Chicago P.D. Season 12 Kicks Off With a Deadly Twist

 As Ruzek informs Atwater and Torres, Burgess is at a work conference, but she’s disturbed by her case and is thinking of coming back early. (Hmm, is that a seed?) And of course, Upton already left the Windy City in last season’s finale. That left a void in the Intelligence unit that is filled by… a totally new face, Detective Emily Martel (played by Gotham’s Victoria Cartagena).

The jarring new addition has been with the team for a month when Season 12 picks up, and knows Ruzek — sorry, Ruzzie — from their academy days. So naturally, it’s Ruzek who takes an interest in how Emily is doing after what happened. Emily mentions that she lost her marbles after her partner was shot dead, but she’s OK now.

As Ruzek and Emily drive, and she thanks him for pulling her back into the field, gunshots suddenly ring out, and the two jump out of the car. Unable to locate where they’re coming from, Ruzek looks around frantically… and sees that Emily has been shot in the head. (Admit it, you had a feeling she was a goner from the start of the episode, yes? Except you were thinking it was going to be a car accident at the end, not a gunshot. Or is that just me?)

Elsewhere in the premiere, Voight is burying himself in work, taking on case after case. When Ruzek suggests handing one off to Narcotics, Voight insists that it belongs to Intelligence. Deputy Chief Charlie Reid (Shawn Hatosy) is looking into each unit, Ruzek says, and before the hour is over, Reid shows up at a crime scene to meet the Intelligence team in action.

Meanwhile, Voight’s behavior catches the attention of ASA Nina Chapman, who questions how long he’s going to keep burning through cases and running, while pretending that this isn’t a reaction to his near-death experience. Chapman eventually confronts Voight in his office, noting that this was something Upton probably used to do with him. But with Upton gone, it’s up to Chapman to challenge Voight and inform him that it’s time to be done with the running. Voight, however, claims that he’s not trying to outrun death and reveals that he saw his friend Olinsky when he almost died. Olinsky told him he doesn’t get to die yet, and that there was more, Voight shares. So he’s going to work, and he doesn’t care if it burns him out.