Chicago PD Season 12 Episode 20 “Black Ice” Recap: Did the Detectives Just Slide Into Danger—or Something Way Darker?
Added on May 8, 2025 inEntertainment News Cards, TV News Cards
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Ah, just when you thought Ruzek had finally caught a break, along comes “Black Ice”—and boy, does this episode put him back in the hot seat. It’s no accident that the stars aligned for a Ruzek-centric story today; with the Moon making a tense square to Pluto, expect emotions to boil over and hidden truths to surface. Seriously, the man’s juggling family troubles, icy roads, and a murder investigation that cuts as deep as a Scorpio sting. And, speaking of ice, did anyone else think that cold front bringing black ice might be a cosmic metaphor for slippery situations ahead? I mean, what are the chances Ruzek would stumble—literally and figuratively—right into a twisted web of trafficking and heartbreak? Grab your notepad, because this scene-by-scene breakdown peels back layers you won’t see coming and—it’s safe to say—some of the season’s most gut-wrenching moments wrapped up in one chilly package. Curious to see how a cop’s personal demons collide with a city’s darkest secrets? Well, buckle up.
It’s a Ruzek-centric episode, and those have been some of the best of the season thus far!
If you want our thoughts about “Black Ice,” don’t hesitate to check out our Chicago PD Season 12 Episode 20 Review, and leave your thoughts there as well.
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With no further ado, let’s get into the scene-by-scene recap of the hour!
Ruzek is visiting his father at the facility, and his father keeps talking about how he owes money to someone in Florida. Since Bob is so intent, Ruzek is prompt to look for papers or something that may indicate payment.
Later, as he’s leaving, he chats with the facility nurse, with whom he has a great rapport, and wonders if his father has mentioned payment for someone. But she says Bob only talks about the upcoming wedding and his grandkids.
He wishes her safe travels, as a cold front causes black ice. While he’s driving, he nearly runs into a man who darts into the street. The guy seems out of it and heads to the bridge. Ruzek debates whether he should just go home or not, but eventually, he follows the guy out there, and the guy is on the bridge and trying to jump.
Ruzek talks him down, but the guy slips while trying to come back, and Ruzek catches him and tries to pull him up.
But he doesn’t have the best grasp, thanks to their bloodied hands, and the man keeps moving and eventually falls to his death.
Ruzek heads down to the guy to see if he’s still alive, and heads across the black ice to the guy to check on him.
But Frank is dead. He checks him out, and he sees that someone shot Frank before Ruzek ran into him. He grabs his wallet, but the ice starts giving away, and he tries to grab Frank’s body, but it’s happening too fast.
Ruzek has to race off the ice as its cracking before the river sucks him in. But Frank’s body falls through the ice into the water.
Voight and Burgess arrive, and he gives them the rundown. He and Burgess head to the widow’s house to tell her the news, and she doesn’t take it well, slapping Ruzek.
One of the kids wanders out of the room and up the stairs while the baby is crying, and Burgess tells Ruzek to go check on him. He takes care of the baby as Torres updates them on what they’ve found over the comms.
A patrol cop leads them to Frank’s car, and it’s at an abandoned building. When Ruzek spots blood on the handle, he breaks inside despite Burgess’s warning. People are throwing a rave party inside.
They walk through the rave, following the blood until it leads them to a back room with a blood-soaked mattress, which is where whatever happened to Frank must’ve taken place.
The two call it in and must clear the scene to collect evidence. But apparently, most people at the rave didn’t even know about that back room. It may not have been something people utilized for typical sex, but something more sinister.
Torres finds footage of Frank leaving that warehouse, and someone is chasing him out. But they also see men taking many young girls out and bags with the dirty laundry from those bedrooms. It appears to be trafficking.
Someone calls Adam about a bank account in Florida. He’s worried because his father closed it despite owing many fees, and he doesn’t know what this account is for in the first place. It stressed him out, but he has to focus on the case.
The jail is full of the ravers as they are coming down from drugs and trying to figure out what happened.
Burzek pulled Steve, the guy they initially spoke to, who may have been the warehouse owner or party thrower, what was going on. Burgess is not happy and pressures him, telling him to tell them straight.
Steve finally says that there’s an organization of underage girls who are sex trafficked there and gives them the number. Somehow, Frank was involved in learning of this.
They get a search warrant for the next place where traffickers could be holding the girls. Burzek and a crew head inside and bust everything up. They clear out the rooms.
Ruzek finds a woman inside and tries to help her. He clears the room, but then a guy comes out and jumps him, and the girl locks the door. He starts fighting the guy off, and Burgess hears it and tries to bust the door down. She finally gets in when Adam has the guy restrained.
Adam has a nasty cut on the back of his head, but when they get to the station, he’s still stressed out trying to figure out what the bank account in Florida is about. Kim comforts him and reminds him that they can deal with anything.
He talks to Antoine, the guy who attacked him, after searching the guy’s house, and he found that his girlfriend was expecting. Adam uses that to leverage Antoine into turning over the person behind the trafficking, Dmitry.
They get a ping on Dmitry on the highway and find him and two girls at a gas station. Dmitry tries to attack Adam, and the girls try to pull off and leave before Burgess shoots out the tire.
Ruzek takes a moment alone with Dmitry and wants him to tell him that Frank was there to help the girls or something, but Dmitry says that Frank was choking one of the girls, and he went in and stopped him; that’s how Frank sustained his injuries.
Ruzek has to tell the wife about her husband, but it happens offscreen. He goes to visit his father. His father seems lucid for the moment, so he asks him about the bank and if it was a bad bet situation.
Bob gives Adam the bank information, and he apparently took his money out and put it all in an account for Mack. Ruzek gets emotional.
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