'Chicago P.D.' Season 12 Episode 17 "Transference" Review
- Zakiyyah
- Apr 3
- 4 min read
This episode of Chicago P.D. wastes no time pulling you in. It starts off with Kevin Atwater having dinner with Val, and the vibe is calm, casual, just two people enjoying a quiet night. Then out of nowhere, they hear gunshots outside. It’s that sudden shift that this show is known for, one second you’re in the comfort of someone’s home, and the next, you’re thrown into chaos.
Atwater heads outside to check it out. He sees a man nearby, someone who clearly doesn’t belong, and it instantly feels off. But before Kevin can stop the guy, he hears someone yelling for help. It’s Val’s neighbor, bleeding and panicked. He’s been shot. So now Kevin’s not just reacting, he’s in full-on emergency mode. He helps the man and tries to get an ambulance as soon as possible while applying pressure to the wound, but it’s too late and he doesn’t make it. Atwater and Voight discuss the events of the evening and the team launches into a full investigation.
It turns out this was a home invasion. The security system was off, and it doesn’t look like much was stolen, which makes it feel personal, or at least targeted. The tram are trying to understand why this happened, and it’s not long before another home invasion pops up. This time, it’s even worse. A husband and wife are both murdered in their own home. The neighbor,who heard something earlier but didn’t report it, later sees a man with a limp leaving through the back door with what looked like a duffle bag. Chilling detail. Their kids were out of town on a school trip. Thank goodness for that.
That’s when the pieces start coming together. Both houses had the same security system — Armstrong. Which is weird, right? That can’t be a coincidence. And it’s not. The team tracks down a guy named Robert Boyd. He’s older, early 50s, and has a history, years ago, he was part of a home invasion crew, but he flipped on his team and got immunity. Since then, he’s kept a low profile, working for none other than Armstrong Security. So now it all starts to click he had access. He knew how to disable the systems and when to move.
But Boyd doesn’t leave much behind. They check pawn shops and fencing networks, but nothing’s coming up. No one’s selling the stolen items. He’s being careful. Then Cathy Coates comes into the picture. She’s been seen at a flea market with a man matching Boyd’s description. So the team follows up. Cathy is… a handful. She’s yelling about someone owing her money, ranting about people who think they’re better than her. But once she calms down a bit, she admits Boyd gave her some stuff. She says she wasn’t going to sell it, just holding onto it. But when they search her place, boom: they find stolen property that matches what was taken from the home invasions. That’s the break they needed.
Meanwhile, on the emotional side of the episode, we learn more about Val and her connection to Nick Payton, a former patient. Val tells Kevin about how she lost her mom to breast cancer a couple years ago, and how, during that time, Nick became her patient, right after he’d lost his mom, too. She says it hit her hard, and she made some mistakes. She shared personal stories, gave him her number, even hugged him. It was all well-intentioned, but it crossed professional lines. Classic countertransference. She tried to refer him to another therapist, but Nick had already latched on emotionally. He kept finding ways to see her, check on her, stay close. This is why Kevin placed Nick at the scene at the beginning of the episode. Nick was stalking Val.
All of that finally explodes in the last stretch of the episode. Nick shows up at Val’s home again. Kevin gets there, senses something’s not right, and starts calling out for her. Val answers, trying to keep things calm. But inside, Nick is spiraling. He’s got a knife, he’s emotional, and he’s convinced that Kevin is trying to take Val away from him. You can see he’s not trying to be violent, he’s scared. He keeps saying he’s just trying to protect her, that he needs her. It’s painful to watch.
Kevin, to his credit, handles it with so much care. He doesn’t rush in or escalate things. He keeps his voice low, talks Nick down, reassures him. Val does her part too, even though she has been inadvertently stabbed, staying calm, grounded. Eventually, Nick gives in. He puts the knife down. There’s no dramatic takedown, no fight. Just sadness. Just a guy who didn’t know how to cope and crossed a line he couldn’t uncross.
After all of that, Val and Kevin sit and talk. It’s one of the most honest conversations they’ve had. Val opens up more, tells him how much she blames herself for what happened with Nick, how she’s scared to trust herself in relationships. She keeps people, including Kevin, at a distance because she’s afraid of messing up, of hurting someone, of being hurt. Kevin asks her if she really wants to end things between them. And she says no. She doesn’t want to. She’s just not sure how to move forward without making the same mistakes again.
The episode doesn’t end with a neat resolution. It just sort of leaves you sitting in the messiness of it all, which honestly feels more real than any wrap-up ever could. It’s about trauma, boundaries, guilt, and love, all tangled up. And it’s a reminder that sometimes, protecting people isn’t clean or heroic. Sometimes it’s just listening. Or stepping back. Or being honest when it’s hard.
It’s one of those episodes that sticks with you — not just because of the case, but because of how deeply human it all felt. It also tracks with how in future episodes we should see some of these same issues pop up with Val and Kevin again.
What did you think?
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