SPOILER ALERT: The following reveals major plot points from NBC’s Chicago P.D.‘s Season 13 finale.
Chicago P.D.’s Season 13 finale centered on Officer Eva Imani’s (Arienne Mandi) search for her sister, Shari (Selin Çuhadaroğlu), who had been kidnapped when she was 6 years old. There was no way this tale could have a happy ending, but perhaps the next best thing will do for now.
Although Shari seemed receptive to the possibility that Imani was her long-lost sister, too many years had passed to change who either of them had grown up to be. The sisters found themselves on opposite sides of the law, with Imani working as a detective and Shari as a suspected killer.
Although Shari seemed to be warming to Imani, the former turned against the latter in order to return to Kirby, the man who kidnapped Shari and later became her husband. Once reunited, Shari and Kirby teamed up against Imani, whom they both attacked. Kirby encouraged Shari to take out her sister the way she had her friend. The friend, you might remember, was the young woman whom Imani and Voight (Jason Beghe) found dead by the lake. Yes, Shari admitted to being behind her friend’s murder.
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The squad comes through just in the nick of time and saves Imani, while Voight hunts down Kirby, who was somewhere in the building trying to escape. Not on Voight’s watch. Not only does Voight find Kirby, but he also makes sure that Kirby will never harm anyone else ever again.
The story concludes with Imani discovering her sister has slit her wrists, and the episode ends with her stable and recovering from her self-inflicted wounds. A conversation takes place between Imani and Voight about Shari’s culpability in the murder of her friend and what that means for her future: a trial and jail, perhaps? But will Imani convince Voight not to turn Shari in? It’s a sad reality for Imani to cope with, as Shari will forever be her little sister, but justice must be served.
We caught up with Chicago P.D. showrunner Gwen Sigan and Mandi to break down the events of the finale.
(l-r) Jason Beghe as Sergeant Hank Voight, Arienne Mandi as Eva Imani — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)
Elizabeth Sisson/NBC
DEADLINE: Gwen, this story was never going to get a happy ending. What was your approach to writing the conclusion?
GWEN SIGAN: What was so exciting about the story was that there’s so much juice in it. There’s so much that can be done within a story like this. With Imani, we established early on that she has defined herself by the search for her sister and by the fact that this thing happened when she was so young, and it’s really molded her whole life and molded who she is.
We always wanted to give it to her, but by getting it, it wouldn’t be what she wanted or expected. It wouldn’t be what she wanted for her sister either. So we knew we wanted to take it in the most complicated way we could. So that became what our conversations in the room were about: what would be the most heartbreaking thing? Would it be that her sister doesn’t remember her? Would it be that her sister betrays her? Would it be that her sister connects more with her captor? There were so many things, and as you can tell in the finale, we went with a lot of them.
DEADLINE: Her sister survives, though, and with her captor dead, there’s at least some hope left that whatever time they have left, they could make a positive connection, right? She will have a lot of time to think while in prison, potentially.
SIGAN: There is hope in the fact that we see this little moment between them, of this memory of the two of them when they were children. I think that does live inside of Shari, and that provides a certain level of love and protection. If she could ever get any of that back, or if she could feel it again in a different way, I think there’s a lot of hope for her and Imani. It’s bittersweet, right? We get what we want, but it’s not what we expected.
DEADLINE: Speaking of that moment between Imani and Shari, where they were looking back at old photos and toys from their youth. Was Shari’s reaction genuine, or was she making it all up to take advantage of Imani?
SIGAN: It’s a little bit up to the audience to interpret. I love that by the end of the episode, you still don’t really know completely what her intentions are. How much of her intentions were sort of conscious that she was making for herself, and how much of it was this instinctual thing, because this person had this pull over her. I can tell you my interpretation. The way that we intended it tonally is that both things were true. I think that she was at war with herself in that scene, and that there were moments that, whether she remembered them or not, I think she believed in the validity of what she was seeing in front of her.
DEADLINE: Arienne, Imani, and Voight have built up trust since her arrival, and he really had her back when she needed the support the most. She does go against him to help her sister, but he knows what she was going through. How will their relationship be after this?
ARIENNE MANDI: They’re stronger towards the end of the episode. Yes, we are very much left with this cliffhanger of a question: Will my sister be charged with murder? But I think what becomes really clear is how much Voight and Imani are really cut from the same cloth. They were born the way they are, with the instincts they have, and with the characteristics they share, which are very much that they’ll do whatever needs to be done in certain situations. And that becomes really clear in that moment when they lock eyes. These people are just the same and also different from Shari. I think they end stronger than ever. And the question is, “Do they conceal what’s happened, or does he bring it to light? I feel like so much falls on his shoulders in this moment.
DEADLINE: Arienne, what do you hope to explore as an actor, as Imani, after all that has happened?
ARIENNE MANDI: The search for her sister has been her life’s purpose for the last 22 years. So what happens now that there is even a shred of closure?
DEADLINE: Gwen, now that Imani has found her sister, could there be a trial or a jail sentence that could make it into the show next season? Or are these things that will be more in the background?
SIGAN: Both options are on the table. We’ll get in the room in a couple of weeks, and we’ll be solving some of these questions. I think either way, we will lean into it. We’ll lean into sort of the decision they made in the aftermath of that decision, how it will affect both of these characters and Shari’s character as well. What will her life look like? Is it going to be a journey of hope and rehabilitation and finding yourself again? Is that possible for this person? So, yeah, it’s all on the table right now. I think there are so many possibilities.
