Chicago P.D. Season 13, Episode 3 ‘Canaryville‘ is an episode about Adam and Kim, and an episode about family. In many ways, every episode focused on Adam and Kim kinda is these days. Because that’s what they are, family. That’s what they’ve been long before they walked down the aisle. However, the episode is also, sadly, a reminder that bad things happen to women every day, and the show errs on the side of showing us this on the skin of someone we will be upset to see hurt, our very own Kim Burgess.
The hour spends more time with Kim and Adam in their neighborhood, where they’re raising their kid, than we ever have, and it’s a good window into what Kim and Adam are building and also what they want. For Makayla. For the two of them. For a family that doesn’t have to stay at three forever.
It is, at times, a good hour, because it also lets them work together, the way they do best. This is what they were first, partners. And this is what they still are, even if now they’re also a married couple. That can sometimes be a hard balance for a show, for a ship. And yet Chicago P.D. makes it look pretty seamless.
The fact that the show usually does character-centric episodes can sometimes affect the sense of team unity in the show. But one thing that has never been affected has been the relationship between Kim and Adam. In fact, the two have often been the bright spot, even on a show that at times seemed directionless. This show doesn’t feel as lost anymore, but unsurprisingly, Adam and Kim are still a highlight.
What isn’t a highlight is the show’s decision to use the first episode post-wedding that focuses on Kim and Adam to put Kim in the situation it puts her in. Cases involving violence against women are always hard, and Kim is indeed the female character we know better and care about the most. But we didn’t need to see her getting roofied or assaulted. We didn’t need to add more trauma to her already long list of traumas. And we especially didn’t need to see it now.
Sometimes, Chicago P.D. falls into the stereotype of throwing trauma at their characters, especially the women, so we can see that they’re strong. That they can take it. That they’re survivors. But we didn’t need the trauma to know this about Kim. We never have. And we especially don’t need to add to her long list of traumas if the show is going to make this another thing she just brushes off like nothing, because she’s strong.
Perhaps this is all about Adam and Kim’s future, the family they’re building. Maybe trauma won’t get swept under the rug. Maybe they’ll move forward, into better things, together. Even if those involve moving to the suburbs! I want to believe that. But I’m still in wait-and-see mode, and it’ll take more to get me out of that mentality.
Agree? Disagree? What did you think of Chicago P.D. Season 13, Episode 3 ‘Canaryville’? Share with us in the comments below! And if you have your own opinion on the show, leave a review/rating on our Chicago P.D. hub!
Chicago P.D. airs on Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.
