'Chicago P.D.' Star Patrick John Flueger Talks Disco Bob's Return in a Mysterious Two-Parter (Exclusive)

Chicago P.D. returns after a one-week hiatus with the first of a two-part episode focusing on Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Fueger), who gets caught up in a very emotional investigation involving a mysterious young girl named Zoe (Annabelle Toomy), and then gets an unexpected visit from his father, Disco Bob (Jack Coleman), who comes to deliver surprising news.

The relationship between Adam and his father is an interesting one. Bob was a single father who tried to do his best to raise his kids. He got the name Disco Bob based on the fact that he took the easiest beat and was always up for days off.

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As the story unfolded, we learned that Bob had a gambling addiction and sold his son out to save his own life. Granted, he had a gun to his head at the time. But it still made for tension between the two. Thanks to Voight (Jason Beghe) stepping in and lying for Bob, saying he was undercover on an assignment, Bob was able to retire from the P.D. with his pension and he moved to Florida. That’s where we are when he returns.

“I never saw their relationship as being all that bad,” Flueger exclusively tells Parade. “I think that he sacrificed what he thought his career might have been to be a good dad. So, while he has these bumps in the road–maybe he drinks too much here and there, he certainly gambles too much. But who doesn’t have their ups and downs? At the end of the day, Ruzek loves his dad, respects his dad a lot, knows what he did for him, understands the sacrifices that he made for him.”

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Adam is also forgiving. He believes Bob did what he had to do when he had a gun to his head. In fact, Flueger says it’s okay that Bob threw Adam under the bus if it saved his life. However, Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati) isn’t as forgiving. As Ruzek's fiancée, as Bob’s granddaughter’s mom, she has more reservations when it comes to Bob than Ruzek does.

"I think that if he’s managing anything, he’s managing their relationship more than he’s managing his own relationship with Bob," Flueger adds

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As for the case involving Zoe, Ruzek’s on his way to work when he offers to help out on a well-being check. And what he discovers are two dead bodies and a young girl who’s waiting for her “father.” When Intelligence runs her DNA, it turns out that Zoe isn’t biologically related to the man she calls father, or to either of the dead bodies in her home.

“Everybody’s very driven. But I think the manner in which Adam meets her, the situation that she is in when he finds her is drive enough,” Flueger says. “The scene that they come up on when they first find her is really brutal, and there’s actually another child involved who unfortunately doesn’t make it, and we focus on her shoes. Which sounds maybe impersonal but when you look at those tiny shoes and they’re covered in blood, that’s just an awful image to have to focus on.”

Chicago P.D. airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Streams next day on Peacock.

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