'Chicago P.D.' Season 12 Episode 19 "Name Image Likeness" Review

Chicago P.D. Season 12 Episode 19 opens with Kiana Cook waiting in the car for Torres. They have a quick conversation before a call about a robbery in progress comes in. Torres tells Kiana to take the lead while he stays back to watch her six. When they pull up to the jewelry store, Kiana cautiously enters while Torres covers the outside. Inside, she finds two victims down with no signs of life and immediately calls it in. As she’s clearing the building, a man bolts from the back. Kiana chases him down and tackles him outside. He gives his name as Lewis and frantically insists he didn’t do anything wrong, saying the door was open and there were already three masked men inside smashing jewelry cases.

Torres helps her secure Lewis, and Atwater and Burgess arrive to assist. Atwater quickly notes it’s a classic smash-and-grab,  messy, rushed, not professional at all. Back at the district, Voight pulls the team together. Cook pulls nearby surveillance footage showing Lewis lingering outside before entering the store, which matches his story and clears him. Early on, Lewis had described seeing three masked men, each around 6’3”, which sticks with the team as they start digging deeper.

They trace the gray sedan used in the robbery and discover it’s registered to Ruby, a stripper with a criminal record. Ruzek and Cook bring Ruby in for questioning. She plays tough, demanding $20,000 to cooperate, but Voight stays calm. Under pressure, Ruby admits that she loaned her car to Lamone Russell, a rising college basketball star. She doesn’t give much else, clearly trying to protect someone. 

They want to question Lamone. Cook and Ruzek head to his college to bring him in. Lamone acts arrogant and dismissive, throwing around his status like a shield. He reluctantly comes back to the district, but when they arrive, Lamone’s lawyer is already there. The lawyer threatens Voight, mentioning political pressure from the mayor’s office. Without a murder weapon yet and no bulletproof charge, Voight has no choice but to let Lamone walk for the time being.

Kiana pushes to flip Ruby into a confidential informant. Ruby agrees, wires up, and meets Lamone at a strip club where she works. At first, she plays it cool, but when Lamone gets cautious, Ruby pushes harder. Ruby goes against Cook’s instructions and leaves the club with Lamone. Ruzek and Cook are on pursuit, but loses them. They finally find them at a hotel. That’s when Ruby finally reveals it wasn’t Lamone who planned the robbery, it was Jamal Cole, the team’s equipment manager. Ruby says Lamone told her Jamal set it all up and gave the stolen jewelry to his girlfriend. 

Ruzek and Cook bring Jamal Cole in for questioning. Jamal is cocky and mouthy, thinking he’s going to walk out untouched. Meanwhile, while interrogating Jamal they let him know that the jewelry was found at his girlfriends and he is caught, tying Jamal directly to the robbery. His confidence fades fast once the evidence is in front of him, and he ask for a lawyer. 

While all this is happening, the team traces the movements of Ruby’s sedan. She finds surveillance footage showing Ruby and Lamone stopping at the Chicago River before heading to a motel. Cameras catch them dumping something into the water. When Intelligence recovers the dumped items, they find bloody clothes and one of the creepy robbery masks, giving them even more solid evidence.

Ruby tries to explain away her mistakes, blaming technical problems for the wire issues and claiming it wasn’t her fault. She’s emotional, torn between protecting Lamone and saving herself. She’s clearly in over her head. Meanwhile, Intelligence ties everything together: Lewis’s early description of three masked men around 6 '3”, Ruby’s confession about Jamal, and the physical evidence from the river.

With the case finally locked down, Voight sends the team out. They head to Ruby’s job where they find her and Lamone together. Intelligence moves fast. Atwatter and Ruzek handle Lamone, while Cook arrest Ruby. Even in cuffs, Lamone is smug, sneering at Cook that he’s going to have her badge for this. Cook stays steady, walking Ruby out without blinking.

By the end, Lamone Russell, Ruby, and Jamal Cole are all in custody. The smash-and-grab, the deaths, and the attempted cover-up are all tied up. Throughout the entire investigation, Kiana’s personal story runs quietly in the background. Her mother calls her again and again, but Kiana ignores the calls, burying herself in the case. Only after everything is over does she finally sit alone in her car. Kiana list her mothers message. This time she listens to the full message and decides to call her back. 

“Hello, Mom,” she says quietly.

The episode closes not with a big bust or political fireworks but with something smaller and harder, a private decision to let someone back in.

What did you think?

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