Chicago P.D. Season 13 Episode 11 On The Way Recap

This episode kicks off very subtle. Right from the start, Kevin is testing the waters, testing if he should text Tasha or do something different literally. He takes the 1968 Mustang fastback for a spin, and it’s not just a casual ride. The way he handles it, pushing it up to 90 post speed, feels like a character moment more than a stunt. He’s not racing for fun; he’s assessing. Every shift, every turn tells him something about the car, the person who owned it, and what kind of operation he’s stepping into. It also is great to find out the car salesman restored the car with his father before he passed last year from cancer. You can almost feel the calculation in his hands on the wheel. It’s a quiet but precise way of showing Kevin’s methodical side: he doesn’t rush, doesn’t guess, and yet he’s fully aware of what he’s doing. It sets the tone for the rest of the episode, careful observation, patience, and a tension that never lets up.

From there, the story pulls you into something that would only happen to a Chicago PD officer. Kevin wants the car. Mark Albright had convinced him it was a good buy. He told Kevin to keep the car running, go in and fill out the paperwork while he got the car detailed. As soon as Kevin goes inside shots ring out. He goes to access the scene and the Mustang is being stolen. A driver jumps in and takes off before the second man can get in. The offender shoots at Kevin, he returns fire and the offender goes down. It’s just then that he looks over and Mark is down. Kevin stresses that they need the ambulance asap. He talks to Mark to tell him to hold on, keep fighting, but it's too late. Mark is gone. The team arrives and the scene is assessed, but you can tell Kevin is shaken. Voight asks if he is okay. He says that he is. 

Back at the precinct Torres lets the team know there has been an increase in auto theft. High end and vintage models. Burgess says this robbery fits the description of these thefts. Two masked offenders dropped off another vehicle. No fingerprints or evidence they get away clean and they seem not to care about killing. There have been three murders connected to the jackings. The vehicles just disappeared, none have been recovered. The offender that shot at Kevin didn’t make it. The team gets information that he was Alex Roth twenty two and he has a record and was in a facility for three months. He has a commercial drivers license but they are trying to find more along with known associates. 

Kevin and Burgess go to look at traffic cams and CCTV to see what they can find. A metallic blue GT keeps showing on the screen. They attempt to run the plates, but notice each frame the tags change. Kevin says they are triangle plates and popular with street racers. He says that it’s illegal and only a few shops do these. The team goes to investigate. Torres and Imani go to a shop and ask for Casper. As soon as they ask, a gentleman starts to run. They catch him and let him know they are looking for a name and who drives the blue GT. He gives up Lolo. Lawrence Vaughn, he is twenty two and he met Alex in CDL school, no record he is clean. Voight says they need to press him to give up his boss. Kevin says the racing community is tight knit. If they take Lolo in they will all scatter and they will not have a case. Kevin suggests he go undercover. 

This high-stakes car-theft world where nothing is simple. Lolo Vaughn is introduced as the driver, and you immediately get that his connection to cars isn’t just professional; it’s personal. You can tell how much he cares about his GT and the racing scene. When Kevin approaches him, there’s a natural friction. Lolo insists he’s “just a driver,” and at first, that seems like a convenient cover, but it’s layered. He loves what he does, he knows the rules, and he’s cautious, and when Kevin starts probing, you can see Lolo measuring whether he can trust this stranger or if this is going to spiral into something he can’t control.

There is a strategy to being undercover and we see it in full effect. Kevin is calm, collected, and almost unnervingly patient. He listens to Lolo, gathers intel, and even lets conversations drift into personal territory. This is how we learn about Lolo’s background, about Alex’s fate, and about the network shipping these vintage cars overseas. It’s smart storytelling, instead of dumping exposition, it feels like Kevin is feeling his way through a dangerous system, one conversation at a time. And the stakes are never over dramatized because Mark Albright’s death looms over every interaction. That loss adds weight to Kevin’s choices, showing how far this operation has already gone.

Over time Lolo decides to trust Kevin and since they know more personal things about each other. Kevin knows Lolo wants to buy his own rig and he is saving money to do so. Kevin makes Lolo an offer he says he can put money in his pocket he just needs to put him into his plug. At first Lolo is hesitant but eventually he tells Kevin what he needs to know. 

Duke, as the shadowy organizer, is terrifying in a subtle way. He’s methodical, he calculates every move, and he tests people to see how much they’ll risk. When the episode shifts to the staged theft and the discussion of home invasions, you realize just how far this goes. Alex’s death is revisited not as tragedy but as a practical consequence of being expendable. Duke’s disregard for human life makes the tension almost unbearable. And Lolo, thrust into the middle, has to navigate fear, survival, and loyalty, which is where the episode really hits hard. Every decision feels dangerous because the rules keep shifting.

What’s remarkable is how the episode balances the emotional with the procedural. Lolo’s cooperation leads them to the warehouse full of stolen cars, a payoff that ties together multiple strands of theft, murder, and international shipping, but there’s no triumphant music cue, no clean victory. It’s messy, raw, and real. Kevin’s careful planning meets unpredictable human behavior, and the collision is both thrilling and nerve-wracking.

The quieter moments, like the conversations about life outside the operation and the reveal about Lolo’s personal circumstances, add depth. The show reminds you that these characters aren’t just players in a criminal puzzle, they’re people with choices, regrets, and limits. That balance of action and introspection is what makes this episode stand out.

By the end, the episode has taken you through tension, fear, and moral complexity, all anchored by that first scene where Kevin tests the Mustang. It’s a small moment that sets up the tone for everything that follows: careful observation, measured risk, and the constant question of how close you can get to danger before it consumes you. Lolo’s survival, Kevin’s patience, and Duke’s ruthlessness leave you thinking long after the episode ends, and that’s exactly what makes this episode memorable, but we get a payoff in the end. All through the episode we see Kevin start and erase text messages to Tasha.

He never sends them, even after Lolo told him you have to send it and take the chance of you will never know. Kevin seems to have flown Tasha back to Chicago from Miami. They talk and Tasha says she has to tell him something. Kevin is nervous and asks if she has gotten into a relationship already. Tasha days she never heard from him and she thought it was just a one time thing, but since he flew her out she wanted him to know she was three months pregnant and he could be a part of the child's life or not. The audience is on pins and needles. No other words are spoken in the close of this episode, just smiling faces for everyone involved. 

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