Did ‘Chicago P.D.’ Just Reveal How Upton Will Exit Show?

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago P.D. Season 11 Episode 8 “On Paper.”]

As we get closer and closer to the end of Chicago P.D. Season 11, we can’t help but try to track clues as to just how Detective Hailey Upton will be written out with Tracy Spiridakos‘ exit coming. The latest episode seemed to have done just that, focusing more than it has since the premiere on what Upton’s going through.

At the beginning of the episode, Upton offered to stay with Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) and go through what they have on their ongoing serial killer case, but after turning that down, he asked if she was all good. “Yeah,” she said. “Really?” he asked. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine. I’m figuring it out.” (It was to Voight that Upton shared that she was struggling in the premiere.)

Then, when Upton had problems sleeping, she went running, and that came up in a conversation she had with the SVU detective who has been working with Intelligence, Josephine Petrovic (Bojana Novakovic), to close the episode. As Petrovic noted, Upton’s desk sergeant told her that the detective has been coming to that path “nonstop.” She then thanked Upton for helping her cover her drinking; she’d been cleared (after having to shoot an offender on the job) and was going back behind a desk.

James Washington/NBC

“That’s not a solution,” Upton pointed out. “I don’t know you, I don’t know your life. … But from what I’m seen, this doesn’t end well—for you or for the other people in your life.” However, Petrovic argued, “Couple of drinks to take the edge off, punishing runs to trick your body into resting, it’s all the same.” Upton did go for her run but the episode ended with her stopping and standing still. Is she realizing that Petrovic is right and she has to make a change?

If that’s the case and she’s thinking about how it could end if she continues on the path she’s on for herself and those around her (especially since Voight did just check on her and she now knows Platt knows she’s running “nonstop,” both reminders that others are noticing), could she decide that she has to leave Intelligence and the CPD?

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A darker possibility is that Upton doesn’t choose to leave and it “doesn’t end well” for her or the people in her life, meaning an on-the-job injury or even death. We’re going to hope that Beghe was right when he told us, “I assume that she’s going to leave on good terms. I don’t think she’s going to die or anything like that. I hope not. I certainly have hope that she’ll be back.” But that doesn’t rule out a mistake made on the job that either forces Upton to choose to leave the CPD or leads to her being fired.

How do you think Chicago P.D. will write out Upton? Let us know in the comments section, below.

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