Anna met a tragic yet predictable fate.
It wasn’t the least bit surprising that Anna died by the end of Chicago PD Season 9 Episode 22 and that Voight would face yet another loss of someone he cared about and connected to due in part to his own actions.
And thus, we had a relatively predictable and underwhelming season finale.
The Escano case arc could’ve been infinitely much bigger as a storyline. It lost momentum throughout the season when the show would go multiple installments at a time without checking into it.
With more consistency and spending more time showcasing how dangerous Escano was and his full-scale operation, the overall arc could’ve been far more exciting, and thus, the finale could have been, too.
In hindsight, they spent much of the Escano portion of the season telling us about things rather than showing us, in between regular cases and a season mired with personal drama for two couples at the expense of other characters and things.
Even with this hour, it felt full circle, with Voight’s actions causing a death and the Halsteads along for the ride, icing out the rest of the unit who merely served as background characters for the last installment of the season.
We came back around to Hailey making “the right choice” this time, not wanting to go down the same road she went with Roy to cover things up for Voight, go along with his questionable methods, and lie to the team about everything.
And, if it wasn’t evident enough that Hailey’s place in this finale was to show her growth or turnaround, or whatever it is you want to call it, then it was evident when she had to kill someone, yet again, to save Voight.
This time, it was a clean shoot (although technically, it was last time, we’re beyond splitting hairs on that matter), and she followed the proper protocol.
I’m assuming it’s meant to be this moment of moral strength for Hailey that sets her back on a path where she’s officially absolved of the sins from her past during the Roy situation.
You can’t save him from himself, Jay.
Hailey
And frankly, the finale getting utilized to highlight this turnaround for Hailey set her right after the Roy situation and the spiral that ensued, centering her moral compass and portraying how she’s come out on the other side — it coincides with the series’ inarguable love fest with this character.
It also showcased the sliding scale of Halstead’s morality combined with his sense of power and authority with his relationship with Voight he established after the Roy fiasco.
Unlike with Roy, he was on the inside with this one and kept insisting that, as a result, he could formulate a plan that would reel Voight from the edge, keep him on a leash, and allow them to do things the right way.
But we never actually saw it, so it was just generally weird. Jay getting involved and actually knowing what Voight was up to this time versus when he didn’t with Roy didn’t change anything significantly.
Jay: You know she can’t just walk from this.
Voight: I put her here, so I’m going to save her.
Jay: How?
Voight: Clean what I can. Find her first. Control what I can. Look, you want to help me, Jay? Help me save her.
To Hailey’s frustration, he appeared to still play fast and loose with Voight, which only reminded one of why his self-righteous spiel in the first half of the season felt so hypocritical in the first place.
I don’t know what we gained from Halstead getting read in on what Voight intended to do, trying to save Anna as best as he could while covering for her.
All it did was maybe cause some friction between Jay and Hailey that they’ll likely never address again. And it gave us glimpses of a slight role reversal between the two as Hailey stepped into the role of a voice of reason who had to remind Halstead that they cannot save Voight from himself or cosign his actions.
But even Hailey picking at that point of contention was silly because she once again willingly inserted herself into a situation only to get upset by it.
If Voight was off to do shady Voight things, and Halstead was doing whatever it was he thought he was doing as the guy Voight reports to now, then why did Hailey insert herself into the shady business when they were both trying to leave her out of it again?
It was bizarre of her to dive headfirst into Voight and Halstead’s situation with Anna to state that she wasn’t trying to lie to the team or repeat what happened to Roy. She literally wouldn’t have had to do any of that if she didn’t butt into the drama.
No one asked her to do any of those things. Because of her previous experience with Roy, you would think she’d avoid any repeat scenario instead of willfully diving into it only to complain.
Because Voight is always going to be Voight at the end of the day, it wasn’t as if her suddenly taking this stand and proclaiming that they would do things differently would result in that.
It was also frustrating to hear Hailey mention that she didn’t want to lie to the team again when all it did was remind us that the rest of the team never did find out everything that happened to Roy in the first place.
The chasm in the team because of that storyline was a driving force to one of the season’s most frustrating aspects. It’s why it feels like we’ve spent so much time with Voight, Hailey, and Jay’s convoluted relationship and the professional drama from it while the other characters got benched and sidelined.
Even here, the others got the busy work of salvaging their Escano case, primarily offscreen, a throwaway consolation of finding the stash that could be the biggest drug bust of the city.
I wish I felt more of anything about that revelation, but there was no attachment to it, and it didn’t feel like some satisfying win for the team. It just … was something that happened.
Meanwhile, Voight went off the deep end, trying to cover Anna’s tracks and save her once he realized that she had killed Escano.
We knew it would happen once she figured out that Voight lied to her and realized that Escano was behind her rape.
She was of no use when they pulled her from cover after it was clear she was blown, and she was giving her interview for witness protection.
By the time we saw Anna had stabbed Escano multiple times and castrated him, it was evident that not only did Anna go off the deep end as a traumatized sexual assault victim who had become undone after her time undercover, but she wouldn’t survive the hour.
They have spent her entire arc foreshadowing her death, so her fate was written in the stars from her introduction.
The biggest unknown was if she’d somehow take Voight down with her in the process. The two of them had a unique bond that Jay and Hailey could sense even if they couldn’t make sense of it.
It was the first time in a while that Voight formed an attachment with someone, and we haven’t seen this side of Voight since his days with Erin, Justin, and Al.
Even when she shot him, all he could keep saying was that it was the two of them, and he’d find a way out of this for her. Voight genuinely seemed to care, and in that sense, you hate that he lost another person and that he’s the reason for it once again.
His job and how he does it takes away everyone he holds dear, and it makes you wonder if he’ll close himself off again. We haven’t seen him that distraught in some time. It makes you wonder what kind of state he’ll be in when the series returns.
Anna’s death was tragic because even when she tried to turn her life around, she still met the same fate as her father and brother. And now her son will grow up without his mother.
Carmela Zumbado had a strong presence as Anna, and it would’ve been nice if she remained a recurring character somehow. But on the other hand, it didn’t seem like Anna could ever have any other fate.
Other Thoughts:
- I blinked and almost missed Trudy. Can we please have more of her next season?
- Hailey getting hurt in the explosion was so anticlimactic. They sailed right on past it as if it didn’t even happen, so why did they bother?
- For some dumb ass reason, I still thought they’d acknowledge Kim and Adam’s cliffhanger conversation from Chicago PD Season 9 Episode 20. It’s supremely screwed up and yet totally on-brand that we have to wait until next season to find out if Kim said yes. I’m so sick of this shit.
- You do NOT bench half of your cast during the season finale. Can we please stop acting like Kevin, Trudy, Kim, and Ruzek don’t get shafted and sidelined when they don’t have centrics? It’s absurd.
- But seriously, the lack of and limited Trudy and Kevin this season is so incredibly frustrating there are no words for it. The Voight/Hailey/Jay versus Kim/Adam formula needs to be abolished. Just give us the team! Please!
- They did a much better job with continuity, solid case focus, and feeling like a team on the back half of the season and then completely lost the plot with all of that for the finale, and it’s disappointing.
- Is Chapman important? Her screentime gave you the impression that she’d be a recurring figure in the future.
- Jay was likely at the hospital twice during this installment, and not one mention of his brother, who probably still doesn’t even know he’s married.
- The buildup to the finale with Chicago PD Season 9 Episode 21 was misleading because this hour fell so flat. Embarrassingly enough, I may have actually fallen asleep halfway through and had to start all over again.
Over to you, Chicago PD Fanatics.
Are you upset about Anna’s death? Where does Voight go from here? How did you feel about this finale?
You can relive the season when you watch Chicago PD online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.