‘Chicago P.D.’: Marina Squerciati on Major Burzek Moment — Why It’ll Work Out This Time
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago P.D. Season 11 Episode 3 “Safe Harbor.”]
Marina Squerciati shines in this Kim Burgess-centric Chicago P.D., which ends on a moment that fans have been waiting for—and this time, it’s for good, the star says.
Burgess takes the lead in an investigation into a shooting at a migrant camp at a precinct in another district, and she’s the one to uncover that an officer was behind it—to cover up a rape—and bring him in. She’s also willing to blur the lines when she uses her money to buy a witness fake immigration papers (the woman was taken away by ICE before she could hand them over). At the end of the episode, Burgess joins Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) in their bedroom and notes that women like the ones connected to the case are just fighting for what they have now (a family, a home). “Promise me we’ll keep fighting for this,” she asks him. “Because I need us, Adam. I need this family.”
He will, he promises, adding, “I’ll keep fighting for it for the rest of my life.” And yes, that tees up exactly what it sounds like it is. (“I was going to do a whole thing, but this seems better,” he says.) “Let’s get married. Let’s make it forever,” Ruzek proposes. “Third time’s the charm, huh?” Burgess remarks, holding out her hand for him to put on the ring. And with that, Burzek is once again engaged!
“I think this is it,” Squerciati tells TV Insider. “I think again is unfair. I think we’re a go.” (To say their relationship has been complicated is an understatement; it was before their first failed attempt at getting married.)
Lori Allen/NBC
So what makes it different this time? Executive producer Gwen Sigan told us that now they’ll get through tough times together rather than pull away from each other.
“When we first met Ruzek, he was a hothead. He was a playboy. Although it was funny for a couple of years, Patty was upset that the world felt like he was the playboy because he was like, you’re the one who called it off, not me,” shares Squerciati. “But I think that they’ve both been through so much, and yet they keep coming back to each other. They’re each other’s person. They can’t help it, and they get along so well. Just like Marina and Patty get along so well.”
When it came to filming the proposal, “I felt really calm. I felt oddly like this is where they need to be. I think Patty was a little more nervous because he had to do the asking,” Squerciati recalls with a laugh. “But it just felt like these characters have been through everything. Any pomp and circumstance would feel sort of crazy. Yeah, of course, they’re going to get engaged in their bedroom, in their pajamas, after a long, hard day. That makes sense to me.”
She adds, “Even when Patty and I were talking about the scene, he’s like, should I get down on one knee? And we were both like, no, no, that’s not this. We’re not there. We’re just talking. We don’t need anything else. We just need to tell each other how we feel and be together forever.”
The proposal comes after the episode starts off with a look at a normal morning for Burgess and Ruzek, getting ready for the day and making sure their daughter Makayla (Ramona Edith Williams) has everything, something they realize they had down.
“I really liked that scene. That was really fun because we got to do this dance. Takashi Doscher, the director, was generous enough to sort of let us move, and he filmed how we moved, and yeah, we had to establish it, but he didn’t want us to be set, and it would be like, the camera needs to know exactly where you are,” Squerciati reveals. “He wanted it messy and dirty and moving and flowing. You don’t often get the back of somebody on TV, and you get the back of our heads. It was a dance. We were not quite Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers but the CPD version.”
What will the “Burzek” wedding look like? “I mean, the tone of CPD is to have no one there,” the star says, referring to Detectives Hailey Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) and Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer), “but Kim Burgess’s tone is to have everyone there, a lot of flowers, and probably a princess dress.”
Lori Allen/NBC
In addition to the maturity we’re seeing in Burgess and Ruzek’s relationship, we’re also seeing that on the job for her, especially in this episode. And when it comes to being “a little Voight-ified,” like Intelligence’s sergeant (Jason Beghe), with things like those fake immigration papers, “she doesn’t seem scared by it,” according to Squerciati. “I remember there was one scene a couple of seasons ago where Voight did something that showed a side of him that she doesn’t really see, and I think Burgess was taken aback. And now that I’m there, I think I just kind of accept it. Gwen talked to me about stepping into my power this season, and I think that’s what’s happening.”
That’s also because she dealt with her past trauma and PTS last season, the star agrees. “She’s been through it, and she knows what she wants.”
And what Squerciati wants? A promotion for Burgess. “Listen, I thought I was going to get a detective badge like Season 2. So you’re preaching to the choir over here. Yes. It’s absolutely time. She deserves it. I don’t know why she doesn’t have it. Maybe I have to bribe someone,” she laughs.
Chicago P.D., Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC
