‘Chicago P.D.’: Marina Squerciati on What You May Miss About Burzek’s Family Dynamic

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago P.D. Season 9, Episode 2 “Rage.”]

After getting shot, Officer Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) is home recovering, but gets drawn into a case in the September 29 episode of Chicago P.D.

Upon hearing that Burgess might be thinking about taking a desk job — her ex, Officer Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger), began looking into it without talking to her — Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) brings her in to talk to a victim. Burgess ends up going undercover to take down a parole officer assaulting his parolees.

Squerciati talks to TV Insider about what’s next for Burgess, Burzek’s relationship status, and more.

When Burgess follows Gary, even as Ruzek tells her not to, is it as much to prove to herself she can do the job as it is to get him?

Marina Squerciati: Every single step she takes, especially in the beginning after the hospital when she goes to that first house by herself, that’s to prove to herself that she can do the job. But I think it’s more that she really wants Sarah to feel safe in a way that she doesn’t feel like she is because Roy still hasn’t been apprehended. That’s the main thrust for her. I don’t think she’s proving to herself she can do it. It’s more, “I need this girl to feel safe because I’m not going to get that.”

Where’s Burgess’ head when it comes to returning to work?

When she turns to Ruzek after shooting Gary and he says, “Are you OK?” And she says, “Yeah, I’m OK,”  I think she means that in a deeper way. “Not everything is healed. I am going to be OK. I see light at the end of the tunnel.”

Lori Allen/NBC

How will her recovery continue to play out onscreen?

What is wonderful about the show is that everybody gets a chance to shine. After this, we go into a little bit more of Halstead [Jesse Lee Soffer] and Upton’s [Tracy Spiridakos] story, which has really been so cool that they’re engaged now. Then after that, we really go into LaRoyce [Hawkins’ Atwater]. He starts to take more of a hand in rebuilding some of the dilapidated places in Chicago and being more invested in the Black community, so that’s a really cool thing. The reverberations of Burgess’ PTSD haven’t come up yet, but I think they will in regards to Hailey and her guilt about killing Roy and me not knowing. But that’s me guessing because the writers aren’t exactly calling me to tell me what’s happening.

What are we seeing from Burgess and Upton’s relationship this season, considering that secret that’s weighing on Upton?

That secret takes a backseat for a couple of episodes. I’m guessing around 908 or 909, we’re going to see that. I hope [there’s] some sort of interaction between her and Burgess because unfortunately, she’s the key to Burgess having that thing that Burgess is able to give Sarah, that peace, “you’re safe now.” Burgess doesn’t feel like she’s safe and that’s really hard as a person and also as a mother.

Lori Allen/NBC

Let’s talk about the always complicated Burgess-Ruzek relationship. We see he’s helping out with Makayla, he’s trying to help Burgess even if he’s not going about it in the best way, like with looking into that desk job. What will we see from them in coming episodes?

It’s so funny. There’s a joke on set because I don’t know if you can tell, but there’s a bed made up on my couch, which you can sometimes see and sometimes not, but Ruzek is sleeping on my couch, which is not necessarily in the dialogue. It’s this really amazing, weird, complicated relationship that I love because they’re so screwed up, but they’re not going to break up, they’re together, you know what I mean? They’re just in it. They’re the weirdest family dynamic and it’s awesome. And it’s complicated just like real life. I love that we’re showing that on the TV show.

So their relationship status would be…

They’re definitely not in a relationship — he’s sleeping on the couch — but they’re a family, which is weird … It’s like when Gwyneth Paltrow released that statement that her and Chris Martin were consciously uncoupling. I feel like we should release a statement to the fans being like, “We are consciously uncoupling, but we’re kind of a couple that were uncoupled, but we don’t know.” …  I think they’re just sort of living in the weirdness of it in the fact that they’re both committed to Makayla. They haven’t figured their own thing out.

Lori Allen/NBC

What about Burgess and Voight moving forward? He, too, is keeping a secret from her and he was the one to push her to work this case with them to see if she’d feel like she can do the job again.

I feel like Voight’s very tender towards Burgess, very fatherly. I think he pushed her because he knows that she can do it and ultimately diving back in is the best medicine. But he’s smart. I don’t think he’ll let that Roy secret out. He’s a survivor, so I think it’s up to Upton.

What else is coming up for Burgess?

There’s going to be a test with Makayla and the adoption in the future. I don’t really know that much about it, but I can tease that. There may be some complications with the adoption.

Are we going to see any Burgess-Platt scenes coming up? Because Ruzek went to Platt about Burgess, but we didn’t see them together in this episode.

Listen, Amy Morton is the shining star of this whole series. I think everybody wants some scenes with Platt. So I hope that everyone gets them because she just makes every scene better.

Related

'Chicago P.D.': Jason Beghe & Tracy Spiridakos Talk Upton & Voight's Secret and Upstead

What are you hoping to explore with Burgess’ PTSD?

I’ve sort of been living in it so much. I haven’t been thinking ahead about it. But we’ve seen her hesitate a couple of times, so I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s really about what you can bring home when you’re a mom and what you leave at the door and how you manage to balance that.

Chicago P.D., Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC