#could have gotten a better example but i can't remember the episode(s) where someone calls Carl an idiot/retard/etc

[ninoochat]

Carl's character development 🤌

[sepdet]

Why Authors Can't Read Our Fanfic

It's something we learn sooner or later... sometimes not soon enough. 😔

Most authors, including @neil-gaiman and @dduane , ask us not to link them to fanfic.

They don't consent. They said no. That should be enough.

But why? I thought it might be useful to share some examples of Never Do This.

The one I remember is a stunningly good Babylon 5 episode, "Passing Through Gethsemane," about all the different rational, irrational, selfless and xenophobic ways communities on a large space station can respond to a deadly epidemic (lolsob).

Before the WWW, B5's creator JMStraczynski was pretty unique in interacting with fans on the old fan usenet discussion forums. He'd asked fans not to share story ideas with him, but someone said, "what if a plague hit the space station?" after that episode was already in development.

That 1994 episode had to be shelved for a year until they could track down the fan IRL and get a legal disclaimer signed that satisfied not just the production team, the fan, and JMS, but also Warner Bros' lawyers that there was no chance that producing the episode would come back and bite them with a lawsuit. Authors would have the same problem with their publisher's lawyers, even if they themselves trust their fans. It's not personal; it's a legal CYA thing.

In days of Yore when I was still a kid, there was some legendary incident with Marion Zimmer Bradley, who used to curate and publish fanfiction anthologies set in her Darkover universe.

Bradley read something in a fan story that meshed well with a Darkover book she was currently writing, so she wrote the fan author, Jean Lamb, offering her "a sum and a dedication for all rights to the text." In a 1991 Usenet post, Jean continued, "I attempted at that point to _very politely_ negotiate a better deal. I was told that I had better take what I was offered, that much better authors than I had not been paid as much (we're talking a few hundred dollars here) and had gotten the same sort of 'credit' (this was in the summer of 1992)...a few months later I received a letter from Ms. Bradley's lawyer threatening me with a suit."[52] After Bradley's death, more information has come out supporting the fan's story.[53] The rumor, however, was that Bradley had a skirmish with a fan who claimed authorship of a book identical to one Bradley had published and accused Bradley of "stealing" the idea, and the resultant lawsuit cost Bradley a book. Either way, her attorney advised her against reading fan fiction of her work.

I heard the rumor summarized in the Wikipedia entry above, and that it was the reason many authors avoided looking at fan works or suggestions.

TL;DR: Authors don't want to be accused of, or sued for, stealing ideas. They also don't want to do the thing where you subconsciously pick up an idea from something you've read, and don't realize it!

Does anyone remember any other incidents? I know there were others, but my brain is cheese. (I don't want to get into judgements or taking sides — you'll notice I've tiptoed around one rather large elephant— I'm trying to stick to topic, for once,)

[omegangrins]

Chibnall, Children, Choice and Consequence

Allow me to introduce a companion piece to A Treatise on the Doctor:

It's pretty simple:

Chibnall knows what he's doing and is playing a long game to show how the Doctor needs to take more responsibility.

Let me start off with my favorite examples. That's right, plural.

Every single villain 13 faces is never defeated, merely pushed away from causing them any immediate problems. Tim Shaw being the prime example.

1&10. Seriously, Tim Shaw. Her plan was to use his own bombs on him and then teleport him off the planet. Even without Ranskoor Av Kolos, the Doctor should have thought to check in on him. Especially after The Ghost Monument showed the Stenza were a greater threat than she knew. She still hasn't even checked up on WHAT THE HELL THE STENZA ARE! They sound worse than Daleks but naw, let's go rain-bathing in the upper tropics of Canstano instead.

2. Ghost Monument. We saw the END of an interuniversal race. What the fuck is the beginning that got them there? Who is Illyn and how and why did he orchestrate a super race?

3. Krasko. Sent back in time. Really, Doc? Not gonna take a look at the device and see where Ryan sent the prick so you can double check that he's not gonna cause anymore damage?

4. President Trump analog. Ooooo, you looked at him menacingly, Doc, that'll show him!! Not like he's gonna KEEP DOING ILLEGAL SHIT LIKE THIS.

5. The Pting. She literally shunted it off ship to be dealt with by someone else BUT DOESN'T GO BACK TO BE THAT SOMEONE ELSE ONCE SHE HAS HER TARDIS. That's like leaving a living nuke floating around after sweeping it under the rug while you fly off to Paris.

6. The Pakistani-Indian conflict still happens and millions still die. Not her fault but still....

7. Kerblam. Sure, Charlie's terrorism was solved but not the underlying problem that led to it. Humans still can't work because corporations like profits over people.

8. Similar to the Punjab, how you gonna solve sexism, classism and all the -isms?

9. WHY WAS THE SOLITRACT THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE??!! It's been around since before the universe. Why'd it decide to come back now? It's a whole universe trying to hug our universe to death. Maaaaaaybe we should check out why.

11. She's gets a pass on the Dalek. Fucking impossible to eradicate them.

12. The Master!!! Finally she checks up on something after the adventures... and it's horrible. With everything gone to shit in her absence. Seeing a pattern yet?

And Barton? And the Cassaven? They didn't disappear into smoke.

13. Multiple Earths being multiply fucked. Remember when I said the Doctor couldn't solve racism, classism, sexism, or any of the other -isms? Starting to look like she needs to TRY.

14. The Skithra FLY OFF after getting hit by a laser beam. That kind of thing tends to piss people off. Even if they're idiots using other's technology.

15. Jack. The Judoon. The Ruth Doctor. All things I'd start checking out if I had a time machine BUT

16. WE CAN'T cause the TARDIS emergency alert is going off and we need to hurry up and run and solve this problem before we run out of time in our TIME AND SPACE MACHINE. Leading to another problem the Doctor could help solve but won't. Plastic and over-consumption.

17. Oh yeah, let's trap two Eternals from another universe in the same place. There's NO WAY that could ever turn out bad.

18,19,20. And again. Cyberium. Pushed off Shelley onto herself and onto Ashad and onto The Master.

That's almost 20 "enemies" the Doctor still needs to deal with.

Oh, not to mention that they let UNIT go defunct because they didn't have the forethought to ask if they needed any money in their alien fighting budget. After asking for an office, a desk, and a job. Kinda funny that way, aren't they?

I hope by now you've gotten the idea that this is VERY deliberate. This is Chibnall laying down some very heavy pipe to smack the Doctor like a clothesline. There isn't a one of these situations that can't come around to bite her in the ass.

Barton, Roberts, Skithra. These are all very loose strands for a time traveller like the Doctor to get tripped up on. Chibnall's past episodes prove it. They're all about the Doctor learning how to take responsibility.

42: The Doctor almost gets Martha killed and almost gets himself killed trying to fix it.

The Hungry Earth: The Doctor (a thousand year old "adult") tells Elliot (a 10 year old kid) that "Sure it's totally fine to go get your headphones while we prepare for an approaching unknown alien force." And 11 rightfully gets his ass chewed for it by the child's mother when the kid goes missing because OF COURSE THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS, JACKASS!

Cold Blood: I could write an entire essay about the Doctor's guilt over the Silurian/Human conflicts they've witnessed, but I don't need to. Because every single Silurian centered episode written in the new era is from Chris Chibnall. And you can feel the sad knowledge of Classic Who spill through. He KNOWS how many times the Doctor has fucked up with the Silurians (about 8 times in television format. And it's rough everytime. Rough.) and he writes those episodes like an apology on behalf of the whole human race. And the Doctor. You know why people are put off by Warriors of the Deep? 5 releases a gas that melts the Silurians. And though it's cheesy, the idea and execution is still horrible.

Add to that if the Doctor hadn't stopped to check the crack, then Rory wouldn't have waited and been around to be shot then absorbed by the time crack.

Power of Three: An entire episode about how the Doctor has a problem slowing down and really taking account of the lives of their companions.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship: The Doctor actually tries to be responsible and pick the right people for a job. For once. But gets angry when they realize it's too late and there's another bunch of Silurians they failed to save. Classic!

Like I said, if you can't see the pattern, you're not paying enough attention to your responsibilites.

Which leads me to the why.

When you fly around time and space for thousands of years, you develop a few duties of care along the way. In every situation, you're the oldest. Technically the only adult in terms of experience. You have a responsibility to act a little less rude and be a bit more aware than needing cue cards to tell you that you should be sad about things around you. And that's the purpose of 13. She's unlucky but learning. Like 12 telling himself something with his face he couldn't say out loud, 13's instincts are leading her to a new place for the Doctor: being a caring, responsible person. Not so much laughing hard or running fast, but being kind. It's the one thing they recognized as a problem in themselves when seeing 1. Being a Doctor is about being kinder than that. Just because you HAVE to saw someone's leg off, that doesn't mean you can't wait a little and comfort them before you do it.

You wanna know what gave me every faith in Chibnall showrunning Doctor Who? 13 staying for Grace's funeral.

Do you understand how unprecedented that is? This is the same person who never said Goodbye to Jo Grant as she got married and fucked off into the night. The same Doctor who said, "I don't do domestic.", did it with Rose a regeneration later, and then closed himself off to everyone but a married couple he felt guilty about who ended up birthing his wife. Have you any idea the number of funerals the Doctor should have the common decency to sit through? This many.

So for 13 to stay around for the death of a woman she has only just met and not only that, BUT call out Ryan's father for not doing the same, it shows tremendous character growth. It's taken millennia but they're still changing.

Something similar happens with Rosa and The Witchfinders. Realizing that there a lot of companions who have been in situations that are sometimes worse than aliens, but they still manage to make it through. So she needs to buck it up and persevere for everyone else.

That's where her anger comes from, and really it's one of my favorite traits on her. It reminds me of 7. Someone impossibly old and impossibly kind saying to hell with it and at least having some fun with the evils who drag us through the universe. And just like Cartmel planned for 7, 13's past will come to haunt her.

That's where children come in. Most of us are crying babies to the Doctor.

There's this thing you notice most in British shows about answering the question directly as asked. Someone says "Are you sure?", you answer "Sure". That's a direct acknowledgement that you heard the question, understood it, and processed it enough to respond in a manner directly correlating to the question asked. Yas and Graham got it and said "Sure" but Ryan missed it and said "Deffo". This is like Elliot with the headphones. The Doctor should have immediately been like, "Okay, Ryan, it's obvious that you're still dealing with the trauma of your grandmother's death and probably not processing things on a logical level. I said "Are you sure?" Not "Are you deffo?" Because we are most definitely not deffo, Ryan. Graham, you wanna help here?"

I'm being sarcastic for points sake but you understand the idea. The Doctor knows better and has a responsibility as such. She should've really sat down with Ryan and Graham and seen if there was a better way to process their grief.

Because I'm fairly certain that "Deffo" is gonna lead to Ryan's death and Graham's cancer resurging as time cancer (I don't know what time cancer is. I just know it's bad.)

And that is gonna piss Yas off. Which will give you all that character you think she's missing (she isn't. Her character is in her subtleties and silences.). That's WHY her character is a police officer (like how does no else see that the man who wrote Broadchurch wrote an inspector character companion?) Imagine you're Yaz and you see the Doctor flying around in a big, magic box that says POLICE. As a fellow officer, you're gonna expect some basic safety protocols.

Like do a background check on everyone flying in the TARDIS to know whether they're stable enough (mentally, physically, emotionally) for time and space travel. It's no picnic. These people are going to go through hell. A little vetting and planning like Time Heist or Dinosaurs on a Spaceship goes a long way.

Secondly, full fucking disclosure.

"Oh. I can't die because I change my body. Oh. I have arch enemies that will try to kill and torture us any chance they get. Oh. My home planet is full of the biggest assholes in the universe and I'm including my arch enemies."

Third, police like to do this thing called "check-ups" where they go back to the scene of the crime in order to see if there is any more information that can be gleaned which you might not notice when you are busy running around trying not to be killed... Like, the Doctor has the perfect machine to do this with, but nope. Adventure done, run to the next place!!

These are all things you'd expect any reasonable person to do and say when taking others flying off into time and space and "helping". Even if they are an idiot passing through and learning. Especially when you consider the Doctor is vastly older and more experienced than everyone they encounter. They SHOULD know better. And they've got the lifespan to slow down. It's not like they need to be in a hurry because they're going to die at any moment like humans. The Doctor could easily stay for tea and it would be less than a drop in their lifespan.

Now, as usually is the case when I make these theories, I have a parts 1,2,3,4 and 6. There's allways this 5th piece I miss but I manage to get at the end.

But the 6th piece is the Timeless Child. The Doctor isn't a Time Lord anymore. They're not beholden to those people and ideas anymore. Even moreso, those people basically raped her childhood for their own gain so it's not like you'd really listen to them and their "policy of non-intervention".

I'm sensing a coming Trial of a Time Lord season (even believing these two seasons are the opening statement and preliminary evidence of the trial itself) wherein the Doctor finally gets the turnaround 6 deserved. A Trial of the Time Lords, if you will.

"In all my travels through time and space I have battled against evil, against power-mad conspirators. I should have stayed here! The oldest civilization: decadent, degenerate and rotten to the core! Power mad conspirators? Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen — they're still in the nursery compared to us! Ten million years of absolute power: that's what it takes to be really corrupt!"

This is what it's all coming down to. Chibnall's takedown of the Time Lords. And The Master is going to play the most crucial role of all.

They're going to be revealed as an Ux alongside the Doctor and show how the only constants they have in this universe are each other and it's about damn time they work together and tell these high collars to eat Schitt while they explore every star and planet they can find.

Come on, the episode is called The Timeless "Children". If it was just the Doctor it'd be called "The Timeless Child". The Master says as much with the misdirect line, "built on the lie of the Timeless Child." since we see two kids playing in that flashback.

"Since always. Since the Cloister Wars, since the night he stole the moon and the president's wife, since he was a little girl. One of those was a lie, can you guess which one?"

Now we know which one was a lie, we know the Master HAS known the Doctor since they were a little girl. THAT little girl...

But this is all just speculation. It's not like Chris Chibnall could have been thinking about this for the past 40 years and was given a blank slate to do whatever he wanted for five years on his favorite TV show. If y'all want to think he took those reigns and is choosing to make things worse...

Well then you don't know much about responsibility.

I'll let the man himself tell you about it.

"Very early in my career,” says Chibnall, “someone told me that you learn more from a failure than you do from a success. And then I lived out that phrase for a year in Los Angeles. I learned that I would not work that way again or be put in that situation again.” The essential lesson was: “You either have to be in total control of a show or working with people who share your vision and will work with you to achieve it. Also, never work with 13 executive producers.

“Camelot was the classic case of too many cooks. It wasn’t a harmonious set-up and I think that does manifest itself on screen.

“I had a fantastic cast but you have to be free to tell the story you want to tell in the way that you want to tell it. What ended up on screen was not what I wanted and so it is a blemish on my CV.”

Credit to @thirteenthdoc

“You immortals - so entitled, so spoiled. You never clear up after yourselves and you always leave stuff lying around.” - Thirteenth Doctor in Can You Hear Me?

[jaelyn96]

“Fallen” is probably the weakest episode of Chicago P.D.’s fifth season while “Care Under Fire” is certainly the strongest. The show’s new approach to dealing with real world issues falls somewhat flat in “Fallen”, as the full extent of what is really happening is only revealed in the last ten minutes. Also, the character-centric aspect is almost an afterthought, as the episode barely reveals any new information about Upton. “Care Under Fire” is essentially the complete opposite, with the series diving further into Halstead and his past trauma. Prior to this episode, we knew very little about his time overseas, but Jesse Lee Stoffer gives another outstanding performance. It feels slightly weird to review these two episodes together, just due to the difference in storytelling, acting, and writing. It’s almost as if these are two different shows rather than consecutive episodes. So let’s dive in and get started. The case of the week is pretty basic stuff in “Fallen.” Quinton Kane is suspected of killing a family of three, but Intelligence can’t definitively connect Kane to the crime. Then when Sergeant Sean McGrady, who was assisting Intelligence with the triple homicide, also ends up dead, Kane is once again a key suspect. Despite Kane appearing to having a credible alibi, his blood was found on McGrady’s gun. Fast forward through some good old fashioned police work and an intense standoff, and the bad guy is finally arrested. Case closed. Let’s go get drinks at Molly’s, right? Not quite. While the Chicago Police Department was having a hard time making an case stick against Kane, he was arrested a few months prior for an alleged DUI, so his blood was in evidence, yet one of the vials is conveniently missing. As we previously learned, McGrady was a constant gambler and even stole money from a charity. As Alderman Ray Price posits McGrady knew he was about to be exposed, so he frames Kane for his own suicide, allowing McGrady to go out a hero and his family to collect his pension. And Kane’s alibi? Well, the surveillance video has magically disappeared. So what exactly is the lesson here? It looks like Chicago P.D. tries to address the concept of whether the ends ultimately justify the means. In this case, it is ethical to frame a known murderer for a crime he didn’t commit. While the series poses a good question, it fails in its execution as the big reveal of McGrady committing suicide and framing Kane is only discovered in the final minutes. The audience doesn’t really have time to dissect the issue as they’re too busy recovering from the whiplash. It’s a shame because this would have been a strong problem to tackle if done correctly, but the end result is just a mess. I was really looking forward to this episode and learning more about Upton, but all that was really revealed was an ambiguous past with McGrady. We learned pretty early in the episode Upton previously worked with McGrady, but there was some sort of underlying tension between the two of them that was never really clarified. There duo apparently had some undisclosed differences in the past, with Upton telling Halstead McGrady was always looking for some sort of angle. After some initial awkwardness along with Halstead being a third wheel, Upton and McGrady were supposed to meet up later to talk about the case. However, things take a sharp right turn when McGrady ends up dead, allegedly having been killed by Kane, with Upton getting chewed out by Voight and others for not being with McGrady when he was shot. It’s not until the truth about McGrady’s suicide comes to light, or rather Voight’s attention, that he apologizes to Upton, explaining the two of them need to get on the same page: they either disclose it or take it to the grave. Upton, understandably, is having a hard time burying this as everyone will remember McGrady as a hero when he reportedly gambled away his savings, cheated on his wife, and tried to sabotage her career. Now would be the time to raise your hand if you’re as confused as I was. Where did those last two allegations come from? There had been no mention of McGrady’s infidelity or sabotaging Upton’s career until that point. Was there some scene that was cut or a reference I didn’t get alluding to those actions? The only thing that seems to make sense, and I may be way off, is that Upton was the one having an affair with McGrady, and it ended badly, thus explaining why she was constantly passed over for promotions. Of course, if this is the case, then there was barely enough information given to viewers to allow them to infer this. We barely know Upton any better or how she got her detective shield. All we know is she had a difficult relationship, either personal or professional, with McGrady, and that’s about it. If this episode was supposed to make me care for Upton, then it failed miserably as my feelings for her haven’t really changed. And then we get to Voight and Price, who after the events of “Reform” appeared to have reached an understanding. The pair even seemed somewhat friendly in their initial interactions in “Fallen.” However, things hit the fan when Voight finds out Price has been communicating with Kane. Price had reached out to some of Kane’s associates, trying to get Kane to surrender peacefully. Voight, being his usual cheery explosive self, doesn’t react well to this, reminding Price this is a police operation and Kane will be taken down their way. Yet Price has to remind Voight that Kane, who claims he’s innocent, won’t come in “their way,” as Kane could end up dead just from blinking the wrong way. From what I’ve seen I’m really enjoying the character of Price. Not only is Wendell Pierce perfectly cast, but Price is already a highly-developed character after only appearing in two episodes. He generally does care for the residents in his ward, but he also has a political agenda. As we see by the end of the episode, Price correctly theorizes that Kane was framed but agrees to keep silent. Granted, the prospect of another “banger” taking Kane’s place who will understand the wisdom of “investing” in Price’s ward is a plus, but the fact that Voight now owes him takes the cake. The dynamic between Price and Voight has been fun to watch because they it’s a game of give and take. While they have separate agendas, both see the benefit of helping, or not standing in the other’s way, from time to time. Neither one of them can be considered truly moral characters, but they do have good intentions. I’ve enjoyed this dynamic much more than the constant back and forth between Voight and Woods, which always ends with them at each other’s throats. Voight and Price are sometimes on the same side and other times on different ones; it’s never the same or predictable, which makes it interesting to watch. Speaking of Woods, we had the “big” reveal with him and Ruzek reveal at the end. I use quotations because it just felt expected and out of nowhere, if that makes any sense. After the red herring of Antonio potentially working with Woods, I assumed the show would try to get someone from Intelligence to turn on Voight, but it just felt like lazy writing with the Ruzek reveal. We saw that Ruzek was dodging phone calls from an alleged one night stand named Mia, but then all of a sudden it’s revealed that Ruzek has been dodging Woods’ calls. It turns out that Ruzek’s sister got arrested for an alleged DUI with his nephew in the backseat, and Ruzek tried to cover it up, except the audience never saw Ruzek try to make his sister’s arrest go away or even knew he had a sister to begin with. However, apparently Woods somehow found out and is now blackmailing Ruzek to spy on Voight and Intelligence. It doesn’t surprise me that Woods would force Ruzek to give him intel or that Ruzek covered it up. What really bothers me is that this came out of nowhere. There was no build up or payoff; it just felt like it was added in after the writers realized they needed someone to be a mole for Woods. I understand that Ruzek is in a tough spot, and he doesn’t want to betray Voight or Intelligence but feels like there is no other choice. It’s just that his sister and nephew and this coverup conjured out of the blue. It would have made more sense for Woods to somehow have gotten the video recording of Ruzek from the season premiere and threatened to hold that over his head. The video may not have had serious consequences, but if it was released to the public, I imagine it could be another public relations nightmare. Woods could have threatened to make an example out of Ruzek and fire or suspend him to appease the public. That may have been a slight stretch, but it would have made more sense than this nonsense. I’m assuming we’re supposed to suspend our disbelief, but I’m having a hard time as it just seems like poor writing. I mean was it ever mentioned Ruzek even had a sister to begin with? And this awfully executed storyline continues in “Care Under Fire.” The episode opens with Ruzek’s very real sister and nephew, but we barely spend any time with them, making it hard to connect with these characters. Sure, Ruzek is stuck between a rock and a hard place, having to decide whether to spy on Intelligence or risk ending his career, but he can’t play both sides forever. He claims he didn’t have an opportunity to plant the bug but copied a video of Halstead punching a civilian. Ruzek thinks this will be enough to satisfy Woods, and then he’ll be free and clear. He can go back to work like nothing ever happened and play dumb when Voight takes some heat for Halstead’s actions. If only it were that simple. Woods isn’t going to let Ruzek off the hook for a single video file; he’s going to keep Ruzek there until he has more than enough evidence to bury Voight. Ruzek should have assumed this wouldn’t be over that easily. He should have gone to Voight in the first place and explained the situation. While Voight can be a loose cannon, we’ve seen him have his team’s back time and time again. He and Ruzek could have worked together to come up with a solution, but now it’s too late. And now we get to the good stuff, and by good stuff I mean Halstead. From the start of the episode, it’s clear something is going on with him. From sleeping at the police station, having some sort of nightmare and listening to the scanner to find some sort of high-risk situation, the alarm has been sounded; Jay Halstead is in trouble. Responding to the scene, Halstead finds himself in the middle of a possible homicide, which eventually turns out to be a botched kidnapping. A three-man crew kidnapped a boy, but his nanny got caught in crossfire and ended up dead. Thanks to one of Dawson’s confidential informants, Intelligence is able to identify one of the men as Luis Vega, but the team can’t bring Vega in on what they have and the odds of him talking aren’t great. So Halstead pitches he go undercover, and after little resistance from the team, Voight agrees to give Halstead’s idea a shot. Can someone explain to me why team thinks this is a good idea? Yes, Halstead has had success going undercover before, but something’s been off ever since “Reform,” when he inadvertently shot the little girl. The guilt over that is obviously weighing on him, but no one beside Upton seems to notice anything is wrong. While she doesn’t stop him from going undercover, she at least asks if everything’s all right, despite Halstead’s lie. Everyone seems to take Halstead at his word that he’s all right, but he really should have had to sit down with a therapist. I’m not sure if this is actual procedure, but other police dramas usually have an officer get mandatory counseling following a shooting. We’ve seen Voight in therapy this season, so why not have Halstead give it a try? Halstead, or his alter ego “Ryan,” tries to ingratiate himself into both Luis and Camila’s, by default, lives. Despite a slow start at the bar, “Ryan” eventually wins Luis over by coming to Luis’ rescue in a staged bar fight. Of course, things don’t go according to plan as “Ryan” ends up punching a civilian, yet another example of why Halstead should take some time off. The two end up bonding over their shared military experiences, and “Ryan” tries to finagle an in with Luis’ employer, claiming his job sucks. Despite Luis’ initial reluctance, he eventually comes around after he and “Ryan” spend some quality drinking and talking about death. “Ryan” ends up telling Luis about the eight-year-old girl who he unintentionally killed. Despite “Ryan” claiming this happened while he served overseas, the details surrounding the incident (i.e. the bullet hitting a combatant, then traveling through a door and going into the girl) are a clear reference to the events of “Reform.” “Ryan” talks about how he still has nightmares about it, leading viewers to wonder if that’s what Halstead’s bad dream was about at the beginning of the episode? Whether it’s Luis and “Ryan” commiserating over their time in the military or the free drugs “Ryan” gives Luis (let’s be real, it’s most likely the free opioids), Luis caves and agrees to set “Ryan” up his private security boss, allowing Intelligence to identify the two other members of the kidnapping ring. That would have been good enough for most officers, but Halstead wants to stay undercover, trying to get Luis to use him for their current job. If Halstead were in his right mind and wanted to follow through, I wouldn’t begrudge him, but he’s not exactly stable at the moment, and this is a big risk. It’s like he’s looking for dangerous situations to put himself in, like he can’t help himself. It’s very disconcerting because I’m afraid he’s only going to fall further down the rabbit hole. While the leader of the kidnapping ring doesn’t want to use “Ryan” at first, he realizes he doesn’t exactly have another option but still isn’t thrilled with the idea. “Ryan” has to twist Luis’ arm a bit but when he “finds” out the job is actually a kidnapping, “Ryan” is ready to back out. Despite Luis’ assurances that this is simple, “Ryan” pleads with Luis, trying to convince him this is anything but. “Ryan” tells Luis that they have to stop it, that he can’t carry another kid. This is especially telling just how heavily the little girl’s death from “Reform” weighs on him. We knew Halstead felt guilty, but that one line shows he holds himself entirely responsible for what happened. Even though there were circumstances out of his control and other factors involved, in his mind, he is the reason the girl died. It’s as if he just shot her point blank, and he can’t go through that again. At first, we’re not sure if “Ryan” got through to Luis, but in the end, Luis tries to do the right thing, even though he still winds up dead. Watching Halstead try to perform CPR on Luis just about broke my heart because even though Halstead was undercover, he really did connect with that guy. They had been through similar circumstances and difficulties, both having a hard time adjusting when they got back from overseas. If things had gone differently for Halstead, he may have ended up in a situation like Luis. Do I think Halstead would kidnap a child and hold him or her for ransom? No, but I do think under different circumstances, Halstead may have ended up in a bad place, getting high and performing less than admirable jobs for money. I think Halstead saw some of himself in Luis, which may explain his determination in trying to prevent Luis from going through with the kidnapping and ransom. Ever since Lindsay has been gone, Halstead has been struggling and looking for someone to connect to. He inadvertently found that with Luis and, by extension, Camila. I’m not exactly sure what to make of Camila. I thought she would just be a one-off character, but it seems like she may be sticking around, and I have mixed feelings. From the start, there was sparks between “Ryan” and Camila, although it wasn’t exactly clear if Halstead was acting or not. As we saw in this episode, he’s a smooth talker, getting out of snooping through her mail and showing up to Luis’ under the guise of meeting Camila. “Ryan” could have just played coy the entire time, flirting and being his charming self, yet he let Camila in. He told her that when he came back he spent seven months drinking, smoking, screwing, and fighting. He said that a person never really comes back all the way after being in a warzone, they just sort of fill up what’s missing with something else, like Lindsay. We’ve seen how hard Halstead has taken their breakup, but it never really occurred to me until now, just how much he relied on that relationship. Yes, he loved Lindsay, but he also needed her to fill that void. His plan to propose makes a lot more sense, as he was desperate to get her back in his life. Again, I’m not disputing that Halstead loved Lindsay, but I just never really noticed how codependent he was. And now it seems Halstead has transferred that dependency onto Camila. He bared his soul to a person he just met, revealing pieces of himself that even prompted Upton to ask if any of it was true. This is made all the more evident when “Ryan” stops by Camila’s after Luis dies and he doesn’t tell her his real name or he’s a cop or he was there when Luis dies; he just keeps on pretending to be “Ryan.” Why? Well, being “Ryan” is probably easier than being Halstead right now, but he also doesn’t want to lose his only human connection he thinks he has. I doubt Camila would be flirting or kissing him if she knew “Ryan” was an undercover police officer who was tasked with brining her brother to justice and put his life in danger. No, Halstead is in a dark place, and pretending to be “Ryan” won’t end well for him. So hit the comments below to let me know what you thought of the episodes. Are you more invested in Upton as a character? How long before Intelligence finds out what Ruzek has been up to? Just how far will Halstead fall? Comment: have we really seen the how lindsay leaving affected Halstead? Credit: spoilertv