'Chicago P.D.' season 7 episode 3: Hailey Upton could be the mentor new member Vanessa Rojas needs
In this week's episode of 'Chicago P.D.', we see new character Vanessa Rojas (Lisseth Chavez) working closely with Detective Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) and his team. She has not officially joined the Intelligence Unit yet and Voight asks Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) to evaluate Rojas during their current mission. The problem is, Rojas commits a mistake even before she officially starts. When Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) gives her his radio and asks her to call for backup, she instead chases after the suspect, which leads him to jump over a fence and impale himself. This is why Voight tells her that "it's not a good look" on her first day.
Later, during the mission, when Adam Ruzek (Patrick Flueger) and Rojas go undercover, Rojas's instinct tells her that the drug kingpin they are after won't go for Ruzek -- it looks like she only hires women. Rojas then tells Ruzek to grab her and they make a scene leading the kingpin to kick them out. This surprises the rest of the team, but Ruzek stands up for her -- and Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) agrees on Rojas's observations. Later, Rojas asks Voight to let her interrogate her suspect and to make her open up, Rojas speaks about her own story in a foster home and being abused.
At the end of the episode when Voight asks Upton about Rojas, she does not seem sure. She agrees that Rojas has good instincts, but those instincts could go wrong and lead to her or someone else's death. But Voight must see something in Rojas when he gives her the clear to join their team. When Upton tells Rojas, she figures out that Rojas does not have a place to live and tells Rojas she can stay with her.
This opens up the potential for something 'Chicago P.D.' has not done since Sophia Bush left as Erin Lindsay. We got some moments between Lindsay and Burgess but the former did not get significant plotlines where she mentored Burgess. The most we saw was when Lindsay mentored and helped Nadia, whose death affected her a lot. There is Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) and she has at times had teaching moments with many of the younger members of the Intelligence Unit.
With Upton and Rojas, however, we can get to see on-the-field mentorship. Upton has recognized what Rojas needs to work on in order to be a good police officer and this could lead to some great moments. It's also important to note that this is the most balanced male-to-female ratio the Intelligence Unit has had since the show started. This is something new for the show and it would be interesting to see where this goes. We just hope that the potential romances that are supposed to be coming later on this season will not ruin the work dynamics.
'Chicago P.D.' airs on NBC on Wednesday nights.