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[Warning: This post contains spoilers from Wednesday’s episode of Chicago P.D., titled “I Was Here.” Read at your own risk.]
Things were finally falling into place for Burgess (Marina Squerciati) and Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) on Chicago P.D. Though not romantically involved, they seemed ready and excited about the prospect of raising a child together, with Ruzek even prepping to move into Burgess’ spare bedroom before the baby’s arrival.
However, those baby plans came to a grinding halt in Wednesday’s shocking hour which saw Burgess save a victim, but lose her unborn child in the process. It all went down when Burgess, who was assigned to light duty as a dispatcher at a 9-1-1 call center, received a distressing call from a scared victim who turned out to be an underaged girl caught up in a sex trafficking ring. With help from her Intelligence cohorts, Burgess tracked the girl’s location to a seedy motel where she then took on the perpetrator in one of the show’s most brutal and intense fight scenes to date.
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The moment stands out, not just because of the sheer violence, but the startling aftermath which found Burgess in the most physically and emotionally vulnerable state we’d ever seen her in. It’s impossible to unhear those guttural, almost feral screams or unsee that visceral image of her bleeding from the head and calling for help between shaky sobs as Ruzek carried her out. The ensuing scene delivered one final blow to the heart with a somber Burgess receiving some terrible news from her doctor.
In an interview with TV Guide, Marina Squerciati, who plays the Intelligence detective, confirmed that Burgess did, indeed, lose her unborn child, which will have rippling effects in the remaining episodes of the season. Squericiai also opened up about what this means for Burgess’ relationship with Ruzek and how the tragedy ties into her crossover reunion with Sean Roman.
Marina Squerciati, Chicago P.D.
We don’t really hear what the doctor tells Burgess so can you confirm that Burgess had a miscarriage?
Marina Squerciati: She had a miscarriage, yeah.
That’s especially jarring given what happens at the top of the episode with that cute Burzek moment. Ruzek even calls their unborn child a “little ice cream baby.”
Squerciati: I love that line. [Patrick John Flueger] improvised that line. Oh, that’s tragic. That hurts my heart.
What was your reaction when you read the script and found out what would be happening to the baby in this episode?
Squerciati: I think I always knew that the baby wasn’t going to survive. I think that was told to me because at first, it was supposed to be Blair’s [Charles Michael Davis] baby. Then, because of some crossover stuff, it got pushed so then it became Ruzek’s baby. And then I was all like, “Oh, what’s gonna happen?” and they’re like, “Nothing good!” I tried not to get too attached, but I’m also trying to separate the baby from her relationship with Ruzek. I hope this brings them closer together and not further apart, so that it’s not just all tragic.
How do you think Burgess will cope with the miscarriage after this?
Squerciati: I don’t think well. The episodes that I’ve seen and done, she’s sort of becoming more introverted and more unable to rely on other people. I think that when you’re feeling that depressed and responsible and guilty, you need to reach out to stop from drowning, but Burgess isn’t ready for that. She’s just kind of sinking right now because there’s a part of her that definitely blames herself, but that will come out later with Ruzek.
It sounds like we’re gonna get a darker Burgess than we’re used to.
Squerciati: It’s such an actual delicate situation because she ends up saving a girl, but she loses her own child in the process and so, how do you still feel good about the situation? It’s pretty terrible. She feels like a ping-pong ball, there’s no way to feel good or bad about the situation. I think it gets darker. There’s definitely a locker room scene that’s not happy between her and Ruzek.
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What can you tease about Ruzek and Burgess in the remaining episodes of this season?
Squerciati: Well, we have that big fight coming up in the locker room. It’s very interesting [because] we shot out of sequence so I got really confused. We shot the makeup scene before we shot the fight scene so it was very confusing for a while. [Patrick and I] were like, “Are we made up or are we not made up? What is going on?” So we have a sweet scene coming up, but it’s unlike a makeup scene I’d expect. It almost comes out of nowhere so we’ll see. I hope it works.
Do you think Burgess and Ruzek will get back together? Why or why not?
Squerciati: I definitely think they’ll get back together. I don’t know when that will be. After this, I think they need to each grieve in their own corner and lick their wounds. I have seen one sweet scene between them so I know it’s not all awful, but as for long-term happiness and the white picket fence, I’m not really sure.
Let’s talk about that intense fight scene. What was it like filming that scene? What conversations do you remember about how to approach it?
Squerciati: There were many. Generally, we don’t rehearse fight scenes, but they wanted it to be so violent and intense. They built the bathroom and they built the motel [because] there wasn’t a location. The exterior was a location and the interior was built on stage. it. Our stunt doubles choreographed it with our stunt coordinator Tom and then they showed me the stunts and I had a few tweaks. When he pushed me against the door, I wanted to fight back more. When we came back [for the] actual day, they had changed the location of the sink and the size of it and I freaked out because it’s such a delicate dance not to do safely. So on the day of, we worked some more things out. So there’s a lot of slowness. We do it really slow a lot of times [over] many hours and then we just went for it.
What was going through Burgess’ mind in that moment?
Squerciati: I honestly feel like when bad things happen, you’re not thinking of save my baby or save this girl. It’s like fight or flight. You’re fighting for your life. And then once he’s dead, I was able to focus on the girl and once the girl’s safe, I focus on myself. So I feel like it was a matter of survival, girl, myself. It was such a good fight scene and moved so quickly.
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She really went for it in this episode so we gonna see a more aggressive Burgess moving forward?
Squerciati: I don’t know if [she’s] more aggressive, but I think more streamlined. I feel like in order to not let the pain overwhelm her, she’s incredibly focused like a viper. So I don’t know about darker and I don’t know about more aggressive. It’s almost the opposite. Like if someone’s like, ‘I’m a little dead inside but focus on work and just work.’
The crossover with Chicago Fire is coming up, so how do you think Burgess will react to seeing Roman again given their history and what’s happened to her recently?
Squerciati: Burgess had so much love in her heart for him, but she [is] just so damaged in that moment. It’s so close to the miscarriage and he’s going through something pretty awful as well, so it’s like two wounded souls, so wounded that they [can’t] help each other. But I really hope he comes back because I think there’s still a lot to explore with him. Also, I love Brian to bits.
Chicago P.D. airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on NBC.
Marina Squerciati, Brian Geraghty, Chicago P.D.