premature to loop her boss in, however, I cannot blame her wanting to be careful.
Dude, she and I are so out of sync. I mean, if I ask a question, she gets annoyed. if I don't ask questions, she gets annoyed. It's like, I don't know if I'm supposed to zig or zag. If I zig, she's angry I didn't zag. If I zag, she's angry I didn't zig. It's all very confusing.
Ruzek
Her job is demanding and can put her in unexpected and dangerous situations at any moment.
She had a few close calls on Chicago PD Season 7 Episode 10 when gunfire erupted, which is when Ruzek's fears first began manifesting.
In this episode alone she was almost crushed to death at the brewery, knocked into the wall while chasing down Ben. and even though she seemed to have it all under control, she was involved in a standoff with a suspect who could have shot her at any given moment.
Ruzek's fears were warranted.
I said the baby is lucky, but so is Burgess.
She has the advantage of having a boss like Voight, who is very supportive and protective over his team. There will always be a place for her in Intelligence, so while her fears of maternity affecting her career made sense for women in the workplace, she didn't have anything to worry about.
We didn't get to hear Burgess deliver the news, but a hug from Voight means that he approves. Oh, how far we've come from the days where Voight didn't even allow detectives in the same unit to date.
The fact that Atwater was the first to find out warmed my heart, but the way Burgess blurted it out so nonchalantly was hilarious.
Again, the moment was special because of Burgess and Atwater's relationship from when they were beat cops together riding around in dingy cop cars.
Considering Atwater's close relationship with both mom and dad, I'm formally extending to invitation to be the baby's godfather right now!
The baby news briefly took Atwater's focus away from his ungrateful little brother.
I have to hand it to him for not punching his brother back because the disrespect coming from that boy was out of this world.
Kevin is a standup dude for taking it and not dishing it back.
Jordan has had so many chances and continues to act like a little punk because of some girl he "loves."
Newsflash -- you do not want to be in love with someone that murdered her ex-boyfriend.
Jordan needs to clean up his act and recognize how lucky he is that he has someone in his corner constantly looking out for him.
Though, I expected more from this storyline than some pointless brotherly beef. Will Jordan just be around for the sake of giving Atwater something to do?
At least it's comforting to know that Jordan was ignoring his brother and not dead somewhere in a ditch for being a snitch.
Speaking of snitches, Nick was the dumbest one to ever exist.
Nick's loyalty to his hometown almost got him killed; his decision to out himself as the snitch who incriminated Martin's son was not his brightest moment.
What did he expect to happen? Martin to hug him and say "there, there, you had no choice?"
He's lucky Intelligence found him when they did.
You want to tiptoe around this, fine. But things are different now. You're pregnant with my kid. My kid. And so when I heard him working you, I did what I had to do to make sure that the both of you were okay and if that pisses you off, I don't really care.
Ruzek
The case-of-the-week was fairly well integrated into Burgess and Ruzek's baby storyline giving the episode a good and consistent flow.
Some cases as of late have been predictable, but this one caught me off guard because I didn't expect Ben's accomplice to be his father.
It's not every day you see a father and son who fell on hard times so they stooped to committing crimes and hitting a bunch of businesses out of pure anger and rage, though, it was a nice change of pace from the usual gang and drug motivated storylines.
I'm surprised that Canaryville, which seems like a tight-knit community of people who have grown up there and lived there their whole lives like Halstead, didn't rally behind Martin and help him out.
Martin was known and part of a local members-only club, so you'd think people would have known something was going on with him.
What did you think of the episode?
How are you feeling about the #Burzek baby storyline?
Are you more confident now that they've talked it out?
Comment your thoughts below and watch Chicago PD online!
Lizzy Buczak was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in June 2021..
