How ‘Chicago P.D.’ Said Goodbye to Atwater in LaRoyce Hawkins’ Last Episode

Chicago P.D. and Intelligence officially say goodbye to Office Kevin Atwater in the Wednesday, October 14, episode, which marks LaRoyce Hawkins‘ final appearance (hopefully just for now!). But how is he written out? Well, it’s all about fathers and sons. Warning: Spoilers for Chicago P.D. Season 14 Episode 2 ahead!

The episode begins with a heartwarming glimpse at Atwater and Tasha’s (Karen Obilom) life together with their baby son, Malcolm, first in the hospital, then at home, until he returns to work. As she reminds him when he heads in, he wants to talk to Voight (Jason Beghe) — about, as it turns out, a promotion because he wants to provide for his family. But short of a regime change, due to the blue wall and what happened years ago, it’s not going to happen. Voight’s still going to try.

Atwater does struggle with being back at work, admitting to Tasha on the phone that he misses her, while Intelligence, with FBI agent Charlie (Kyle Selig) keeping an eye on them and going through their files, works a series of gaming machine burglaries. A bar manager is killed, and Atwater interrupts another robbery in progress and is surprised when an offender seemingly returns to help a pinned victim before fleeing.

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Then Tasha calls Atwater at work. “You’re where?” he asks. Uh-oh?! As he learns when he rushes to the hospital, their son has an ear infection. But he feels like he should’ve been there. As Burgess (Marina Squerciati) advises Atwater, it gets easier, the feeling of wanting to be here and there all the time, or it lessens, or you get better at dealing with it.

That’s when things take a turn, with Atwater shot while chasing a suspect. “Officer down!” Burgess immediately radios it in, begging him, “Kevin, please, please, please.” Fortunately, the vest takes it. “You’re going home tonight,” Burgess assures Atwater when he gasps awake, thinking of his son. But he can’t just forget what could have happened, and he makes sure that the suspect they did catch, Peter, knows that. He’s angry, and he’s going to make sure that he gets the maximum penalty — but he needs to give up his partner. Peter refuses to talk, until Atwater uses what’s at the heart of this for him: his son. Peter wants to help his son, who stole from a dealer. He gives up his partner, Steve, whom they arrest.

But just as Atwater’s heading out to catch Malcolm before a nap, with Ruzek’s (Patrick John Flueger) encouragement, a call comes over the radio: The cops who went to Peter’s son’s house to pick him up found the place empty — and there’s blood. He was taken, and by the time they find him, it’s too late; he was shot dead. Atwater tells his father that they got who was responsible. Peter blames himself. “I should’ve done better by him,” he says. He was told, “Don’t blink. Kid grow up when you’re not looking.”

Off that, Atwater goes to see Voight, who says Sergeant Nolan is retiring at the end of the month, and he’ll be able to be promoted then. But he notices that Atwater’s not as relieved as he thought he’d be. “I am,” Atwater says, but “maybe a promotion wasn’t really what I was after.” He wants to be good police and give back, but he also wants to be home with his son. Voight gets it: The early years with his son were the best years of his life. Atwater says he wants something new, maybe teach at the academy. Voight says he’d be good at it. In fact, he got a call last week looking for seasoned officers, almost gave them his number, but he doesn’t want to lose him — and the call came from Atlanta. It’s good pay, and he’d be able to take cases when he wants, be home when he wants. “There are a lot of ways to be good police,” Voight says. “I think you could have pretty much any way you want. Kevin, you deserve that. So does your son.”

Atwater presents that to Tasha, who reminds him they decided on Chicago and she just moved back. They just had a baby, she adds, and she understands if he needs to adjust. He reminds her of when she asked him what he wants. “I want us,” he knows now. “I want us to build something together. I want something new.”

And with that, everyone gathers at the bar to say goodbye to Atwater. “I’ve known Kevin Atwater for a very long time, and this man right here has without a doubt the prettiest smile in the 21st district, quite possibly all of the CPD,” Ruzek begins his speech. “Nobody deserves this happiness more than you, and I know I can speak for everyone here when I saw we are so proud of you.”

Then Platt (Amy Morton) insists he let Atwater speak. “I look around this room and the only word that comes to mind is gratitude. The Chicago police department will always be part of my heart, you are all my family,” Atwater says. “For the past 14 years, the 21st district has been my home. But raise a drink because I went ahead and made a new family, and it’s time we find a new home. From the heart, thank you.” The episode ends on everyone hugging and celebrating him.

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The good news is this leaves the door open for him to return in the future, and hopefully he does. And at least Atwater left with what he struggled to have throughout the series: a successful relationship and a family.

As showrunner Gwen Sigan told TV Insider ahead of this season, “We really wanted to give the best sendoff that we could. Of course, you want it to be very natural for the character. You want it to feel organic. We wanted this to feel like something that hopefully isn’t just coming out of left field, that we could take little pieces that maybe were already embedded and just try our best to make it feel as real and authentic for him as possible.”

She continued, “And we knew we wanted to make it positive, make it optimistic for him, make it something that for his character could be a choice and that he could almost author it and we could bake it into the episode in a way that felt like, OK, we’re giving this character something that maybe he’s been longing for or wanting for a long time and hasn’t admitted to. And so it felt like we got there.”

What did you think of how Chicago P.D. wrote out Atwater and LaRoyce Hawkins’ final episode? Let us know in the comments section below.

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