TV Review - Chicago PD

Sophia Bush (left) and
Jesse Lee Sofer in "Chicago PD"

The spin-off to Chicago Fire tries to capture a bit of the same magic, but it doesn't quite do so. A few of the actors from Chicago Fire pop up on this show, but even that's not enough. The show is interesting when the cops are dealing with cases that are personal to them. It's compelling when Henry Voight, played by Jason Beghe (Californication and Chicago Fire), has to deal with his son's crimes or when Antonio Dawson, played by Jon Seda (Homicide: Life on the Streets and Chicago Fire), has to deal with his son getting kidnapped, but not every case can be personal, so not every episode can be that compelling. Therefore, when the show is just dealing with non-personal cases, it's essentially no different from any other cop show, or if anything, it's less so.

Episode 6 is a crossover with another Dick Wolf-produced show, that of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The show in that instance felt completely like Special Victims Unit and whatever makes Chicago PD unique is mostly lost. The problem is that there isn't much that makes it unique.

Voight goes further than the Special Victims Unit character Elliot Stabler but not as far as Vic Mackey from the FX series The Shield. I did like the flirtation between Erin Lindsay, played by Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill and Chicago Fire), and Jay Holstead, played by Jesse Lee Sofer (As the World Turns and Chicago Fire). Maybe that will go some place interesting that perhaps pits romance versus the danger of the job. As hackneyed as that would be, it would liven things up considerably here.

It's already been stated by Alan Sepinwall and Dan Fienberg at Hitfix.com, but I'll repeat it. Elias Koteas (The Killing) who plays Alvin Olinsky is like an older, crazier Christopher Meloni who played Elliot Stabler. Yet, Olinsky is a far better sniper than Stabler. Patrick John Flueger who plays Adam Ruzek is an actor who I thought was great on The 4400, so I'm glad to see him again here.

Two Stars out of Five.
Rated TV-14-LV.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Wednesdays at 10PM on NBC.