Patrick John Flueger on Bob’s Alzheimer’s Diagnosis, Jack Coleman

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago P.D. Season 12 Episode 10 “Zoe.”]

The latest Chicago P.D. episode brought heartbreak for Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger).

While working a tough case involving a young girl whose “father” is determined to be a serial killer — they have no idea who she really is — Ruzek and Burgess (Marina Squerciati) are surprised when his dad Bob (Jack Coleman) surprises them with a visit. Ruzek then learns that his father has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The episode ends with a touching moment of Ruzek shaving his father’s face for him, and, rather than let him go to a facility, Ruzek insists he move in with them. Bob protests, “It’s going to get bad. It’s going to get real bad. I’m not going to remember how to be. I’m not going to remember who you are. I don’t want you to see me like that.” But Ruzek doesn’t care and refuses to let him say no. Then Bob tells him, “I may forget to say this later, so just let me say it now. I love you. I’m very proud of who you are.”

Below, Flueger discusses Ruzek and his father’s storyline, the open-ended case, and more.

Ruzek learns his father has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Talk about filming those scenes with Jack of Bob telling him, and then that last scene,

Patrick John Flueger: Jack Coleman actually deals with dementia in his own personal life, not for himself, but for a loved one. So he understands exactly how to tap into that to a degree that — we speed things up because it’s TV, we gotta tell the story the right way, but my God, if he doesn’t just knock this thing out of the park, it’s heartbreaking. I didn’t have to do anything. And we’ve been working together so long playing these characters that there’s kind of an easy rapport. We fall right back into place, and it was pretty heartbreaking. Those scenes were hard. They were difficult. I actually – myself and Vic [Macias], our A camera operator who is also one of our directors, directed Episode 2, we had to step out. And I don’t mean to bust him, but we both had to stand next to each other, shed a quick tear, we did a little man hug, then we went back in and kept going during that last scene just because it was tough. And Jack just, he’s so good. It was tough. It was hard. It was really heartbreaking, but also easy because it was so heartbreaking and that’s how it should be, I suppose.

George Burns Jr/NBC

Ruzek’s dad is now moving in with them. Talk about this decision for Ruzek. Does he have any idea what he’s taking on yet? Or is he just thinking, I need to take care of my dad…

No, I don’t think he has any concept of what he’s taking on. I just don’t think he can conceptualize the idea of letting him go anywhere but home. I don’t think it’s about how hard it’s going to be. It’s not about, have I really thought this out? It’s about, “I don’t need to think about anything at all. You’re coming home to me and I’m going to take care of you. I will not let you go. Certainly not far, far away, not in Florida, go be by yourself and fall apart? No, no, you come home, I’ll take care of you like you took care of me.”

But he and Burgess don’t talk about that in this episode. What can you say about conversations coming up between Ruzek and Burgess about this?

Well, it’s alluded to that I did talk to her, and I believe that he did talk to her. I think that like most successfully healthy relationships, the man’s a little afraid of his girl. And so I don’t think he would cross that line without chatting with her about it. I would gather it’s not the most exciting news she’s ever heard, but if she sees that he believes in something, I think she supports him, and vice versa.

So what does that look like going forward? How much are we going to be seeing Jack Coleman going forward and how much are we going to see this on screen?

You’ll see him again. I can’t say how much, but you’ll see him again. We’re not starting a storyline and then making you wait for it. You’ll be seeing this for the rest of the season.

What can you preview about what we’ll see and what we’ll hear as Ruzek is adjusting to this?

I mean, as you adjust and as the reality sinks in, things get harder and harder, it becomes less of a heroic idea and more of a reality, an everyday reality, which you can be as big of a hero in your mind as you want, but when it comes to every day, when it comes to instituting what you need to do over and over and over again, that’s where it gets tough.

And then we also have the case which was left open-end, and we see how much that’s really getting to Ruzek. So what are we going to see coming up there? Are we going to see Ruzek still investigating this on the side while the focus turns to other cases?

We’re consistently working. Just like any other unit in the true Chicago PD, we’ve got multiple cases open at any time. … I don’t know that you’ll necessarily see it in the scenes, but if you’re reading this article, know that this is very much playing in the background at all times, along with other cases that you may never even hear about on camera.

What else is coming up for Ruzek?

The crossover, and beyond that, we filmed a little out of order. So the Zoe storyline, we filmed two episodes back to back that had to do with this storyline, but they don’t play back to back. That’s how we scheduled it. So I know what happens there and going forward, I don’t know yet.

What can you preview you about that second episode with this Zoe storyline?

It will just keep breaking your heart.

Oh, no.

Yeah, you’re dealing with tough themes. I mean, the idea is, well, you find a kid that doesn’t know their name and the goal is to find that child’s name and give it back to them, gift it back to them. And all the while he’s making this effort, he’s watching his dad lose his name, lose his mind. And so the juxtaposition of those things, even though there’s positive results that might come here and there, I think that there’s that haunt, there’s that weight of trying to do something positive while at the same time watching, ironically, something negative happened in the exact same space.

So Jack Coleman is in that second part?

Yes.

Chicago P.D., Wednesdays, 10/9c, NBC