SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chicago PD Season 13, Episode 8.

With “Born Screaming,” Chicago PD follows its own well-developed template. The NBC show picks up its cliffhanger, which left new recruit Eva Imani trapped in Raymond Bell’s house, and has Bell brought to justice in a very Intelligence Unit way. Plus, Hank Voight is in trouble again, because Voight is almost always in trouble.

This is Imani and Voight’s episode, and moreso Imani’s. All of the other characters feel there solely to move the plot along. LaRoyce Hawkins has a fine moment as Kevin Atwater is stunned by finding a dead body in Bell’s living room (in welcome contrast to Hawkins’ guest spot on Power Book IV: Force). But Kim Burgess and Dante Torres are just helping out, while Trudy Platt and Adam Ruzek aren’t present at all—the latter presumably due to actor Patrick John Flueger’s reported leave of absence. This is truly a two-hander, maybe even one and a half.

Arienne Mandi, though, continues to prove that she’s a great fit for Chicago PD. She was wonderful in The Night Agent but she works well as the next sort of proto-Voight. A theme on Chicago PD has been how officers are affected or influenced by working for Voight, most notably the dynamic Voight had with Hailey Upton. The relationship between Voight and Imani seems to be developing along a similar path. Imani is reckless and emotional in “Born Screaming,” with Voight having to get her to stop beating Raymond Bell into a bloody pulp. That scene feels like exactly something Voight would have done seasons ago, without anyone to stop him.

The parallels between the characters are particularly obvious in this episode. There’s nothing wrong with that; Voight is at his best when he has a foil to keep him in check or challenge him. Upton was that for a while, but before her there was Antonio Dawson and Alvin Olinsky. Eva can be that person too; the writers just have to be careful not to have her character arc play out with more of the “gets in trouble somehow because of Voight” that Chicago PD fans have become used to.

They’re also pretty used to the broad strokes of how this story plays out. Intelligence uncovers the full extent of Bell’s villainy, then chases him around for awhile, before some form of violent confrontation. This show is no stranger to serial killers, or to fighting fire with fire. Even the end scene, which is meant to be Voight explaining himself, is par for the course. Commander Devlin is the latest in a long line of higher-ranking officers vowing to take Voight and/or Intelligence down, and they never do. In fact, when Devlin starts talking about how Voight has ruined his reputation, he comes across as more petty than intimidating. He just doesn’t have the presence of Charlie Reid or Denny Woods.

“Born Screaming” effectively concludes the Raymond Bell story and confirms that Eva Imani is very much like Voight, perhaps on her way to even being more dangerous than Voight. But it offers no surprises to Chicago PD fans, and because it’s so focused on Imani and Voight, no forward progress for any of the characters. One thing that the show can improve upon is getting back that team feeling; even when a plot focuses on one or two people, it can still incorporate the others more than this episode does. At least Raymond Bell is in the rear view, so both Eva and Intelligence can move on.

Chicago PD airs Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.