Chicago P.D. Season 12, Episode 19, “Name Image Likeness” focuses on Kiana Cook, but it doesn’t just give her the usual interactions with Adam Ruzek (Patrick Flueger) we’ve come to rely on. It hones in on her relationship with Dante Torres (Benjamin Levy Aguilar) in a way that suggests there may be something more brewing between the only two single characters left in Intelligence. But is Chicago P.D. setting up a Kiana Cook and Dante Torres romance?
The answer isn’t straightforward, but it seems to be yes, just slowly. There have been signs for a while, this episode just makes them more obvious. Kiana was the member of the team who was most upset to learn Dante had been lying to everyone earlier in the season, and she called him out pretty strongly for it. So did Kim, but at least Kim was directly involved in it, and had actually known Dante for a bit at that time. Kiana hadn’t, so her being that upset was a bit surprising.
In this episode, however, their interactions are a lot more casual, enough to give us a sense that their relationship has grown a lot. Dante is still on limited duty after being hurt when he crashed his car, and instead of letting him take the subway, Kiana is picking him up. There’s a little bit of banter there, and care, as she picks him up, and though the two end up at a crime scene, Dante listens to her in a way he didn’t really listen to anyone else last episode.
All put together, it’s not much yet, but it is the show building the foundation of something. For years, Chicago P.D. had two great ships in Burzek and Upstead. Now, it only has Burzek, and the two are set to tie the knot in the Season 12 finale, so they’ll be a steady couple with hopefully no drama. It makes sense that the show would want to build another couple that will perhaps bring a little more of the will they/won’t they dynamic procedurals thrive on to the team. And it doesn’t really work to do it with Kevin since they’ve established his relationship with Val Soto already, and that’s working out well.
Plus, Kiana and Dante just have chemistry. They’ve had it from the beginning. And the conversation at the beginning of the episode also proves that she has confided in him about her weird family situation and her rich mom who now wants to have a relationship with her — the one she ended up calling at the end of the episode. All of that could throw a very interesting wrinkle into a possible Kiana and Dante relationship, because Dante is surely not the kind of man she would want Kiana to be dating. And Kiana doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who’s going to let her mom dictate who she dates. Perfect, delicious drama. All the more reason for Chicago P.D. to go there.
Chicago P.D. is available to stream on Peacock.
