It has been a while coming but Jay, who began as a cop who strictly saw things as black-and-white and went by the book, had been influenced too much by the shady way that his boss Sgt. Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) policed. So, following hand-to-hand combat with a suspect in which Jay stabbed a man to death, he refused to go along with the cover story that Voight and Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) cooked up to protect him. He didn’t like the man he had become. Instead, he resigned from the force and took a job with the Army tracking down really dangerous drug cartel members. The job, though, is in Bolivia for eight months or so, and he tells his wife and partner Upton that it is what he needs because the Army is “black and white; good and bad. It’s no more of this,” referring to the cover-ups in Intelligence. While also telling her that he had to leave that same day, he said he was coming back because she’s the love of his life, “and if I’m yours, then you’ll know that you have to let me go.” She let him go. As Jay was about to enter the airport, Voight, who saw Halstead as his successor as head of the Intelligence Unit, stopped him and told him he could have any job with the Chicago P.D. that he wanted “if you don’t want to be me.” And that he didn’t even need Voight’s help to make it happen. Photo by: Lori Allen/NBC That’s when Jay revealed that the problem was, “I do want to be you. But it’s like you’ve always told me: I’m not, and I shouldn’t try.” And then he turned and entered the airport. The one high note for Jay’s departure is since his character is not dead, there is the potential for his return at some point in the future. After the episode aired, Soffer tweeted: Soffer’s exit was first revealed back in August, when he released the following statement exclusively to Variety: “I want to thank the incredible fans for their unwavering support during the past 10 years and want to express my deepest gratitude to Dick Wolf and everyone at Wolf Entertainment, Peter Jankowski, Matt Olmstead, Derek Haas, Michael Brandt, Rick Eid, Gwen Sigan, NBC, Universal Television, my fellow castmates and our incredible crew,” he said in a statement to Variety on Monday. “To create this hour drama week after week has been a labor of love by everyone who touches the show. I will always be proud of my time as Det. Jay Halstead.” Chicago P.D. airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Next, It’s Crime Time! Check Out Our Guide for Season 10 of Chicago P.D.
