The following contains major spoilers for Wednesday’s episode of Chicago PD Proceed accordingly.
After a year of denial, Chicago PDKim Burgess has finally been honest with herself about how the shooting and kidnapping at the end of Season 8 has affected her, at least professionally.
Wednesday’s episode, which was also the landmark 200th episode of the Dick Wolf drama, forced the Chicago cop to confront her trauma as she was trapped on a train with a young man who had been shot. Burgess experienced several panic attacks throughout the tense hour, eventually opening up to her therapist about her PTSD and how terrified she is of losing her identity as a police officer.
But what does this mean for her personally? Marina Squerciati tells TVLine that the revelation of Burgess’ traumatic reaction explains why she’s been so reluctant to move beyond that troubled life partnership with Ruzek.
“Ruzek had her hand outstretched the whole time, and I kept hitting her,” the actress said of her character. “Because we don’t have the script in advance, the last two years have been like, ‘How long can he stay?’ They have a great relationship, but she’s not exactly tender or loving with him. Then they told me it was because I had PTSD, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay, that makes sense.’ »
As we saw with Episode 8, in which Burgess forgot her gun while working on a case, Ruzek is well aware of her PTSD. Although the panic attack at the start of the hour was a frightening ordeal for him and their adopted daughter Makayla, Patrick John Flueger notes that the experience will not deter him from sticking by her side.
“That’s probably the most dramatic thing that happened, other than him forgetting his gun,” Flueger says. “I think there are other things that didn’t happen on screen for the audience – just little moments where maybe she’s not herself, where maybe he catches her shaking. He understands what’s going on (and) tries to let her deal with it as best she can.
Now that Burgess has started to sort out her issues, Squerciati hopes it will allow “the dam to break between them because he’s been a very stable rock and she just hasn’t been able to give him back the similar”.
But before Ruzek and Burgess can take the next step, she says Burgess is going to have to “confront that (his PTSD) has affected his personal life.”
That doesn’t mean she won’t get there eventually. “I’m pretty excited for the end of the season,” adds Squerciati, “to see what would happen if she got there.”
What did you think of Chicago PD 200th episode? Do you think Ruzek and Burgess are ready for this next step? Ring below!