Chicago P.D. “Root Cause” Recap: Voight’s Haunting Past and a Tragic End Shakes The Team

This week's episode starts off one hundred miles an hour and it doesn’t stop until the credits roll. It opens with a brutal robbery at an ATM, where the victim is left severely hurt.  One the call is in, Viight takes Eva new to the team with him in his truck. There is something in Voights windshield. In the truck Voight takes out a picture of a young boy who looks beaten up. When Ava questions Voight he is silent. She lets it go as they arrive at the robbery scene. It’s one of those situations where you immediately feel the stakes, not just for the victim, but for the officers involved. Luckily, the victim’s wife is able to give Ava and Voight all the details they need, even snapping a picture of the vehicle the offender fled in. That little piece of evidence instantly sets the wheels in motion. You can sense Voight’s urgency as he calls in the crime, coordinating the response while trying to anticipate what this criminal might do next.

But the situation escalates almost immediately. While they’re still processing the ATM robbery, another call comes in: an armed robbery at a gas station. It’s the same offender. At this point, it’s clear the guy isn’t just committing random acts, he’s on a spree. The way the episode handles this early tension is excellent: you feel like you’re racing through the city alongside the officers, trying to track someone who seems always one step ahead. It’s chaotic, and that’s exactly the point, the show wants you to feel the pressure the team is under.

As the investigation ramps up, we start learning more about the suspect: Gary Bell.  It seems at the gas station the violence has escalated. Gary now has kidnapped a woman named Rayna. Voight is getting desperate to catch this extremely violent offender. Voight and the team piece together his past, finding that he stole a GMC in Bridgeport and has no apparent ties, no job, no social media presence, no registered phone. Gary seems to have dropped off the grid entirely, making him even more dangerous and unpredictable. Ava digs deeper, and they trace him to his father’s house, learning that Gary comes from a once-wealthy family that has fallen on hard times. His father’s old company, B Tractors, was huge back in the day, and the family clearly had serious resources. That contrast between privilege and current instability adds layers to Gary’s character: he’s not just a random criminal; he’s someone shaped by circumstances, struggling with who he is.

Through Gary’s father we learn about Sage, Gary’s girlfriend, whose real name is Sandra Michaels. Ava and Voight track her to an apartment in Garfield Park, uncovering that she has a serious drug problem. Gary’s criminal activity seems partially motivated by her addiction, at least according to Gary’s father he tells Voight and Eva that Gary is trying to support her, or at least stay close while dealing with the chaos in his own life. There’s a heartbreaking layer here: Gary is capable of violence, yet he also has this twisted sense of responsibility and love. The team comes up with this because several witnesses say that Gary apologized to them after the violent act and he took Rayna into urgent care trying to get her help. When the team finds the urgent care facility the nurse there says he was not violent he brought her in for help. Voight is honest with the nurse and they ask to look at the camera footage. The nurse Keysbtyen knew Rayna’s injuries were too severe for them to treat and she was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately she didn’t make it. 

Meanwhile, the team speaks to Sage trying to find out where Gary could be. Sage explains that Gary has a cycle, almost like an alcoholic: after violent acts, he crashes, becomes withdrawn, and has to come down. Sage tells them that Gary likes looking for “old haunts” from his family’s wealthier days, country clubs, art galleries, places where he could hide and be alone. The tension here is relentless, because you know Gary is not just dangerous; he’s unstable. Ava, Voight, and the team are scrambling, checking every lead, updating each other in real time. You can feel the pulse of the city and the weight on the officers, they’re chasing someone who could vanish at any moment.

A call comes in and Gary has been spotted. Voight tells the officer not to approach because the offender is extremely violent. Voight never gets a response and races to the scene. At the scene there is an officer down while Ana and Voightbtry to apprehend the offender. Gary is cornered, and there’s a real emotional beat as he breaks down, apologizing repeatedly, insisting he wasn’t born this way. He claims he’s been made into this, and he doesn’t want to be violent anymore. The show does a remarkable job humanizing him in this moment, even though he’s committed terrible acts. There’s this tension between accountability and tragedy, and it’s really affecting to watch.

In all of the apologizing the episode takes turn that lands the gut punch: Gary commits suicide before he can be arrested. No one saw it coming. It’s like it was the only way Gary could get peace. Voight and the team are left to break the news to his family, including his daughter Julie and his father. It’s devastating and messy, nobody walks away unscathed. The show doesn’t shy away from the emotional fallout, and it really drives home the human cost of crime, not just on the victims but on families. As Voight and Ava deliver the news to Gary’s father he doesn’t seem fazed at all. This doesn’t sit right with Voight.

He calls the house in to be notified if anything should happen at this residence or even in the block he wants to be notified. Voight makes sure to mention there is a tender age child that lives there as well. Back in the truck Ava asks Voight about the photo again and again he is silent. Ava says the uniform that the officer is wearing is decades old. Nothing but silence. Then she asks is that little boy you? Fades to black. 

The episode keeps you on edge while also showing the human cost of Gary’s actions, and by the end, you’re emotionally spent, but in a way that sticks with you. It’s tense, heartbreaking, and unforgettable.

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