ONE CHICAGO: Chicago Justice preview

With Upfronts taking place next week, we will soon know whether TV producer extraordinaire Dick Wolf will be adding a fourth show to his ONE CHICAGO franchise. Until then, viewers will be introduced to the possibility of what may be in tonight’s episode of Chicago P.D., which acts as a backdoor pilot for Chicago Justice (formerly known as Chicago Law).

CHICAGO P.D. — “Justice” Episode 321 — Pictured: (l-r) Philip Winchester as Peter Stone, Nazneen Contractor as ASA Dawn Patel — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

Much like how Chicago Fire and Chicago Med go hand in hand, so do Chicago P.D. and Chicago Justice, and this episode wastes no time in setting the scene. P.D’s Burgess and Roman are sitting in their patrol car, when a mysterious figure approaches the car and shoots at the officers. Burgess is fine but Roman has been hit and urges her to chase after the offender. As she chases after the mysterious shooter, she loses him momentarily at a corner but then he reappears and as he is about to point something at her, Burgess shoots at him four times and he goes down. Mirroring the current Black Lives Matter events, when the police come to the scene no weapon is found causing public outrage and the State Attorney’s office are called upon to defend Burgess for this sensitive case.

CHICAGO P.D. — “Justice” Episode 321 — Pictured: (l-r) Philip Winchester as Peter Stone, LaRoyce Hawkins as Officer Kevin Atwater, Jason Beghe as Sergeant Hank Voight — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)

Enter Assistant State Attorney, Peter Stone (played by Strike Back‘s Phillip Winchester), a man that P.D.’s Voight is all too familiar with seeing as it was Stone who sent Voight to jail during his Chicago Fire days. If this guy was smart enough to get Voight behind bars, then we have high expectations of him. Our impression of this prosecutor is that not only is he a smart man determined to piece together cracks in the case, but he is a man that believes. I don’t mean in a religious sense, but more so that he appears to be a man who looks to justify actions with reasons and facts, and feels strongly about cases. He won’t take things as is unless there are facts right in front of him to support.

Stone’s boss is State Attorney Mark Jeffries (played by Carl Weathers from the Rocky films), who comes off as a no-nonsense type of person and wants answers not surprises when it comes to cases that the State Attorney picks up. He is well aware that his job is constantly on the line with the public playing a strong role as to whether he continues to stay in office or not.

CHICAGO P.D. — “Justice” Episode 321 — Pictured: (l-r) Ryan-James Hatanaka as Daren Okada, Joelle Carter as Laura Nagel — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)

Acting as second chair on Burgess’ case is Assistant State Attorney Dawn Patel (played by Heroes Reborn‘s Nazneen Contractor). While she appear in quite a few scenes in the pilot, we don’t know much about her or hear much from her. Also assisting the pair with the investigation – apart from P.D‘s Intelligence unit that is – are Laura Nagel (played by Justified‘s Joelle Carter) and Daren Okada (played by Eye Candy‘s Ryan-James Hatanaka), whom correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure while they do speak in this episode their names are actually never revealed.

On the opposing counsel is Shambala Green – a face familiar to Law & Order fans with Lorraine Toussaint reprising the role she originated and was last seen as in 2003. Toussaint is only on board this pilot as a guest star, but should the show get picked up and she ends up making more regular appearances, I’d love to see her in scenes with Med‘s S. Epatha Merkerson, another Law & Order alum.

CHICAGO P.D. — “Justice” Episode 321 — Pictured: (l-r) Philip Winchester as Peter Stone, Carl Weathers as Mark Jefferies, Nazneen Contractor as ASA Dawn Patel — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

While the episode mainly established the characters of Peter Stone and Mark Jeffries, I enjoyed what I saw and am intrigued to see more and learn about the rest of the team. It’s important to note that if the show does get picked up, changes are still possible. Both P.D. and Med ended up being different products to the backdoor pilots when they were ordered to series. There were quite a few characters that were replaced with different ones in both shows. When Chicago Law was originally announced, an episode of Chicago P.D had just aired featuring Revolution‘s Maureen Sebastian as Assistant State Attorney Dana Shelby, yet she was nowhere to be seen in this backdoor pilot. Anything is possible until the show goes to air. I do hope that the show gets picked up.  Can you imagine the crossovers in this ONE CHICAGO world with four shows on air – very intricate and awesome to watch!

Check out the Chicago Justice backdoor pilot when Chicago P.D. airs tonight at 10/9c on NBC.