CHICAGO P.D.: “New Life”

The CHICAGO P.D. episode “New Life” from May 2023 tells a riveting story about the Intelligence Unit’s newest officer, Detective Dante Torres, who finds himself in the middle of a murder case involving two rival drug gangs that threatens to expose his troubled past. CHICAGO P.D.: “New Life” is one of the program’s most Christian, most redemptive episodes with scenes set in church and scenes promoting faith and salvation from sin, but it has some strong violence, threats of violence, brief drug references, and nine mostly light obscenities.

The episode opens with Dante attending the baptism of his cousin’s baby in a Catholic Church. The priest says that baptism means the end of sin and the beginning of a new life.

Outside the church, Dante says goodbye to his mother. As he walks to his car, he encounters a young neighborhood woman named Mia. She’s still upset that Dante sent her brother to prison and complains to him that defending her brother cost her a lot of money. Dante breaks off the encounter when he finds a note on his car about going to a particular address.

The address leads Dante to an abandoned car in a public park. While examining the car, he finds some blood on the lock to the trunk. So, he smashes the driver’s window and opens the trunk. Inside the trunk is a dying drug lord man named Juan Ariza. Before he dies, Juan tells Dante, “I’m so sorry.”

The forensics team and the Intelligence Unit descends on the scene. Dante explains to his boss, Hank Voight, who Juan was. Juan was a long-time drug lord in Dante’s neighborhood, a man who ruled the area by fear. Hank asks Dante if Juan said anything before he died. Dante lies and says Juan only mumbled something he couldn’t make out.

Back at precinct headquarters, Hank, Dante and the rest of the team decide that the most likely suspect is Sergio Navarro, the younger head of a rival drug gang called the Lethal Serpents. The first order of business, however, is to find Juan’s current address. Especially since it’s clear that Juan’s body had been moved.

Juan’s new address turns out to be the home of a relative. When the team arrives at the house, Dante claims dibs on searching the basement. He finds a cork bulletin board with many photos on it. Dante immediately snatches one of the photos and hides it under his jacked. However, one of the other detectives, Detective Hailey Upton, saw Dante make some movement. She asks Dante if there’s any way she can help him, but he declines.

It turns out that, when he was a teenager, he made a deal with the dead drug lord, Juan, where Dante would be one of Juan’s enforcers if Juan would leave Dante’s mother and family alone. The picture he took is a photo of a teenage Dante with Juan. Dante could lose his job if these facts are revealed.

As the Unit investigates Juan’s murder, Dante struggles to reconcile his old life with his new life. Meanwhile, his boss keeps a watchful eye, with help from Hailey.

CHICAGO P.D.: “New Life” tells a riveting story. In addition to the high stakes personal drama, there’s an exciting chase scene when the murder suspect’s right-hand man starts firing at a female witness. The episode comes to a satisfying conclusion where justice prevails, and truth is revealed.

“New Life” is one of CHICAGO P.D.’s most Christian, redemptive episodes. The episode promotes faith and salvation from sin. There are two positive church scenes. The first one promotes baptism. In the second one, Dante finds solace in the church after the murder case is solved. His boss, Hank, is there to meet Dante when he exits the church. Hank informally asks Dante if he really believes in what his Christian faith teaches, and Dante replies, yes, he does. It turns out that Dante stopped being the murdered man’s enforcer when he was asked to kill a man. Instead, Dante saved the man’s life and eventually became a police officer. Ultimately, the story in this episode is a story of second chances, absolution and redemption.

CHICAGO P.D.: “New Life” has some strong violence, threats of violence and brief drug references. For example, when the murderer’s thug starts firing at the police, he fatally hits an innocent bystander driving a car. Also, the murderer takes a snort of cocaine in a bar when the police send Dante’s former friend, Mia, who’s wearing a wire, into the bar. This gives the police a chance to hold the murderer on a drug charge, although they’re still trying to find evidence that he shot his rival. Finally, the episode has seven “h” obscenities, a “d” obscenity and one other obscenity.

So, all in all, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children for CHICAGO P.D.: “New Life.”