CHICAGO P.D. Post-Mortem: Patrick John Flueger Reacts to Bob’s Bombshell

[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Wednesday, January 22 episode of CHICAGO P.D.]

CHICAGO P.D.’s Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) was thrown when his father unexpectedly came to visit on the Wednesday, January 22 episode, “Zoe”…but became alarmed when it was clear something was wrong with him.

Eventually, Bob (Jack Coleman) acknowledged what was going on: He has Alzheimer’s—and it’s advanced.

“He doesn’t know anything about this stuff,” Flueger tells Give Me My Remote. “I don’t think he knows anything about Alzheimer’s. I actually think I said that in one of the scenes where I’m like, ‘I don’t know anything. I don’t know about this. What’s going on?’ I’m sure he does his own level of research.”

“But I also think he’s the kind of guy that doesn’t want to look too deep,” he continues. “He doesn’t want to find out too much information because [he]’ll dig as deep as [he] can go when it comes to a case, but when it comes to when it comes to Adam’s personal life, I think that he is that old male [mindset of], ‘It doesn’t hurt, I don’t hurt. I can just push through.’ I think that he deals with his dad’s Alzheimer’s—or intends to—by positive reinforcement: ‘You’re fine, and it’s okay.’”

Ruzek’s denial can only go so far, though. “I don’t think he has any concept of what he’s about to get himself into, just like anybody, right?” Flueger acknowledges. “I mean, you can Google all you want, but I don’t think when the reality of it actually sets in…there’s no preparation for that. There’s no way to make that easy.”

The heartbreaking reveal was juxtaposed with a dark case, as Ruzek tried to find out the identity of a young girl, known as Zoe, who was taken by a serial killer, who collected wives and kids before killing them.

“I think that gets highlighted in the follow up episode, in the ‘Marie’ episode [airing in February]—he’s trying desperately to find this child’s identity, to give this child her name, to gift her [with] her name back, and to let her know who she is—all while watching his dad, this man that took care of him for his entire life, forget who he is and who Adam is,” Flueger points out. “[Bob]’s losing his name while Adam is trying to help this girl find her own. And so I think that you see the relevance in that, in watching somebody lose their reality, and then meeting somebody that doesn’t have any. You might be the person to give them that give them some sort of ground to stand on—while watching the ground be swept out under another loved one’s feet. That’s the story, right there.”

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

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