Chicago PD season 13 episode 19 put the spotlight on Ruzek in an emotional hour that ended with a heartbreaking loss.
It’s been a rough season for Ruzek fans with Patrick John Flueger’s leave of absence, leaving his character sidelined for an extended stretch. Thankfully, the writers have more than made up for the lost time since Flueger has returned.
Chicago PD season 13, episode 19 put Ruzek front and center in an episode that reminded fans why Flueger is such a crucial part of the show’s DNA, with the actor delivering an incredible performance throughout the episode.
The episode opened with Ruzek in the assisted living facility where his dad has been living. It’s clear Bob’s memory is getting worse as we see a board in the room with photos of Ruzek and the various loved ones in Bob’s life. Ruzek mentions moving so Mac can go to the new school she got into, revealing they’ve already found a buyer for the home as Bob notes that he never agreed to them selling the house. Bob slips out of the conversation, noting that Ruzek looks like his son, before he begins getting agitated about the news that Ruzek is selling the house. Ruzek assures him they’ve got plenty of time, but the sad reality is that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Back at the house, Ruzek and Burgess are working on packing things up and give Mac a box of his old belongings to look through. Ruzek is working through some old VHS tapes to make sure they don’t get rid of any unmarked home videos and comes across a strange tape that seems to be footage from a hotel room in which an individual is murdered.
Ruzek takes the tape to his dad to see if he can help provide any clues about the contents of the tape, as it seems to be marked with an evidence label. Ruzek asks if his dad worked the case, but he doesn’t get anywhere as his dad questions when Ruzek is going to take him home. After his visit with his dad, Ruzek heads out to meet with Mick, an old pal of Bob’s days in the CPD. Mick tells Ruzek about how the guys called it the motel massacre and suggests that it was just a prank, but no one ever fessed up, and Bob took it seriously. He tried to get a lead but never made any progress. Ruzek admits the splatter pattern looked real as Mick admits maybe they got it wrong.
Ruzek takes the tape in and uses the CPD’s tech to enhance the video. He notices a room key on the bed as he then works on clearing up the audio to see what the men are saying. He hears them mention a motel name and begins looking through results before coming across a hotel whose rooms match those in the video.
He heads out to the motel, calling Burgess on the way to let her know he’ll see her in the morning as he’s chasing a lead. When he gets to the motel, he requests the same room where the murder took place and heads out to the room. As he searches the room, Ruzek finds wiring within the smoke detector and notices the wiring leads to the office in the front room. He sneaks in and finds that the motel manager has placed cameras in all of the guest rooms as he’s then hit over the back of his head.
When Ruzek comes to, he’s in a hospital bed. He stumbles out of bed as Burgess comes in and helps him back to bed. She informs him he’s all right, but he has a bad concussion. He again asks what happened, and she tells him about the message he left telling her he was following up on the videotape they found at the house. An hour later, he was found at an alley a block away from his car, unconscious.
He’s struggling to remember anything about the night. The doctor notes that memory loss can be common with a concussion such as this, and his memory should come back in time as Ruzek asks what he can do to make the memories come back quicker. She encourages him to rest up as Burgess heads out and gets an update from Imani, who informs her they’re heading to the motel.