Critic Reviews

If you’re a fan of “Fire” and “PD,” you’ll like this one, too.

It feels like a good fit for the franchise.

Chicago Justice is not going to change our notion of courtroom dramas, but for what it is, it’s solid, satisfying stuff.

Chicago Justice, which some also see as something of a lightly camouflaged Law & Order reboot, gives NBC another steady hand that’s also no great shakes. But it’ll do, and Wolf very likely has more where it came from.

Chicago Justice feels like comfort food in the same way the other Chicago series have when I’ve sampled them, with all the narrative and ethical complexity smoothed out just enough that you won’t miss anything if a sock-sorting problem becomes surprisingly difficult while you watch.

Nothing in Sunday's time-slot premiere gives any reason to either hope for better or fear for worse than the franchise already provides.

The episode flails under the weight of multiple legacies: In addition to the through-lines of the other Chicago shows, there’s its New York connection. In order to get the wheels of Justice moving, Wolf and his showrunner, Michael S. Chernuchin (another Law & Order vet), will have to choose between the two.

Chicago Justice is just Law & Order in a windbreaker.

It could be redeemed by its authenticity, its artistic merits. It could be redeemed by exciting action scenes or funny dialogue. Unfortunately, Chicago Justice has no such redeeming qualities.