Chicago PD Season 13 Episode 2 turned the focus on Torres, revealing to fans that his role in Intelligence is taking a toll on him.
It’s understandable, considering everything he went through last season with the romance involving his late CI, though there was barely any mention of Intelligence nearly coming undone just weeks prior. In fact, it was almost overlooked, with everything “back to business,” which has always been my issue with PD and storyline continuation.
Why is everyone acting like they didn’t nearly lose their jobs when the unit was sidelined? The episode would’ve been more fitting down the line, though I am enjoying that they are showing us more of Torres’ personal life.
The one person supporting him through a case that involved his people and community needed to be Atwater, as he’s always been the one finding himself at a crossroads as a cop working within the Black community. Atwater’s episodes have always been the strongest, but Torres is now a close second. No one else knows the toll the gig takes on you the way Atwater does, and thus, it was critical that he informed Torres that he knew he’d figure it out and find a way to channel all of that anger into a positive.
However, for now, Torres was simply going through the motions, blaming himself for his neighbor Ivan’s death despite doing everything he could to protect him and bring him back alive.
The case of the week invovled a string of kidnappings in Pilsen that were supposed to be “fast ways” to get money by hitting different ATMs with the victims, but Torres foiled the plan by trying to help. It would’ve made more sense for him to wait for backup instead of going in blind to help Ivan, but his lapse in judgment escalated the situation. Ivan’s wife didn’t trust that the police would help, for good reason, as they’ve largely ignored the Latino communities, and decided to take matters into her own hands, which made things even worse. Torres was forced to shoot the man she was meeting with to hand over the ransom money, Skuban, which ended with the suspects killing Ivan after they realized things went south. It wasn’t the outcome Torres wanted, but it’s the reality of the job.
To deal with the painful and overwhelming feelings, he would then self-harm to ease the pain and guilt— and to feel some form of relief and release—a clear signal that the job was getting the best of him.
Throughout the episode, Torres also experienced a crisis of faith, revealing that before, when he would get anxious or depressed, he’d turn to religion and god, but he no longer “feels him,” which, again, is understandable when you deal with the horrors of the world day in and day out.
He confided all of that to Jimenez Sans, played by Guevara-Prip, a tattoo artist whose cousin was previously part of one of these kidnapping robbery schemes, and whose lead helped them track down the perpetrators. Torres and Jimenez just so happened to be drinking their day away at the same bar, which is where she immediately felt a kindred spirit, asking Torres to trust her before digging her finger in his wound and kissing him deeply. The ordeal ended with a masochistic bathroom hookup, and considering Prip’s character has a name, it’s likely she’ll make a return somewhere down the line. But should she? I’m all for Torres having a love interest, especially one that isn’t his CI and putting his career in danger, but I fear this one can get very dangerous and enabling, very quickly.
What did you think of the episode? Do you think it was too character-focused without acknowledging that the unit just got back together? Are you enjoying where Torres’ storyline is headed?
