Editor’s Notice: The next comprises spoilers for 2026’s One Chicago crossover occasion “Reckoning”.Over the course of 13 seasons, Chicago P.D. has captivated followers with hard-hitting storylines and characters which were embraced, flaws and all. It doesn’t suggest there have not been any missteps alongside the way in which. The looks and subsequent unexplained departure of Vanessa Rojas (Lisseth Chavez) in Season 7, the way in which it dealt with the long-awaited Burzek wedding ceremonyor Hank Voight’s (Jason Beghe) repeated lack of penalties for his many sins are all black marks on the police procedural. But its most egregious mistake needs to be the departure of Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) and the baffling fallout from itending the fan-favorite union of Halstead and Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos), “Upstead,” on a quiet and dour word. However, opposite to the adage that reads “you’ll be able to’t repair what’s already damaged,” the most recent One Chicago crossover occasion, “Reckoning,” has fastened Chicago P.D.‘s largest mistake with one scene that is been a very long time coming.
Upstead Involves a Halting Crash in ‘Chicago P.D.’
Upton was launched within the Season 4 episode “Fagin,” and can be partnered with Halstead on the onset of Season 5. The pair turned a cohesive unit, creating a deep friendship that had them looking for each other even exterior the work surroundingswith Upton pushing Halstead to search out assist for his PTSD, and, in flip, Halstead serving to Upton confront the abuses of her childhood by the hands of her father. The connection grew extra intimate, ensuing of their first kiss in Season 8’s “Tender Age,” and Upton proposing to Halstead within the season finale. An agonizing summer time later, Halstead accepted her proposal earlier than turning round and asking her to marry him, saying he is identified for years that he needed it to be him and her, all the time. And within the ninth episode of the season, the pair bought married in a secret courthouse wedding ceremonya second 5 years within the making.
This simply highlights simply how epic Chicago P.D.‘s largest mistake is. In Season 10’s third episode, Halstead, rising more and more anxious in regards to the lack of an ethical code within the unit, signed up for a job with the Military for an eight-month deployment, looking down Bolivian drug cartels, with out warning Upton of his plans. On the finish of the episode, he left, a transfer that’s utterly out of character. Solely that is not the worst of it. Halstead ended up ghosting her utterly, and when Upton reached out to his boss abroad in Episode 10, she learns that he had prolonged the size of his task with out telling her. It is a uncooked, heartbreaking second, a merciless finish with no affordable rationalization. It immediately shattered Halstead’s well-earned repute as an honorable man and left Upton shattered, ultimately enjoying an element in her leaving Chicago.
The One Chicago Crossover Occasion “Reckoning” Rights ‘Chicago P.D.’s Largest Fallacious
Then comes “Reckoning,” one other stellar crossover occasion, with all three exhibits below the One Chicago banner working collectively within the face of a lethal chemical assault that’s unleashed on board a aircraft, killing everybody inside (essentially the most eerie scene you’ll ever see this yr) and threatening to do the identical to anybody uncovered, nonetheless briefly. FBI Particular Agent Upton is available in as a result of the case is first labeled as a terrorist occasion. There are ties to a drug cartel investigation led by, you guessed it, Halstead, who arrives in time to come back to Upton’s support proper when she’s taken down by a suspect. It is not as shocking as you’d count onwith each Upton and Halstead conscious that every can be in Chicago.
However when the disaster is over, Chicago P.D. provides followers the scene that rights its largest unsuitable. Halstead finds Upton within the locker room, packing up, and asks when her flight is. He admits that he stayed to work on the case just because she was there, whereas Upton admits she got here as a result of he was there too. Far much less frosty than anticipated, however she turns round to go away after wishing him good luck.
Earlier than she walks by means of the door, nonetheless, Halstead does what he ought to have carried out from the beginning: apologize. He apologizes for every thing, for shedding himself, leaving her, and the way he did not discover his method again to her. He is sorry for all of the unsuitable he did. She pauses after which apologizes again, and with a slight smile, earlier than asking what time his flight is. Virtually beaming, Halstead replies he does not care, and Upton invitations him to get a drink. Similar to that, years of frustration and disappointment that followers had with the sequence due to its best sin soften away. Is it the reunion we hoped for? Maybe not, however it’s, on the very least, a suggestion that each one is just not misplaced. And if we by no means see them once more, at the least Upstead, in the end, will get a correct goodbye on a hopeful word.