Chicago P.D. Season 12 Episode 5 Review: Water and Honey

The revolving door of women trying to fill Upton’s place has finally chosen its favorite on Chicago P.D. Season 12 Episode 5, “Water and Honey.” Officer Cook is indeed here to stay if she decides to take Torres’s offer and join the unit.

After she partnered with Ruzek on Chicago P.D. Season 12 Episode 2, “Blood Bleeds Blue,” we knew she would be a great addition to the team. Her work with Adam was great, but it doesn’t compare to the partnership she forms with Torres this episode.

Torres, the man of very few words, actually shares a bit of his past with Cook and finds himself interested in what happened between her and Montgomery. He finds it easy to trust her, which makes it easy for the rest of the unit to continue working with her.

Different moments throughout the episode make us wonder if Cook will eventually join the Intelligence Unit. Even though the offer is on the table by the end of “Water and Honey,” it is interesting to see how she has slowly started to create a spot for herself in a unit that only allows newbies if Voight says so.

When Torres trusts Cook’s gut without hesitation, we realize they will work together quite well. Ultimately, Torres does for Cook what Halstead once did for him. The difference is that Torres doesn’t doubt Cook at any point in time, while Halstead questioned his intentions.

It also helps that Cook is partnered with someone other than Adam this time. If the show had chosen to partner her with Ruzek again, we would not have seen a different side of her. Even though they worked well together, the connection with Torres helps her personality shine through.

Torres isn’t the only one to welcome Cook into the unit, no questions asked. We expect this from Adam after she helped him catch the killer, but are surprised by how easily she slips into this team.

Burgess immediately offers the comradery that two women in a male-dominated unit should have. Her locker is open, and there’s an extra set of clothes if Cook needs them. There is a silent understanding of having each other’s back even though they don’t know one another.

The reaction that surprises us the most on Chicago P.D. Season 12 Episode 5, “Water and Honey.” is Voight’s. So far this season, he has chosen to work every case close to the team, even when it meant taking cases away from other units.

Of course, the fact that Cook helped Adam helps her case. Nevertheless, seeing him trust her as quickly as he did is surprising. However, it all boils down to the fact that she is honest about returning to the scene because of a gut feeling.

The fact that she stands by her gut feeling and doesn’t back down when her partner shuts her down makes her an incredible fit for Voight’s team, and he knows it. That is why he assigns her the case and doesn’t take her away from a victim she discovered.

If Cook had listened to her partner, walked away when Montgomery showed up, or not gone with Torres to talk to the victim’s family, she wouldn’t have earned Voight’s respect as fast as she did. That is probably why he approves her addition to the team.

Nobody joins the Intelligence Unit without Voight’s saying so. Now that she has the approval, she has the potential to become one of the most interesting characters we’ve seen join the show in a while.

The approval is such that he allows her to walk into his interrogation room and interrogate Jess, which eventually leads to capturing Lucy’s killer.

One thing that stands out from this episode is that Cook doesn’t get back into her uniform after she joins the team to work the case. Just like them, she is in plain clothes, simultaneously making her one of them.

But it also stands out that Torres isn’t wearing his unofficial white T-shirt and jeans uniform. The jeans stay, but he wears a darker shirt, which is a way of taking him out of his usual spot in the unit.

By being out of his personally designated uniform, he becomes equal to Cook. They are working on the same case as part of the same unit. There is an understanding that he isn’t above her just because he joined the Intelligence Unit before she did.

On the contrary, Torres treats Cook as an equal, which she clearly hasn’t experienced before. This becomes obvious when she is surprised by him offering her a spot in the unit.

Torres is the kind of person who will trust your actions above anything else, and Cook proves herself to be worthy of that trust.

Chicago P.D. Season 12 Episode 5, “Water and Honey,” being the episode when Cook officially becomes part of the team, is the best way to make fans like her character from the beginning. If helping Adam wasn’t enough for fans to like her, how she dedicates herself to this case sure is.

Over the years, the Intelligence Unit has proven that they put the victims above anything else, and Cook shows that she works in the same manner. She doesn’t care about the girls’ pasts; she wants to make sure they are safe.

It will be great to have a new face on the team. Hopefully, there will be plenty of Cook so that we can get to know her character better.

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Chicago P.D airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

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