‘Chicago P.D.’: Alvin Olinsky’s Funeral Finds the Team at Odds

Chicago P.D. season 6 premiere saw the aftermath of Alvin Olinksy’s death, and Hank Voight’s actions afterwards bringing tension to the Intelligence unit.

In the beginning of “New Normal,” Voight (Jason Beghe) is still grieving the loss of his dear old friend Olinsky (Elias Koteas) and we find him waking up with a bad hangover and his face bruised.

He is shaken awake by Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), who comes to his door to check on him. But he claims to be fine.

“Next time you talk to Mary (Olinsky’s wife), tell her I’m going to take care of the funeral,” he tells her before he heads out the door.

Voight responds to a call of a couple found dead in a park of an apparent overdose, but he is stopped by Katherine Brennan (Anne Heche) announcing that while the police department investigates Voight shooting the man responsible for Olinksy’s death, he is suspended.

“I think it’s a good time for you and your boys to bury an old school, white cop with a bad reputation,” Voight says, claiming to know her ulterior motives.

“You’re wrong. It’s an absolutely fantastic time to bury an old school, white cop with a bad reputation,” she says. “But that’s not what I’m doing. I’m following the facts, doing what’s right for the department. You are benched Sergeant.”

Out of commission, Voight has the Intelligence Unit investigate the case, attempting to find the drugs laced with battery acid that are killing drug users.

With Voight gone, command of the unit goes to Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda), who tries to get the team to follow his instructions, but Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) is still angry at him for not backing up Voight during the shooting investigation.

“He has the opportunity to back up his brother but he didn’t… and I don’t know why,” Ruzek tells Upton (Tracey Spiridakos) as they wait to intercept a drug dealer.

Throughout the investigation, Voight helps behind-the-scenes through Ruzek, who refuses to follow Antonio’s instructions so much that when they are close to solving the case the two get into a physical fight at a hair salon.

After the drugs are taken off the streets and the case is solved, Brennan finds out about Voight’s involvement and puts him out of suspension, as video of the shooting surfaces and she chooses not to reveal it so as to not ruin the police department’s good PR at the moment.

Voight promises to work with her as long as Olinsky gets exonerated for the crimes that got him arrested before his death.

As he returns to the station, Voight tells Antonio he respects his decision to stay clean and not lie for him during the investigation and urges the squad to put their differences aside.

“It has been a very long few days,” he says. “A lot of pain, a lot of anger. I get it. I don’t expect these emotions to disappear overnight. But going forward, we need to be a team. One team. No more fighting. No more crap.”

As the team prepares for Olinsky’s funeral, Trudy once again visits Voight and lets him know that Olinsky’s wife wants him to stay home. He understands her wishes, so instead of attending the funeral, he watches the procession outside of the church from afar, and holding back tears, says goodbye to his friend.

Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.