Is Chicago PD Season 12, Episode 18 Foreshadowing the Exit of Dante Torres?

Chicago PD Season 12, Episode 18, "Demons" suggests not one but two character exits from the NBC show. The storyline brings Hank Voight's quest to take down Deputy Chief Charlie Reid front and center. However, it's troubled Officer Dante Torres who gets the short end of the stick.

"Demons" sees Chief Reid enlist Voight to locate a stolen Toyota because it contains drugs belonging to Jesus Otero, the criminal with whom Reid has a close relationship. But when Torres returns to work, he makes some very bad decisions that put him right between the two of them. And with other One Chicago character exits on the horizon, there's reason to be worried about Torres.

Chicago PD Season 12, Episode 18 Puts Voight & Reid Back Together

Shawn Hatosy Has His Biggest Episode Yet

Demons" is sort of two different stories. The first is Reid ordering Voight to order his team to prioritize the hunt for the stolen Toyota, and the second is Voight trying to turn the situation into a trap for Reid and/or Otero. The first part doesn't last very long or hold a lot of water, because there's only so much mileage that the episode can get out of the rest of Intelligence asking why they're spending so much time on a carjacking. The episode gets more interesting when an impatient Reid -- who apparently thinks crime gets solved with the speed of a takeout order -- starts to put pressure on Voight and his team.

From an entertainment standpoint, it's fun to see Shawn Hatosy again and for more scenes after viewers have just watched him as Dr. Jack Abbott in Max's medical drama The Pitt. Abbott had a significant role in The Pitt season finale, and now he gets to come back to Chicago PD and play a totally different character. Hatosy's performance makes Reid's more stereotypical villain moments work, such as the painfully obvious "you work for me" line he gives an uncooperative Voight. When Reid follows Torres home and pitches him on ignoring Voight's orders, the reason that scene is convincing is because of Hatosy's faux earnestness in delivering his speech.

The big confrontation between Reid and Voight is still to come, as "Demons" ends with Intelligence's plan to trap someone in Otero's crew goes up in flames (literally). But the episode takes big steps forward, whether it's making sure Reid is unquestionably evil or getting everyone else in on the action. Especially with the season winding down, an episode like this needed to happen in order to give the Reid story a proper ending. But someone who might be getting a questionable and involuntary ending is Torres.

Is Dante Torres Leaving Chicago PD in Season 12?

Episode 18 Doesn't Inspire Confidence in Torres' Future

Dante Torres' absence in Chicago PD Season 12, Episode 17, "Transference" seemed iffy at the time, but was understandable since he really wasn't needed, and because One Chicago viewers know that all three shows occasionally give main cast members an episode off as a way of saving money. However, the events of "Demons" and recent off-screen developments make Torres' week off look entirely different. This episode gives the strong impression that he doesn't have long left on Chicago PD, period.

Torres returns after his week off with an injured shoulder, and then proceeds to be a walking disaster throughout the episode. He ignores Voight' order to stay at his desk in order to get involved in Intelligence's pursuit of the carjackers, ignores Kevin Atwater's order to stand down from the pursuit, attempts the saddest Precision Immobilization Technique (PIT) manuever that leads him to wreck his car, and then does Reid's dirty work by following a lead on one of the suspects. Any one of these things would be bad. All four of them together is almost too much messing up for one episode. Add that to Torres already being in hot water this season because of the Gloria Perez problem, and the struggles with his own inner demons that he relates to Voight, and all signs are pointing to an exit storyline in which Torres either quits or gets himself fired because of his rapid descent.

Further supporting this idea is the news that Chicago Fire is cutting two cast members for budgetary reasons, with the report suggesting that could also extend to the other Wolf Entertainment shows. If that does indeed become the case, then Torres' whole downward spiral is an easy way to write him out -- albeit an uninspired one, because it's kind of a rehash of Antonio Dawson's underwhelming exit storyline. Antonio quickly became a drug addict, made some bad choices, and got sent (off-screen) to rehab. Torres may not have an addiction, but he's likewise self-destructing, and this general concept isn't working any better with his character than it did with Antonio.

Chicago PD Season 12, Episode 18 Follows a Familiar Playbook

The Supporting Characters React as Expected

"Demons" puts the rest of Intelligence largely on the sidelines to facilitate more screen time between Voight and Reid. The unit does their legwork to close the case, but no one other than Torres stands out. Their biggest scene comes as a group, when they tell Voight that they're going to help him in his battle against Voight. The scene is predictable -- Voight gives the speech about how dangerous Reid is, and the team tells him they don't care -- but it's exactly what fans want.

What's more confounding is the way that the episode uses ASA Chapman, because her early appearance suggests that she'll have a much bigger presence than she does. She only has two major scenes, and is limited to phone calls through the rest of the hour. This is an underuse of actor Sara Bues, whom viewers have really come to enjoy watching as Chapman matches so well with Voight. But when Chapman does return, she asks Voight to promise that they'll get Reid the right way, and his response sounds like something Hank Voight would have said seasons ago, not in Season 12.

The point of Reid's character is to show someone who colors even more outside the lines than Voight, and thus for the audience to look at Voight a little differently (and maybe for him to do the same). His words to Chapman make him sound like he's no better than Reid and has no interest in being any better. Reid is just another bad guy for him to take down by any means necessary. With that scene, Chicago PD undercuts whatever message it's trying to send with the Reid story. No one is asking for Hank Voight to become safe and cuddly, but one would think all of this drama with Reid -- especially how poorly Reid treats Voight himself in this episode -- would provoke more than just "I don't know." Chicago PD Season 12, Episode 18 moves its plot forward just in time, but there's also a lot of uneasiness and missed opportunities, too.