Chicago PD Season 12's Big Villain Makes His Move, But It Isn't Voight That's Suffering

It's clear after Chicago PD season 12, episode 16, titled "Seen and Unseen," that Voight (Jason Beghe) is not the one who is suffering because of the newest villain's manipulations. Throughout Chicago PD season 12, Deputy Chief Supervisor Charlie Reid (Shawn Hatosy) has been a constant thorn in Voight's side, keeping a watchful eye on the Intelligence Unit for his own reasons. In order to operate effectively, Voight needs to rid the department of Reid, but it's not clear yet how he can do that.

Reid began to show his true colors after Burgess (Marina Squerciati) became a detective. Burgess planned to transfer to a different unit for additional training, but the newest member of Chicago PD's season 12 cast vetoed that plan, re-assigning her to Intelligence and making it clear she now owed him a favor. While Reid intends to take Voight down, the entire Intelligence department is at risk, and Burgess is more caught in the crossfire between Reid and Voight than anyone else.

Burgess Is Overworked In Chicago PD Season 12, Episode 16

She Only Learns About A Murder Because Of It

Burgess is suffering because of her situation in Chicago PD season 12. Burgess has been unable to break away from work long enough to enjoy time off with Ruzek (John Patrick Flueger) and Mackenzie (Ramona Edith Williams) in "Seen and Unseen." She brings home paperwork to try to sneak in family time while working, but is unable to concentrate while Ruzek is helping their daughter with her homework and thus heads daily to a local diner, which eventually becomes the scene of a deadly shooting.

This setup kicks off a fascinating case in which Burgess has to rely on her memory of people she's seen on her trips to the diner in order to determine who killed a bunch of patrons and employees. However, it also points to a deeper problem. While TV cops often have to drop personal plans when a case comes up, Burgess should not be burdened with so much paperwork that she can't spend any time at home with her family between cases.

A Big Part Of Burgess' Workload Comes From Deputy Chief Reid

She Complains To Ruzek About Reid's Demands

Burgess receives an email from Reid just as she's about to head home, which is what drives her decision to take paperwork home with her. She feels forced to bring work home because there is no way she can get through her entire workload, including the paperwork that goes with it, if she takes any breaks. Furthermore, she feels trapped by Reid's demands, which he set up intentionally when he transferred her back to Intelligence. Reid made it clear at the time that he was doing Burgess a favor, even if she never asked him for it.

Reid's manipulations leave Burgess uncomfortable with asking him directly to reduce her workload. She doesn't want to seem ungrateful or rock the boat. Additionally, Voight warned her that Reid was up to no good, and thus her decision to accept the favor from him put her in a position to act as a double agent, pretending to be loyal to Reid but secretly investigating what he is doing and reporting her findings to Voight. Thus, Burgess has to put up with work overload in order to help Voight defeat Reid.

Reid is especially clever in assigning tasks such as developing a new training program within a week's time. These tasks give him plausible deniability — he can easily claim he is grooming Burgess for a leadership position by involving her in educating other police officers. However, it's clear that Reid's real purpose is to keep Burgess too busy to help Voight take him down while interfering with her downtime so that she lacks the inner resources to help undermine him.

Reid Is Likely Retaliating After Voight Confronted Him About His Leadership

Voight Is On To Reid Now, Which Means Reid Can't Attack Him Directly

Chicago PD's Voight and Reid conflict heated up in the previous episode of the police procedural. While investigating a gang shooting, Voight learned that the Deputy Commissioner has ties to Jesus Otero, a violent criminal who is responsible for one of the warring gangs who make Chicago's streets unsafe. He confronted Reid about his ties, but Reid defended his actions, saying that it was "simple math... one for the greater good," and arguing that keeping Otero on the streets was the right move because he was less violent than other gang leaders.

Unsurprisingly, Voight immediately went to Chapman and vowed that the two would work together to prove Reid's illegal activity and get him removed. It's likely Reid is aware that Voight has made this move, and thus has to make a countermove. Thus, Reid is overburdening Burgess, keeping her from investigating cases by demanding she develop training programs for the department while making it impossible for her to have any time off. This power move undermines Voight by trapping one of his strongest allies in pointless paperwork and signals that Reid won't go down without a fight.

Why Voight Needs To Get Intelligence Involved About His Plans For Reid

He Can't Take Reid Down Without Involving Everybody

Voight tends to be a lone wolf. He's more comfortable protecting his officers from fallout from their bad choices than allowing them to help him protect the department. Voight's ability to strategize and to keep parts of his true mission secret from those he doesn't believe need to know are strong assets when he needs to break the law for the greater good. However, these strengths become liabilities in the current situation.

Although Voight is Reid's primary target, he's willing and able to take down the whole Intelligence department in order to achieve his objectives. The strongest defense to this type of attack is for Voight's team to present a unified front. However, this is not possible as long as Voight keeps various team members in the dark about his plans. Refusing to tell everyone in Intelligence what is going on weakens Voight's ability to counter Reid's manipulations, which is not a risk he should take in such a high-stakes conflict.

Voight's decision to read in Chapman in Chicago PD season 12, episode 15 was a good start. She will undoubtedly be a strong ally in the war against Reid. However, Voight needs to go further and share his plans with Ruzek and Burgess, if not with the entire Intelligence Unit. Doing so will reduce the risk that Reid can exploit vulnerabilities like he is currently doing by assigning extra work to Burgess in upcoming episodes of Chicago PD.