Okay, guys, let's take a breath in and out. This existed a biggie of a season finale of an episode than before. So, let's get to it.
After getting a quick recap of how we got here, as Voight is about to tell what happened to Woods, he receives a call about how Al is at Med with severe stab wounds. Voight gets there, and just as he sees Al, tells him he's going to make it, but as we wait, wait, and wait, Voight finds the surgeon and asks about Al, for which he had died.
After informing the team, who's in disbelief, they pull every heart and energy to find the man who killed Al. My first suspect would be the man who put Al in jail, but we'll get to that later. In the meantime, the team set up shop at the county jail and found out from security tapes that it was a set up by the security guard, letting the man who stabbed Al get to do it. Voight had some lesser words for the man who stabbed Al, even if he wasn't answering questions.
It all laid down to a man getting even with Al for arresting his cousin on gun charges for carrying them for his business and led to trying to get to the man's home, but all there was was his wife and mother-in-law. But Voight didn't get any answers from the wife, but Burgess and Upton got it. The team went to the warehouse, where they took down the leader and his men. Voight had a one-on-one with the man who called for Al's death and shot him twice, knowing that he had a gun, but that's not what two witnesses saw across the way, and even Antonio didn't see it, but I'm sure he still had Voight's back.
In the meantime, with Al gone and Voight's confession out, Woods gets word from the ASA that an eyewitness saw Voight take out the man who shot his son from the bar. Woods gets her information and meets with her, and after hearing her story, he takes it and fixes it, taking her phone jewelry and giving her money. Soon, Woods phones Voight for a meeting, and after talking about how these two got here, knowing each other for over 30 years, Voight admits that he isn't a dirty cop but is the one person who will do anything to protect the city. So Woods tells Voight about a witness who had come forward seeing him taking away the man who killed his son, and Voight returns with how he finds her with a surprised look. Voight finally got the SOB and was taken away thanks to the ASA and Katie (the so-called witness).
But after all that has happened, it was the last few minutes of the emotionally powerful episode, watching Voight grieve, apologizing to Al for all that has happened while drinking on the roof. You see the pain that has finally boiled that he lets his emotions out by punching the door, crying, and screaming; it is unlike anything we saw Voight do in the past five seasons.
"Homecoming" might be ranked as one of the best season finales of CPD in the series. It leads with so much emotion and intensity, from the death of Al to finding the killer to even getting Woods to come down from his mighty sword. The writing was outstanding for this episode and throughout the season, and that closed the chapter of this season's story arc. Some episodes put characters like Voight on the verge (like his son's death), but this one took the cake, and Jason Beghe gave one of his best performances as Voight in the series. I'll be honest: I thought when I saw Voight on Chicago Fire that he was a dirty cop, but after the backdoor episode and the first season of CPD, I had a change of heart.
Overall, I give this episode a 10/10 and the season overall a 9.5/10.
Just as the episode ended, word came out that all Chicago series (Fire, PD, and Med), along with SVU, have been renewed for another season (which we all knew would happen).
You can catch episodes of Chicago PD on demand, NBC.com, and the NBC app, with the new season coming this fall.
