‘Chicago P.D.’: Why All Hope Isn’t Lost for Burgess & Ruzek After ‘Adrift’

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago P.D. Season 9, Episode 17 “Adrift.”]

Chicago P.D. ends the April 6 episode on a (very) painful note for Burzek. Officer Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) and Officer Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) do finally get on the same page, but in doing so, it leaves their future completely up in the air.

At the start of “Adrift,” Makayla’s (Ramona Edith Williams) already asleep when Ruzek comes home, expecting a family dinner. She’s on a new schedule, Burgess reminds him, with an earlier bedtime to help with her sleep following her abduction. He claims she didn’t tell him and points out she could’ve texted him, but she’s not in the mood to get into it. “We have to communicate with each other,” he says. The therapist told them they have to talk about what happened when Makayla was taken. But Burgess is tired, and Ruzek chooses to go out for the evening.

He then ends up catching a case, when a former teacher turns to him for help with his daughter, who’s using drugs. Ruzek goes undercover to take down a dealer, and since it could take a while, he’s set up in a UC apartment. It’s while he’s there one night that Burgess and Ruzek communicate probably the best they have (and that’s not saying much), via text. After briefly discussing the case, he asks about Makayla. She’s “asleep,” Burgess replies. “Misses your sorry-ass scrambled eggs.” He promises to make it up to her.

But will he get the chance? To prove he’s not a cop and stop the dealer from shooting his teacher’s daughter, Adam is forced to use, as he reveals over the comms to the rest of the unit. “Hope you’re close,” he says, given that not even regular users can handle what he took well. “I know this is being recorded. Tell Makayla that I love her and she’s lucky to have you as a mom.” Burgess is the one to get to him, just in time.

Lori Allen/NBC

However, when he gets home from the hospital, the two have the talk they’ve been putting off. “I’m sorry,” he begins. “I know that things have been hard.” What they can agree on is that they’re “not us right now” and they want to fix that. “I’m lying there dying and I’m thinking to myself, my god, this is how I’m gonna go out, everything broken. No, never again. I want to fix it. I want our family back to the way it was,” Ruzek says. “I know I disappointed you when she was taken. Maybe we start with just a schedule that works better for us, keep talking, you know.”

There’s only one problem. “It’s been working,” Burgess admits. “Makayla seemed better with me. I don’t know what to do here, Adam. I don’t know how to fix it.” He knows they have to do what’s best for Makayla, and that means he moves out, into the UC apartment.

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Is this as hopeless as it gets for Burzek? Maybe not. In fact, maybe this is just what they need to eventually get back together. “They’ve both grown. Burgess was waiting for a long time for Ruzek to stop being a hothead. He is still that person, but it’s not as crazy,” Squerciati said during a recent One Chicago press junket.

“I think they’ve both adapted to each other, but I think there’s still more — it’s like they want to be together, and their puzzle doesn’t fit perfectly,” she continued. “They need to adapt a little more and maybe even go away from each other a little bit to dull the edges or sharpen corners in order to fit together. But I do ultimately think that they belong together, just not quite yet.”

It sounds like that might be what’s happening here.

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