[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago P.D. Season 12 Episode 15 “Greater Good.”]
Sergeant Voight (Jason Beghe) and Deputy Chief Reid (Shawn Hatosy) have very different perspectives when it comes to what should be done for the “greater good” in the latest Chicago P.D. episode.
For this week’s case, Reid calls in favors to secure a warrant and to get a member of a gang to give up another’s location (that person was their killer). But, as Voight realizes, that happens when Kaiden’s “lawyer” tells him that his sister’s dead — and he’s next if he doesn’t talk. The sergeant also realizes that Reid had Intelligence assigned to Lawndale as part of his Violent Reduction Initiative to pave the way for a dealer, Otero, to take over; he has him in his pocket, too. As Reid sees it, Otero doesn’t drop bodies, so it’s better to have him in charge in the area. An innocent was killed (the gang member’s sister), but as Reid sees it, it’s simple math: one for the many, for the greater good. And since he and Voight are the same, in his mind, the guilt he’s feeling is just a flicker of fog over his true self, says Reid.
Below, Hatosy breaks down where Reid and Voight stand after that tense conversation and teases what’s ahead.
Voight calls Reid out on what he did to get Kaiden to talk and that lawyer and his sister’s death. How does Reid feel about that? Does he respect that Voight goes after him like that and calls him out?
Shawn Hatosy: It’s so funny because when we filmed it, the last take we did, it was charged. And I haven’t seen the episode, but I imagine it ended up in there, and Jason looked at me and was like, “Yeah, I don’t know. Is it too charged?” I said, “I think so. You called me out.” And he said, “I didn’t call you out.” And I said, “But you did. You know what I mean? You did, and you should.” It’s just an interesting thing to see two people who are so similar kind of navigate in this world. I think for Voight to see somebody in a position of power above him now who operates the way that he does, it is going to present him with the question of, how am I going to police going forward? It presents a pretty good ethical question that he has to face. He’s kind of looking in the mirror, and he has to determine who he is going forward. It’s going to shape his legacy. We know what he’s done in the past. We know how he’s operated. So now what’s it going to look like for the future?
It feels like Reid doesn’t seem worried, presumably because of what he has on Intelligence about Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar) and the informant and the cover-up. We know how he worked in Detroit. But he has to know that Intelligence is kind of a different level than others that he’s dealt with. Is Reid concerned that they’ll come after him?
I think he has to be, and I think it would be foolish of him to try to use leverage on a team and then not expect any kind of blowback. He’s a smart guy, so I think he’s prepared. I hope so. He would be a silly bad guy if all of a sudden he just sort of wasn’t expecting what was coming, especially given what we know about Voight. So I think he’ll be a formidable opponent.
So he has some things in place that we haven’t seen yet?
Yes.
Do you think he might regret not letting Burgess (Marina Squerciati) transfer briefly because then that would’ve been them without one member of the team? He’s the one who kept her in Intelligence.
I think that that was a decision made because she’s somebody who is ultimately quite pure. I think it’s just how he operates. It’s like, this is a card I’m going to deal here, and maybe I will use it later. It really depends on how she reacts to i,t and something tells me that she’s not somebody that’s going to be easy to manipulate, but I hope we use that going forward.
At the end of the episode, we see that Voight and Chapman (Sara Bues) are looking to bring Reid down. What can you tease about how Reid might react when he finds out? Because now there’s an ASA involved.
Yeah. Going forward, there’s another instance where something where Reid needs Voight to do something. He asks him to, “Let’s use this friendship again to do something that I need.” And it doesn’t really go the way Reid needs to go at the speed that Reid needs to go, and it’s sort of in protecting this Otero in Lawndale, which Voight hates. So because Voight isn’t operating the way that Reid needs to, he goes around him, and he goes to Torres, and that is a line that Reid is willing to cross. It sets up a very nice scene between Hank and Reid where Hank is like, “Don’t go around my back and talk to my team.” And Reid is like, “Yo, this is my team. I’m your boss. You guys work for me.” Which I love. I just think it’s just such a fantastic thing for Voight to have to deal with because he’s, you know what I mean? I think the fans will hate Reid for that, which I’m all for. So it’s heading in a very disastrous direction for this friendship.
Though Reid is corrupt, he is still the boss of Voight. You can’t ignore that.
You can’t ignore that. And he also has dirt. He has this dirt that he can sort of end them all at any moment, which is fantastic, I think. So how will they stop this tyrant? I don’t know. We’ll find out.
Reid has that moment when he opens up to Voight about his mother’s horrific, violent death, and it’s heartbreaking and has to be the truth because I don’t think anyone would lie about that. But without that part of his past, do you think Reid would still be the same kind of cop he is today?
I don’t think he would — I think that shaped his decision to become a cop. I don’t even know if he would’ve been a cop had that not happened. And I believe it to be honest. I think that this happened, and it was tragic and horrible,e and it made him do what he did and promote the way he promoted. And I think policing is a difficult job, and sometimes you need a warrant. So I think that it sort of helped him become who he is, and that’s kind of like his DNA.
Jason said that Voight is looking into a mirror when he looks at Reid, and we’re seeing how Voight has changed from the beginning over the years. Might the same be true for Reid? Could Reid change because of what he’s seeing in Voight?
That would be fun. I think so. I think maybe it is an opportunity to change his ethical and moral legacy. It certainly would be beneficial to his future on Chicago P.D. [Laughs] Because who knows if we could survive like this. Probably not. I don’t see how their relationship can go anywhere with Reid using this leverage or this friendship and the way that he has. And Hank is also very frustrated in Reid’s lack of transparency. He likes to be told what’s going on. He doesn’t like to be lied to. Nor should anybody. So I believe you’re right, yeah, that would definitely need to happen for Reid to continue.
Are you going to see anything with Reid’s personal life?
Not to my knowledge, no. I haven’t seen anything like that coming down the pipe.
Chicago P.D., Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC
