Critic’s Rating: 3.8 / 5.0
It was clear from the promo that Chicago Fire would rely on an old trope — a new threat to Firehouse 51 as we know it.
You would think the changes with the budget cuts and the loss of Chief Pascal would be enough, and a different form of drama would be brought in, but I guess that’s not the case.
Sometimes it would be nice to have a new battalion chief we could actually root for, but there is something awesome for Severide that comes out of this.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) Cruz Has Some Exciting News While there’s been a lot of change at Firehouse 51, one question that’s come up now and then is whether Cruz would take the lieutenant’s exam.
It wasn’t that long ago that this conversation came up, and I felt for sure that was what Chloe was referencing when she asked if Cruz was going to tell Severide something.
I still think that there is something more. Cruz mentioned how he feared Severide would feel betrayed, and I can’t understand how Cruz and Chloe expecting another baby would make Severide feel betrayed.
The only thing I can think it was a reference to was the fact that Severide and Kidd had the failed adoption, but it’s not been mentioned in so long.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) That’s been a problem this season — we’re expected to remember something that happened episodes ago, and just read between the lines.
It’s exciting for Chloe and Cruz, and I hope that we do get a positive story for them.
Chicago Fire — and the entire One Chicago franchise — can have issues with healthy pregnancies and happy families, so it’s always good to see Cruz and Chloe on good terms.
Their family isn’t perfect, but they work through problems, just like they do during Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 16.
The snooping was wrong, but Chloe owns up to it and apologizes. I just wish that Javi had the courage to talk to them about wanting to know where he came from.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) An adopted child’s interest in who their family is and where they come from is perfectly understandable, and, in a way, it’s important to know some of this.
Cruz turning to Terry and then finding a way to help Javi is healthy and positive parenting.
So many people, especially men, would double down and try to push the idea that the only family they need is the one that chose the adopted child, but that’s not the case.
We need to see more of this on our screens.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) Severide Finds Out He Has a New Enemy It’s a Chicago Fire tale as old as time. A new leader comes into the firehouse, and everything changes.
That new leader tries to dismantle everything about Firehouse 51. In some cases, it’s jealousy of the family that the firehouse has, but that’s not the case with Battalion Chief Hopkins.
I wanted to think that this was like Pascal’s entry, where he was harsher on one lieutenant compared to the others, and being harsher on Severide would make sense.
Severide had taken (and passed!) the Captain’s exam, and Hopkins may have wanted to push Severide to his limit to make sure he was ready for that promotion.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) That wasn’t the case, and it took Severide doing his own research, which he really should have done before, to get to the bottom of it.
Bringing back the memory of Benny Severide was a good touch, and to know that Hopkins has a personal vendetta against Benny — and anyone with the surname Severide in the CFD — makes it easy to hate the way he’s treating Kelly right now.
What would be funny is if Jack Damon turned up at the firehouse at some point. I’m just curious as to whether Hopkins would have liked Damon’s attitude until he found out he was also Benny’s son.
One thing Chicago Fire Season 14 continues to do is keep Benny’s memory alive, which also helps keep Treat Williams’ memory alive. I don’t mind this storyline when it does this.
My issue is that we’ve already had a chief being harsh on one lieutenant. We need a bit of a breather from this stereotypical arc.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) We could have just had a couple of episodes without Hopkins showing up at the firehouse to add other types of tension.
That would have made me a little more receptive to this, because at the heart of it, it could be a raw and honest arc.
Nepotism is a problem in the workplace. Wherever you look, there are people getting jobs who really shouldn’t just because of who they are.
Nepo babies do have it a little easier because their parents have the right contacts. No, that wasn’t the case for Kelly, but it is the case for many people.
Hopkins doesn’t know Kelly, and he’s had enough experiences to know that nepotism leads to the wrong people being promoted.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) If done right, Chicago Fire has the opportunity to show when favorable treatment works and when it doesn’t.
However, I don’t think that’s the route the series will take, especially based on the ending.
This is Severide’s chance to realize that he does want the promotion. It’s something he didn’t want in the past, and Van Meter was right in questioning whether he wanted it this time.
Seeing Severide get so angry was a dead giveaway.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) When someone wants something, they feel it in their body, and when it’s taken from them for nothing they personally did, that anger manifests physically.
As usual, Taylor Kinney does a wonderful job of portraying how the anger takes over Severide’s whole body, and he’s going to have to learn how to channel it in a way to take down Hopkins.
That’s not going to be easy with Lucy’s backstory coming out and her agreement to work for Hopkins.
I’m also on the fence about liking that, as Jeanine Mason has been a fun addition to the series, and I wanted to like her character.
Lucy knows how to work systems, and she could be good for the whole firehouse, especially with the budget cuts.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) However, if she’s working only for Hopkins, she becomes a huge threat as well.
She pays close attention to conversations, even when it doesn’t seem that way. Just look at the way she paid attention to the guy on First Shift and the Pope debate.
People aren’t going to watch their words around her, and I just don’t like the idea of having someone sneaky when there’s already so much turmoil. New characters can be good characters!
With hope, she does the right thing. Hopkins hates people getting special favors because of who their parents were, but here he’s doing the exact opposite for the same reason.
(Peter Gordon/NBC) It’s hypocritical at best, and it’s undisciplined at worst. Yet, Chief Pascal was the one to be terminated for doing the right thing for an overall case.
Make it make sense.
Overall, the episode worked with so few members of the cast around, and I didn’t feel like more than Squad 3 was needed. However, some plot devices are getting stale.
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