Chicago P.D. Season 12: Did Episode 5's Most Gruesome Scene Push Things Too Far?

Contains spoilers for "Chicago P.D." Season 12, Episode 5 — "Water and Honey"

Newbie Kiana Cook (Toya Turner) has suffered one heck of a baptism by fire during her first few days on the job with Intelligence. The "Chicago P.D." newbie is super tough, though, which is why she manages to survive a certain stomach-churning confrontation during her very first time in the field for the force.

Season 12, Episode 5, "Water and Honey," sees Cook investigating a case involving two teenage girls with juvie records — Lucy Talsman and Jess Marks (Vienna Weaver) — and the jail warden's daughter, Willow Hughes (Sara Lewis), who are accused of murdering Jess' uncle, Liam Marks.  All three of the girls are suffering from some form of abuse and have taken justice into their own hands. Then Lucy turns up dead. The case slowly unravels as the central mystery unspools in pure "Chicago P.D." fashion, but before that, Cook and the rest of the team stumble on the incredibly gruesome sight of Marks sitting in his easy chair in the house he shares with Lucy. The girls have waterboarded him to death with honey, and the result is not pretty.

Never one to shy away from gore, "Chicago P.D." lingers on Marks' gray face, flies buzzing around his wide-open mouth, his eyes staring at nothing. It's one of the most gruesome sights in the history of the drama, and this is a show that has never shied away from shocking and upsetting its viewers. But did the violence go too far this time?

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

Bullets fly all the time on "Chicago P.D.," and characters die with alarming frequency. They have been assaulted — such as when "Chicago P.D." series lifer Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) was nearly beaten to death during Season 8 — and sometimes killed. Fellow lifer Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) violently lost his only son to crime, and he was found in a car trunk. While the death of Liam Marks is gruesome, it's not especially cruel compared to what the other characters have suffered. But it is one of the more stomach-churning corpses ever featured on the show.

After all, audience members likely remember the time Nadia Decotis (Stella Maeve) was killed on-screen, the moment when Alvin Olinsky (Elias Koteas) was beaten to death in prison, or even when Anna Avalos (Carmela Zumbado) was shot to death at the end of Season 9. So it's a gruesome move — but it's not the most disgusting or even horrifying thing "P.D." fans have been subjected to. They have thick skins, after all — just like the cops who patrol the mean streets of Chicago.

What's notable about every officer's reaction to the blowfly-ridden corpse of Liam Marks? After years in the field, they simply aren't fazed by the nauseating sight as they talk around it, assessing the scene and preparing the body for transport. That leaves an impression of professionalism and detached emotion on the viewer — the cops of "Chicago P.D." see so much gore and violence that it feels like another day at the office for them.

This is both sad and understandable – but it leaves the viewer confused as to what they should feel. After all, it's easier to feel nothing than confront the horrifying death of someone so marginal as Marks, even if they're a total villain. But that reaction speaks to years of hardening police work.

In the end, it's "Chicago P.D." – gore can be expected. It might even be welcome in certain situations. Never let it be said that they've ever shied away from bloodletting.