'Chicago P.D.' Season 12 Ending Explained: The Search for a New Deputy Chief Is On

The Chicago P.D. Season 12 finale, "Vows," can be summed up in a simple, six-word sentence: "We're gonna need another Deputy Chief." But you, dear Collider reader, aren't here to read an extremely abridged storyline. It's all about the journey to get there, and that, friends, is one that proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Only this time, "staying the same" might just lead to some deep consequences heading into Season 13.

Voight Refuses To Change in 'Chicago P.D.'s Season 12 Finale

Chicago P.D.'s penultimate Season 12 episode, "Open Casket," saw Voight (Jason Beghe) in a unique position: beaten. He and the team used every trick in the book – and ones outside of it – to expose the corrupt Deputy Chief Reid (Shawn Hatosy) and end his hold over Voight and the team, and it failed spectacularly. Reid outsmarted them, and it cost them dearly, with Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar) arrested for misconduct, Burgess (Marina Squerciati) fired for misconduct, and the Intelligence team disbanded upon further review. A review that — surprise, surprise — would be led by Reid himself.

The finale picks up from there, with the team forced to work in secret, without access to their equipment, hoping to find anything that they could use against Reid. They luck out when Rennie (Jason Sanchez) avoids getting assassinated in the (so-called) safehouse. Voight collects the shells and gets them privately tested, where it's revealed that the gun used is the same one that killed Rennie's father, drug-dealer, and Reid's partner-in-crime, Jesus Otero (Juan Javier Cardenas). They track the gun back to local drug dealer Juan Turlo (David Feliz), who says that a cop by the name of Caldera (Christopher Rivas) stole the gun from him. Rennie confirms that Caldera is the man he saw with Reid, with the knowledge that even the cops that are supposed to protect him are now hunting him, shaking him to his core.

They find Caldera, but Caldera won't turn on Reid. Like everyone else, he is so afraid of Reid that he can't bring himself to do it, and chooses to cause an accident in the car that's transporting him in the hopes that he is left unable to be forced into confessing his association. It works, with Caldera dying from internal injuries. Voight tries to call Reid's bluff by saying Caldera told him everything, but Reid knows it's an empty threat, and the Internal Affairs meeting proceeds as planned the next morning, with Reid heading it up. Suddenly, Rennie appears and repeatedly shoots Reid, with Voight leaping toward Reid in an effort to help him, but to no avail. Reid is dead, and the truth about him comes out.

With the issue unexpectedly resolved, the Intelligence Unit is reinstated, and both Torres and Burgess are back on active duty. Only anyone that knows Voight knows that Reid's death was just a little too convenient, and that includes Chapman (Sarah Bues), who deduces correctly that Voight let Rennie out of the safe house, told him that Reid killed his father, and that Rennie would find a way to exact revenge on their mutual problem. For all his talk about trying to change, to be a better cop, and all the progress he made, Voight wouldn't — or couldn't — do it, and would always do what needs to be done to protect himself and his team.

Some of the Storylines in 'Chicago P.D.'s Season 12 Finale Were Rushed

But the episode isn't called "Stop What You're Reid-ing" or "Deputy Chief Down," it's called "Vows," and that is in reference to what, in theory, should have been the primary storyline of the episode: the long-awaited wedding of "Burzek," Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) and Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger). Current events have the couple questioning if they should postpone the wedding, but with everything coming up Milhouse, they push forward with the nuptials. The church is filled with guests, including Torres, now cleared of all charges, and Trudy (Amy Morton), there with her hubby Mouch (Christian Stolte) from Chicago Fire (anyone hoping for appearances from any Chicago P.D. alum will be sorely disappointed). Curiously, despite a twelve-year buildup to the event, the wedding took place in the last sixty seconds of the finale, cutting out before the couple exchanged vows, a decision made, as explained by showrunner Gwen Sigan, due to wanting to set the right tone for the episode as a whole (fans aren't entirely thrilled about it, to say the least).

And so Chicago P.D. heads into its thirteenth season at a crossroads. The Intelligence Unit is back to work, and as far as the procedural, crime-of-the-week format is concerned, that remains unchanged. Exploring how Burgess and Ruzek work together as a married couple will certainly be a focus going forward. Torres seems at peace, having reconnected with his faith after his stint in jail, so the unfocused liability he became this season should be gone. The two characters largely left with little to do in the finale, Turner (Kiana Cook) and Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins), will have their time in the spotlight again, especially in the case of the former and the tease with her family dynamic.

There will be, of course, a search for a new Deputy Chief as well (could there be a Deputy Chief Trudy Platt?). But the relationship between Chapman and Voight, one that looked to be heading towards romance, has been all but scuttled, with Chapman furious at Voight's actions. She can't overlook it, despite whatever feelings she has or had for him, and it may lead to Chapman taking Voight to task for it and for his past sins as well. That, more than anything, may very well turn out to be the one piece that changes Chicago P.D. forever.