Opinion: The Michigan Wolverines Are In Disarray

 

I was privileged to see the Wolverines run undefeated Ohio State right to the wire last November in Ann Arbor. It was as epic a game as there’s been in that brilliant and long-standing rivalry.

I left the Big House that crisp fall afternoon encouraged about what was ahead for Brady Hoke’s men. Sure, Michigan lost, but they showed a lot of moxie after some pretty weak capitulations earlier in the season, and walking out, the general feeling was that they’d run a very good Buckeyes team right to the wire – and were only a successful two-point conversion away from actually beating the undefeated rivals – and that the contest was a turning point for the program coming off a 7-6 2013.

Sure, most people thought that their offense could be upgraded if Al Borges was fired – and he was – but there wasn’t any sort of rabid panic, not after their unranked team nearly took down a true National Championship contender.

Sadly I, and the thousands who chattered around me last November as we digested the game and Michigan’s efforts on the way out of The Big House, were wrong. We were dead wrong. Based on current evidence, the Ohio State game last year was a false dawn. Over summer, somehow, the Wolverines have regressed.

Five weeks into the 2014 season, the maize and blue brigade are sitting at a shocking 2-3, with two home losses blotting their copybook. A far cry from home domination that’s been a hallmark of head coach Brady Hoke’s time in Ann Arbor.

It used to be that Hoke’s Michigan teams only struggled on the road. Now they’re struggling everywhere, and Saturday’s 30-14 capitulation to Minnesota, a game where the scoreboard after sixty minutes probably flattered the Wolverines. They were embarrassed at Notre Dame, embarrassed by Utah in Ann Arbor and again by Minnesota. Stick a fork in them now. Michigan are done for the year.

Imagine that. The Michigan Wolverines being declared dead, buried and gone in the fifth week of the season. It’s unheard of and unexpected, and no wonder the groundswell of support that Brady Hoke once enjoyed at the Big House has disappeared as quickly as most of the fans who used to pack the venerable stadium.

There were more than 100,000 fans in attendance – as there’s been more than 100,000 fans in attendance at every Michigan home game since the mid-1970s – last November when I was there, but a combination of strange ticketing schemes and the fact that their team stinks has that record in serious jeopardy. Indeed, the school will have to give away thousands of tickets if they want to keep that impressive streak going, because fans aren’t parting with their hard-earned coin to watch the mess that their beloved team has become.

I never thought it was possible, but the Wolverines under Hoke are a worse mess than they were under Rich Rodriguez. That’s really saying something. At least the Wolverines managed to beat Notre Dame under Rich Rod. They can’t even beat Minnesota now. No disrespect to the Gophers, but they’re not a traditional power, and, traditionally, Michigan’s rolled them.

The 2-3 record to close out September isn’t just bad, it’s historically bad. For the first time since the1930s, the Wolverines have three losses before the calendar turns to October, and for a proud program, one accustomed to winning Big Ten (and national) championships, it’s unacceptable.

Unquestionably, Hoke’s head is on the chopping block. A blistering debut season in 2011 saw the Wolverines beat Ohio State for the first time in a long time, and win a Sugar Bowl title. Since then, there’s been little to write home about, and there are plenty of fingers being pointed at Hoke and his coaching staff.

Let’s be honest here: the Wolverines are recruiting talented players. It just seems that being around the current state of the Michigan program is apparently sapping said talent. The offense was meant to be better this year, after Borges was jettisoned – it might’ve been a lucky thing for Borges, given how this season as progressed – in favour of ex-Alabama offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier.

That’s done little to no good. Some Michigan fans are doubtless pining for Borges to return, and Nussmeier is being criticised in Ann Arbor by all and sundry. It’s a tough place to coach football when you’re not putting up points and yards. After all, that’s the expectation at Michigan: winning games, winning conference titles, winning national championships. I don’t know that Nussmeier’s tenure could’ve started any worse than it has.

Incumbent quarterback Devin Gardner has regressed mightily this season. He was benched against Minnesota on Saturday, and the replacement starter, Shane Morris, wasn’t much better. The Wolverines have talent around Gardner, but guys like Devin Funchess aren’t getting the football enough. Turnovers are absolutely crippling whatever offensive spark Michigan have, and that isn’t much.

So where to from here? Well, Hoke would be lucky – incredibly lucky – to see out the season. He’s a dead man walking at this point, and Athletic Director Dave Brandon might be out the door, too.

Apparently Brandon’s about as popular as Hoke in Ann Arbor right now, and that’s really saying something. It would take Hoke running the table and thumping Ohio State to give him even a remote chance of retaining his job. Even that might not be enough.

Michigan need to rebuild. Again. They thought the rebuild was going swimmingly after Hoke’s first year. If they were swimming then, the Wolverines are drowning now. When Michigan football fans stop going to the game, that’s a bad sign. These are traditionally rusted-on supporters, fanatics in the best sense of the word. Seeing so many empty seats at the Big House is a shocking scene. It’s bad for college football.

So, with Hoke almost certain to be axed, talk will doubtless shift to his replacement. Les Miles and John Harbaugh will be mentioned, both Michigan men of some repute. Whether they’ll want such a big rebuilding job is the real question to be answered.

You couldn’t blame a coach for not wanting to jump onto the floundering ship. Michigan are at sixes and sevens. It’s sad to see what this program has become.

Really sad.

Chicago PD: Season 1 - Episode Ten - "At Least It's Justice"

“At Least It’s Justice”
Written By: Craig Gore & Tim Walsh
Directed By: Michael Slovis

The Plot: As foreshadowed at the end of the last episode, Halstead is front and centre in the frame for the murder of Lonnie Rodiger, and is suspended by Voight and Commander Perry when they are made aware that he was following Rodiger hours before the murder. Voight is upset with Dawson, who vouched for Halstead. Lindsay is worried for her partner.

Whilst Halstead waits for the outcome of the murder investigation, the Unit investigates the murder of a prolific doctor, whose testimony has put many big-time criminals behind bars. His corpse is discovered by Kelly Severide and some of the Chicago Fire team after a collision between two cars. The driver of the car who carried the doctor’s mangled body is later discovered dead, basically melted in a vat of hydrochloric acid.

Halstead’s suspension means Voight must – very reluctantly – bring Detective Sumner properly into the field. He obviously still thinks that she’s a mole for the slimy Stillwell over at Internal Affairs. A sting operation at a local gun show is laid on, because the gang leader responsible is supposed to be there. Unfortunately, local police spoil the operation and one is killed in a wild parking lot shootout. The suspect gets away. Burgess experiences her first shootout.

Later, the team find a homemade sex tape featuring their target and the lawyer of the second man he killed. Sumner’s informant gives up that the guy has a meth lab in a trucking yard, which naturally becomes the focal point for Voight’s team. They raid the place and during the melee, Ruzek is shot in his vest and Voight shoots the gang leader down to stop him from escaping. Sumner isn’t impressed, and is told by Voight to leave that part out of her report. 

Halstead, with some help from Antonio and Olinsky, manages to discovered that Phil Rodiger, Lonnie’s father, is the murderer. Mr Rodiger had realised that his son was a sexual predator and killed Lonnie to make sure he didn’t harm any other children. Reassigned to Voight’s unit, Halstead visits the grave of the young boy Rodiger killed years before. 

After the stress of the day, Burgess and Ruzek kiss, despite Ruzek’s engagement, and almost immediately decide it was a mistake. Severide visits Lindsay’s apartment under the auspices of returning her ornamental grenade, which he’d deliberately taken, just to get into her apartment. They share a long kiss before Severide departs, leaving Lindsay to watch him disappear. 

My Thoughts: The Rodiger saga comes to an end, and I had a sneaking suspicion as the episode went on that it was Mr Rodiger who had put an end to his son’s life. I knew it wasn’t Halstead. The episode at least showed how loyal to Halstead the rest of the squad it, especially Lindsay and Dawson.

Another week, another grizzly murder and this time there’s a dude decomposing in a tub of acid. Chicago PD isn’t afraid to include some pretty gruesome scenes, which gives a nice edge to the show – and sets it apart from Chicago Fire.

Jury’s out on Sumner. She might yet be the mole, but she definitely doesn’t seem to be a fan of Voight’s tactics. Surely that means she won’t last long in his unit?

Called the Burgess/Ruzek thing a while back, and despite them both agreeing it was a mistake, I have a feeling this is going to be a solid coupling for a while. Earlier, Voight wasn’t happy about the idea of Halstead and Lindsay having a thing, so it’ll be interesting to see how he reacts when he finds out – if he finds out – about Ruzek and Burgess.

Opinion: College Football 2014 - Week Five Villains

Another weekend of college football is in the books, so let’s go through who let themselves down on the gridiron with my Week Five Villains:

Michigan: For the first time since the 1930s, Michigan has three losses on the season before the calendar turns to October. History-making loss 30-14 loss to Michigan that hands back the Little Brown Jug to the Gophers and makes Brady Hoke’s hot seat actually become a raging inferno.

Alas, Michigan fans can’t blame erratic QB Devin Gardner this week. He was benched during the week – a pretty bold move by Hoke, all things considered – in favour of former five-star recruit Shane Morris. Unfortunately, Morris wasn’t much better than Gardner’s been in his recent starts. The quarterback play was, once more, plagued by turnovers and interceptions and generally bad execution. Turnovers really killed the Wolverines.

I won’t be at all surprised if Hoke is fired before next Saturday. The wheels have fallen off the program in Ann Arbor and it’s time for some new blood. It may also be that Athletic Director Dave Brandon, about as unpopular as Hoke right now, is also shown the door. Certainly, that’s what Michigan fans will want after their team’s latest flop.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks pretty much dominated every facet of their home game against Missouri – a Missouri team, you might remember, who were beaten at home by Indiana seven days ago – but managed to give up a 20-7 lead with less than seven minutes to play, turning victory into defeat, handing Missouri a hugely improbable 21-20 win.

Apparently the Gamecock defense thought it was all over with seven to go and appeared to sit back and let Missouri’s offense, dormant all night, roar back into the game and ultimately win it. Combine that with a few ill-timed unproductive possessions for the South Carolina in the closing minutes of the game and you’ve got yourself one very frustrated Steve Spurrier.

Tennessee’s Offensive Line: Up front, the Volunteers were – and you’ll pardon the bad pun here – offensive. It’s bad enough that they were blown past by Georgia defenders seemingly play after play, but they were supposed to be protecting a backup quarterback, who’d previously only started one game.

Poor old Nathan Peterman barely had a chance to get the football away. During his time in the contest, he was pummelled again and again by Bulldog linemen and linebackers coming free off the edges and right down the middle. ESPN’s Brian Griese called it “dangerous” and it just about was.

Penn State: Christian Hackenberg completed less than 50% of his passes and threw a 49-yard interception return in the Nittany Lions’ surprising 29-6 loss at home to Northwestern. That was only half the story, because Hackenberg played behind a shockingly inept offensive line. When he wasn’t sacked outright, he was hurried and pressured.

Not a good week up front for the Penn State heavies, but their next game is Michigan in two weeks, and you probably couldn’t catch the Wolverines at a better/worse time – depending on your point of view – than right about now. Still work to be done in Happy Valley.

Boston College: Two weeks ago, they were the toast of the nation after knocking off USC in rather memorable fashion, but this weekend it was the Eagles’ turn to be knocked off. They were beaten by Colorado State out of the Mountain West Conference 24-21, after BC led 21-14 in the fourth quarter. The nation’s best running game accounted for a paltry 239 yards and couldn’t close out the contest when it really needed to in the fourth. A step backwards for Boston College.

Vanderbilt: By a long way, the Commodores are the worst team in the SEC. And probably one of the worst in the entire nation. James Franklin’s incredible work to build Vandy up into at least something of a competitive force in the country’s toughest conference has been undone over the course of five weeks this year.

Vandy’s latest loss came at the hands of Kentucky, who snapped a 17-game SEC losing streak, ironically beating the Commodores 17-7. Vanderbilt’s only score came on an interception return in the second quarter. Their offense could only muster 139 yards of total offense and turned the football over three times via QB Wade Freebeck. Not sure where this program goes.

Oregon State’s Defense: Look, there was a pretty solid Hail Mary thrown in the Arizona/Cal game last week, and when USC’s QB Cody Kessler heaved the ball long on the final play of the first half at the LA Memorial Coliseum, you figured that the Beavers defense would cover, right?

Well, kinda wrong. I mean, there were enough guys around the football, but none seemed to think of either knocking the ball out of bounds or else trying to disrupt Trojan receiver Darreus Rodgers from catching it. Which he did, for a 48-yard miracle touchdown that put the Beavers down 21-10 and USC went on to record a commanding 35-10 lead. 

I don’t get how that sea of defenders couldn’t make the most obvious play there, especially after the weeks’ worth of press that the Pac-12’s earlier Hail Mary throw got.

Opinion: College Football 2014 - Week 5 Heroes

Another weekend of college football is in the books, so let’s go through who was great on the gridiron with my Week Five Heroes:

Gary Nova: The Rutgers quarterback officially became the most prolific in Scarlet Knights history – and, being the oldest football program in America, it’s some sort of record. His four touchdown effort in Rutgers’ 31-6 victory over Tulane was enough to see him pass current graduate assistant coach and former star QB Mike Teel. Nova has 61 touchdown passes in 38 games, which has him two ahead of Teel at the moment, with about three quarters of his senior season left to run.

Kenny Chesney: The Tennessean native, whose new album exploded onto the charts (this week made his third appearance – apparently a record – as the celebrity picker on ESPN College GameDay.. He was that solid in Columbia, SC on Saturday morning. Made smart picks, backed them up and looked less like a special guest and more like someone who could easily match wits and football minds with Corso, Desmond and Herbie. If the country superstardom thing falls through, Kenny’s got a career as a football analyst waiting. Unlikely that he’ll need it, though, because The Big Revival is a killer album.

Blake Frohnapfel: Chances are you’ve never heard of the UMass quarterback, and although his Minutemen didn’t win today, Frohnapfel deserves a tip of the cap for his efforts today, going 36-for-61 for 589 yards and five touchdowns. It wasn’t enough, as the Bowling Green Eagles outlasted the Massachusetts men 47-42 in a game that, as the above numbers would suggest, didn’t feature much great secondary play.

Todd Gurley: The star Georgia running back’s first two hundred yard game. He had eight more than the double century on the ground as the Dawgs beat Tennessee in Athens 38-35, largely thanks to what the definite Heisman Trophy candidate did. He carried the ball 28 times for his 208 yards (that’s an impressive 7.4 yards per carry) and scored two touchdowns, including a 51-yard scamper late in the fourth to basically win the game for Georgia. He also caught four balls for thirty yards out of the backfield. Another banner day for the best player on the Bulldogs roster.   

Kenny Hill: Speaking of Heisman candidates, the Texas A&M quarterback was dynamite on Saturday against Arkansas, throwing fourth quarter touchdown passes of 86 and 59 yards to tie the game, before hitting receiver Malcome Kennedy on a 25-yard route for the game-winning score in overtime. That sort of late-game heroics will only raise his stock. The Aggies won 38-25.

Brett Hundley: Out west, there’s another guy edging his way into the Heisman talk, and that’s the UCLA quarterback, Brett Hundley, who led the Bruins in a 62-27 demolition of Arizona State on Thursday night, completing 18 of 23 passes for 355 yards and four scores in the rout. It was an impressive game for both Hundley and his team.

Northwestern: Underdogs going into Happy Valley against undefeated Penn State and their star QB Christian Hackenberg, and Pat Fitzgerald’s Wildcat squad came out with an impressive victory that I – and, probably, many others – didn’t see coming. QB Trevor Siemian ran for three touchdowns and passed for 258 yards whilst an improved Northwestern defense held Hackenberg to just 216 yards, no touchdowns, one interception and a completion rate of less than 50%. Something Fitzgerald’s squad can build on after a bad start to their season.

Minnesota: Another underdog, going into the Big House to play Michigan and the Golden Gophers owned them, earning The Little Brown Jug thanks to an emphatic 30-14 victory over the besieged Wolverines. It was a scoreboard that flattered Michigan because Jerry Kill’s team won every statistical category and were deserved winners in a very important trophy game. Jerry Kill’s resurrection of the floundering Minnesota program should not go unnoticed.

Deshaun Watson: The highly-touted freshman quarterback – a five-star recruit coming out of high school – finally took the reins of the Clemson offense and, you know, only opened his Tigers career by setting a school record for touchdowns. He had six of them in a 50-35 win over North Carolina, and passed, almost as an afterthought, for 435 yards whilst completing 75% of his passes (27 of 36) for a debut that none who wear the orange of Clemson will likely soon forget. An eye-popping display.

North Carolina State: Didn’t win, but they weren’t blown out by Florida State as most people, including the ESPN College GameDay crew, expected would happen. They hung as tough as they could on defense, and showed that their offense wasn’t too bad, either, in scoring 41 points in what was supposed to be a pretty solid Florida State defensive unit. The Wolf Pack had a lead of 17 but couldn’t hold on to cause yet another upset of FSU in Raleigh. It would’ve been the third on the trot at NC State’s home stadium.

Album Review: The Big Revival - Kenny Chesney

Artist: Kenny Chesney
Release Date: September 2014
Label: Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville
Producer: Buddy Cannon & Kenny Chesney

Kitch's Rating: 10/10

Last year, Kenny Chesney made a decision. More often than not, the superstar of country music tours during the middle of summer, playing to millions of fans in NFL stadiums across America, but he decided to not tour in 2014 (aside from one show to farewell George Strait in Dallas) in favour of spending a longer time in the studio, creating a better album.

That’s not to say that his 2013 release Life on a Rock is a bad album, because it isn’t. It reached #1 on both the US Country Album charts and the all-genre Billboard 200 and spawned two Top-25 singles. I suppose that could be considered a failure compared to 2012’s Welcome to the Fishbowl and all of his albums in the ultra-successful decade between 2002 and 2012, which delivered multiple number one singles.

So Chesney decided to spend more time looking at his studio work rather than touring, and it’s paid off handsomely for the Tennessean native. The Big Revival is at once something completely new for Chesney and also reminiscent of his most successful albums – he had six in the 2000’s, all of which went #1. 

Teamed with long-time producer, Buddy Cannon, Chesney, who co-produces his seventeenth studio album, has called upon some of the very best songwriters Nashville has to offer – Rodney Clawson, Luke Laird, Shane McAnally and David Lee Murphy amongst them – and the end result is an astoundingly exciting eleven-track album in which every song seems better than the one before.

The Big Revival ticks all the boxes. It’s got all the makings of a monster hit for Chesney, and I’m struggling to find fault with it. The mark of a good album, for mine, is going through without skipping a track, and I didn’t skip one here. I loved every cut on The Big Revival, from the anthemic foot-stomping, drum-heavy title track, to the stuck-in-your-head catchy chart-topping lead single ‘American Kids’ or the surprisingly effective duet with Vermont rocker Grace Potter on ‘Wild Child’ – not the combination you’d expect, right? – through to the raucous celebration of that so-called Redneck Riviera on ‘Flora-Bama’. 

Casting aside his the island-type music that was front and centre on Life on a Rock, The Big Revival is country-rock at it’s finest. There’s no real sign of the ‘bro country’ pioneered by Florida Georgia Line and others, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some great celebrations of drinking, Saturday nights and long weekends. They were Chesney’s domain well before Florida Georgia Line and others came along.

The positivity and energy of every track is fantastic. The album, which seems set to spawn a bunch of very successful singles, grips you right from the outset, holds you and doesn’t let go until the final note on the final track has faded to nothingness. Where Chesney’s recent work has been more laid back and relaxed, this is urgent, drum- and guitar-driven music, and it’s great. His signature voice is as good as ever.

I don’t often give albums a perfect score, but The Big Revival thoroughly deserves it.

Chicago PD: Season 1 - Episode Nine - "A Material Witness"

"A Material Witness"
Written By: Michael Batistick
Directed By: Sanford Bookstaver

The Plot: Olinsky’s daughter, Lexi, witnesses a gang shooting, and Voight is worried that Lexi will become a target if forced to testify, so he plucks the case out of the hands of the Gang Unit – not a popular move – and lets Intelligence run with it.

They discover a suspect, a gangbanger named Calaca who is a part of the Latin Priests. The squad tries to bring him in, but four members of the Latin Priests are executed by a rival gang, there is a war brewing on the streets. A tip leads Voight’s team to T-Mac, who is detained by Lindsay, and is convinced by Voight to stop the retaliatory murders while Lindsay and Antonio, following the tip further, find a torture room and, disturbingly, a solitary finger that is later determined to be Calaca’s

Cellphones are being stolen across the city and handed over to the Latin Priests, so Ruzek, without asking Voight, decides to use Officer Burgess undercover as a tourist, who aims to have her phone (with a tracking device planted within) stolen at Millennium Park. It appears to be a dead end – just kids stealing phones – until Ruzek’s is stolen downtown, leading them back to the same address. 

It’s a racket. The elderly woman who owns the house uses the money she gets from her kids stealing the phones on behalf of the Latin Priests to keep them off the streets. She gives the unit information on where Calaca might be.

That’s at his on headquarters, where Voight’s team go. Calaca is captured and despite Voight’s interrogation, won’t break. So Lexi, against her father’s wishes, decides to identify Calaca via a line-up, which is the evidence they need to lock Calaca away. The hope is that Lexi won’t have to stand up in court and do the same.

The closing scene is of Voight receiving a call from Stillwell: Lonnie Rodiger’s dead body has been found, and Stillwell is upset, thinking that Halstead is to blame.

My Thoughts: Another great episode where Elias Koteas gets to shine as Olinsky’s daughter gets mixed up in a gang shooting. Olinsky shifts perfectly from the grizzled, unflappable cop to a worried father, and Koteas does both brilliantly. It’s always good to see the other side of these characters. At times, Olinsky seems cast as Voight’s rough offsider, but we see him in a different light here. He knows the dangers of someone testifying publically in a gang-related case, and obviously doesn’t want his daughter to face them.

Ruzek and Burgess. Definitely gonna be a couple before too long. They’re making eyes at each other already. A certainty, for mine.

I wrote about the previous episode that Halstead’s situation with the Rodiger family would come to a head sooner rather than later. It’s sooner, as Stilwell and Voight find Lonnie’s body in the snow, and it seems like Halstead is going to feel the squeeze in the next episode.

College Football 2014: Week Five Australian Foxtel / ESPN TV Guide

We're another week closer to the first rankings produced by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee and right into the groove of the season now, with conference play starting to relieve us - thank God - of the lopsided games that mostly mark the early season. This week, we've got conference games form the Big 12, Mountain West, Big Ten, SEC and ACC, and there's some pretty decent games amongst them.

GameDay travels to Columbia, South Carolina for the showcase SEC game of the week, between the reeling Missouri Tigers and Steve Spurrier's Gamecocks. Both have been surprising over the last few weeks, for different reasons. Should be another great GameDay atmosphere!

All times AEST

Friday September 26
 
Texas Tech vs. No. 24 Oklahoma State (9.30am; ESPN2/ESPN2-HD)
 
Saturday September 27

College Football Countdown (9.30am; ESPN2/ESPN2-HD)
Fresno State vs. New Mexico (10.00am; ESPN2/ESPN2-HD)
College GameDay - Columbia, South Carolina (11.00pm; ESPN/ESPN-HD)

Sunday September 28

College GameDay - Columbia, South Carolina (12.00am; ESPN/ESPN-HD)
Tennessee vs No. 12 Georgia (2.00am; ESPN/ESPN-HD)
Wyoming vs No. 9 Michigan State (2.00am; ESPN2/ESPN2-HD)
No. 1 Florida State vs. North Carolina State (5.30am; ESPN/ESPN-HD)
Missouri vs. No. 13 South Carolina (9.00am; ESPN2/ESPN2-HD)
No. 8 Notre Dame vs. Syracuse (10.00am; ESPN/ESPN-HD)
Oregon State vs. No. 18 USC (12.30pm; ESPN2/ESPN2-HD)
College Football Final (3.30pm; ESPN2/ESPN2-HD)

Chicago PD: Season 1 - Episode Eight - "Different Mistakes"

"Different Mistakes"
Written By: Bryan Garcia
Directed By: Fred Berner

The Plot: There’s a bloody massacre at a Triad gambling den, which is quickly assumed to be a professional hit job. After bragging to some of his academy classmates in Olinsky’s earshot, Ruzek is busted back to patrolman, working with Burgess for the day, whilst Atwater gets to work with Intelligence.

Halstead is sent into another Triad gambling den and is accosted by someone who appears to be an undercover cop – at least, he has a badge and a weapon – and it is soon revealed that Voight’s old partner, Jimmy Shi, is involved. Shi is a Vice squad cop in Chinatown, and as much as Voight doesn’t want to believe it, the rest of Intelligence believe that Shi is dirty, and committing these robbery/shootings for the money they’re lifting from each scene.

Except that whilst Shi and his squad is being questioned, another gambling den is hit. There’s a copycat squad out there, trying to frame Shi’s team for the robberies, when the cops are trying to catch those responsible. The bad guys seem to have cracked the squad’s two-way radios. A sting operation is put into place, and following what’s now apparently a mandatory – but still very cool – car chase and shootout, the perps are apprehended.

Halstead is then free to pester Jin about tracing Ronnie Rodiger’s credit card, and when Jin reveals that Ronnie has bought some questionable things – including toys – Halstead is certain that the man he suspects is a paedophile and a murder is going to commit another one.

Ruzek and Burgess get into the middle of a burglary, and Ruzek is nearly stabbed. A new cop, Detective Sumner, joins the squad – at the same time as Gradishar’s replacement, a slimy-looking guy called Edwin Stillwell, looks Voight up. Lindsay tries to get drug-addicted Nadia clean, but there’s a setback when Nadia falls back into her old habits.

The closing scene is of Voight meeting Maurice Owens, and just as Maurice hands over a wad of cash – a sizeable wad, for all that – there is a rush of police cars and a team led by Stillwell swoops in, and arrests both men. The look on Stillwell’s face suggests there’s trouble ahead.

My Thoughts: Right off the top, Stillwell is bad news. Gradishar was obviously annoying for Voight but she appeared to be doing her work with IA for the right reasons, but I get the feeling that Stillwell is a different sort of animal altogether, and might not be against fabricating evidence or using some shady connections to out Voight. You can tell it’s going to be a battle of wills between those two.

The new cop, Sumner, arrives too conveniently around the time that Stillwell arrives, and whether that’s meant to make us think that she’s going to be an IA mole or not, I don’t know, but the simple fact that she’s been foisted upon Voight, as opposed to the rest of the squad, who he personally selected, should make things interesting.

I get the feeling that two personal situations – Halstead and the Rodiger family and Lindsay’s quest to get Nadia clean are both gonna come to a head pretty soon.

Ruzek spends his day on patrol, which is interesting, and he seems to have some sort of chemistry going with Burgess. He’s obviously getting married, but the relationship with his fiancée hasn’t been explored much, so maybe she’s on her way out?

As for Voight being arrested...well, that's a pretty good cliffhanger! Who knows what it means?