Is Kelton’s Murder in the ‘Chicago P.D.’ Season 6 Finale Linked to Antonio Dawson’s Exit?

Meredith Jacobs May 23, 2019, 12:30 pm

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 6 finale of Chicago P.D., “Reckoning.”]

It has not been an easy season for Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda), and everything has just gotten much, much worse.

Fans knew the finale would be his last episode, and leading up to it, Chicago P.D. set up a potential exit strategy for the detective. Earlier this season, he pushed Rizzo, the man responsible for kidnapping his daughter, out a window, but Voight (Jason Beghe) and Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) helped cover it up, with the latter taking responsibility for the murder.

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However, in recent episodes, Kelton (John C. McGinley) has been leading the charge in finding out what really happened — and Internal Affairs now has proof that someone else (Antonio) was at the scene. They request a blood sample from Ruzek, who learns that his DNA doesn’t match that found on Rizzo. (There were signs the offender had been in a serious fight with someone prior to his death.) There’s a photo of Ruzek watching someone leave the scene before the police arrived.

The Internal Affairs detective knows it was Antonio, but Ruzek refuses to turn on his teammate or change his story, even though both Antonio and Voight try to convince him to. “I wanted to fix this,” Antonio reminds him. Voight tells Ruzek he can’t actually handle what’s coming his way.

(Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

“It’s not only about you,” Ruzek tells Antonio. “When Rizzo went out the window and the cops were rolling in, I just knew I had a choice to make and there was only one choice I could live with. There was only one choice that let me stay me.”

The unit’s best bet is to keep Kelton from becoming mayor, so they try to catch a high-level dealer he’s been protecting so dirty that he’ll flip on the superintendent. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work out. Kelton is elected mayor, and Ruzek is arrested.

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But in the finale’s last moments, Burgess (Marina Squerciati), Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins), and Jay (Jesse Lee Soffer) are called to a crime scene at night: Kelton’s murder. Someone shot him, and Voight’s driving away. But is everything as it seems?

Earlier, Voight does tell Jay, “I’m going to see Kelton. Do what needs to be done.” But just because he may have been planning to kill Kelton doesn’t mean he did. What if he arrived to find Kelton already dead? He may or may not know who did it, but he may not have wanted (or cared) to stick around or call it in.

(NBC)

If he didn’t kill Kelton, who could have? It could have been Kate (Anne Heche), who had to take the blame for Kelton’s previous failings because he has dirt on her.

It could have been Antonio, who is last seen popping a pill in his car during the day. What if he got high and went after Kelton himself, in an attempt to do something to help Ruzek (even if that wouldn’t be the best plan)? What if he shot him without necessarily meaning to?

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Chicago P.D. has set up a few potential exits for Antonio at the beginning of Season 7, none of which require his on-screen presence. He could die, possibly of an overdose. He could turn himself in for Rizzo’s murder and get Ruzek released and the audience — and Intelligence — learns of this after Ruzek’s free. He could turn himself in for Kelton’s murder, whether or not he actually did it.

Fans are disappointed with Antonio’s exit and unsure if he killed the newly-elected mayor.