i found your criticisms of chicago pd very on point, fair, and accurate and appreciated that you voiced them!! i think there are a lot of problems with the show, even though i have enjoyed it for some time, i haven't kept up with it recently for a lot of the reasons you've described.
firstly, after all of the black lives matter things that happened over the past two or so years, chicago pd made a few eps that centered around the issue and... dropped it? i loved that they chose to take those steps at that time but have been really disappointed with the lack of follow-up lately.
i think kevin is severely underdeveloped and quite frankly cpd has failed at using his character's perspective to really change the show's perspectives (even though it is NOT the responsibility of the minority/minority characters to carry the burden of creating change on the show/irl)
also, this goes back quite some time, but the way they wrote rojas off was also quite cheap and took the easy way out, like it was easy to forget her character and the diversity she also brought to the show- and they failed to reflect how her friendship could have changed characters (like hailey's) perspectives on race/socioeconomic status, etc.
and, this is speaking as someone who used to intensely ship upstead, i think the way fans have started talking about hailey and upstead is also getting a little too intense. i have never liked how everyone's natural expectations are for marriage, for starters, let alone how when a woman gets married on a show (like station 19, for carina and maya) she immediately starts talking about having kids or gets pregnant.
i may be in the minority, but i do NOT want hailey/jay to have a pregnancy arc at all. i think there are a hundred more interesting storylines than having kids, and i think it's cheap for every female character's storylines to immediately be reduced to being a mother (and this includes kim).
i was also rewatching the fbi episode hailey was on and thought it was interesting how hostile was when oa pointed out the issues the chicago police department was- and although hailey is arguably my favorite character, i think people have started to gloss over some of her ignorance (as well as the ignorance of a LOT of cpd characters).
anyway that was longer than i intended it to be, but thank you again for sharing your thoughts!
Thank you for sharing YOUR thoughts! I completely agree with what you said- especially on Kevin. So many opportunities have been wasted to give him more story and development, and I just wish that the writers, show runner, SOMEONE would realize what talent and opportunity they have on their hands!
And THANK YOU! That is my main issue with people trying to excuse story-lines or characters actions based on 5 minutes of watered-down recompense. The show takes place in Chicago, CHICAGO, so why in the world do they act like tensions between its black and minority residents and the police are only heightened 3 times out of the year? Why do they act like this is a fad and not an actual call for change, and then use that to help tell their stories and better challenge these characters? It is sad because it should not be on Atwater or LaRoyce to guide this show into self-awareness; but the extreme lack of any remote diversity/inclusion in the cast makes it all fall on him, regardless. (I actually think that a sound argument can be made that bringing back the patrol officer aspect of the show could help to solve this problem a bit- but that's a conversation for another post.)
I also agree on Hailey. I find it extremely frustrating when people believe that a woman can only develop through assault, birth, or miscarriage. And while ALL of these things are real experiences that so many women have faced, not exploring nuanced ways to explore the depths of a character is beyond frustrating. That was one of my biggest issues with the way Gabby's character was treated over the seasons on Fire. While it made sense for her character to want to be a mom, it never made sense that they tried to push that as if it was suddenly her main personality trait. Or that she, after working so hard to become a firefighter, would just permanently give it up. Instead of allowing her to do what Gabby would actually do: live in that fear for a minute (most likely act out because of it), then eventually decide that she wasn't going to allow anything to be stronger than her. And use that as an important conversation with Louie about overcoming your fears and how she would fight twice as hard to come home to him every night. Or after losing Louie, going back into firefighting and really allowing her character to be challenged again.
I hope that they allow Hailey's character to develop outside of a pregnancy. And if they end up keeping Upstead together and decide to explore that world and what a baby looks like in it- they do it with two equally defined and developed characters. Both Tracy and Hailey deserve that.
