Tag: Chicago Fire

Review “One Chicago” – The 2015-16 Season

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Well, this has been a long time coming.

Alright, time to own up to a very hilarious mistake. Somewhere in my head, I thought that I’d posted this. Heck, I though I’d finished it! In reality, this isn’t October 4, 2021, it’s late on July 9, 2022, which means it’s been nine months since I started this. So… Don’t be surprised with how barebones this is. At the time of writing, I’m eight episodes away from being done with the next season. It’s been a while. (You have permission to make fun of me for this. I’m sitting here laughing about the situation.)

Anyway, quick reminder before you continue. This is a basic summary of some of the major storylines and major characters in each show. You’ll probably figure out that I have some favorites and some not so favorites.

Chicago Fire Season Four

This season continues this trend of the world making sure that Kelly Severide cannot have nice things. During the first episode, he is stripped of his rank as Lieutenant due to the amount of men going through Squad 3, even though he had basically nothing to do with the people who left/resigned. This is a massive blow to him, and honestly it’s undeserved. Him having to undergo “leadership classes” was something that actually bothered me, and then his rank is just handed back to him anyway when Patterson is promoted. (BTW, I didn’t mind Patterson for the most part. He exists. He did nothing for me. He was just a character created to be an obstacle for 51, just Severide and Boden in particular). But by the middle of the season, things have calmed down for Kelly for the most part. He still has some little storylines, though those don’t exactly last more than a episode or two. However, as the season goes on, newcomer Stella Kidd and Severide slowly get closer, leading to a tense conclusion to the dramatic final few episodes.

Matt Casey also starts this season on a low note. He ended last season getting roped up in an Intelligence case, that causes major repercussions during the beginning of this season. On top of that, he and Dawson end up falling pregnant, though unfortunately they lose the baby early on. This leads to a rough patch in their relationship that they struggle through, coming out stronger on the other side. On another front, Casey decides to step into the political sphere by running for alderman, which leads to many ups and downs for him throughout the remainder of the season, even after he wins. Towards the end of the season, his relationship with Dawson still isn’t perfect, but she’s got other things to worry about.

For her part, Gabriela Dawson has a rough season. She spends the first chunk of the season reassigned to the Arson Investigation Unit as she is pregnant. Tragically, she doesn’t get to stay long, as she loses the pregnancy only a few episodes later. When she is allowed to return to 51 as a firefighter, she finds herself in hot water when she has an outburst at a citizen and it ends up on social media. Things calm for a bit, and then she ends up getting attached to a foster child who she saves on a call. By the end of the season, she and Casey have temporarily separated, with her moving into the studio apartment over Herrmann’s garage.

Sylvie Brett also has a hell of a season, but most of what happens to her is compounded by who she is working with. For the first half of the season, she remains paired with Jessica “Chili” Chilton. While they do have a good working relationship, this breaks down when Chili starts drinking and acting recklessly in the aftermath of learning about the overdose death of her twin sister, Jellybean. Brett is forced to report her for drinking on the job, which ends up being the final nail in Chili’s work coffin. She spends the rest of the season with Jimmy Borelli, the 51 candidate who is assigned to work on the ambulance.

Newcomer Stella Kidd (who I know plays a major role in seasons to come) joins 51 mid season. A firefighter, she immediately makes a name for herself. I like the fact that she has a seemingly good head on her shoulders, but also a pretty good attitude. Her ex-husband causes her some trouble during her storylines, which leads to a chilling final scene.

Elsewhere, Herrmann ends up stabbed, Otis has health issues, Cruz deals with some trouble, Boden gets arrested (it’s a whole thing, first half of the season), and Candidate Jimmy Borelli just doesn’t fit in. The final few episodes reveal that not is all well with 51, and things might break again before they get better.

While this season had some issues, it does come together when it needs to. I’m happy for it. I’m rating it 8/10.

Chicago P.D. Season Three

This season blew me out of the park (if I remember right..). Characters grow and shift, major storylines are handled relatively well, and even the show’s time with crossovers worked pretty well.

Jay Halstead remains my favorite character. He’s a good cop, but he’s also willing to put his badge on the line to protect both his team and victims. His relationship with Erin Lindsay goes through some issues, more so early on than anywhere else. Seeing him interact with his brother Will is always special; both actors have incredible charisma. He suffers through some tragedies, but comes out of it stronger.

The same cannot be said for Lindsay. In the aftermath of last season, she spends the beginning of this one on a destructive spiral. She’s lucky that she’s close to Voight, otherwise her job out be in major jeopardy. I’ll admit, I’ve never been a big fan of Erin. Nothing against the actress, she just never clicked with me. She does do some major good this season, but the pros unfortunately don’t outweigh the cons.

Adam Ruzek and Kim Burgess’ relationship is one that is officially this show’s on-again-off-again. They work well together, than one of them does or says something, and then there’s yet another obstacle for them to get over. As much as I love them both, I want more for them. A little birdy tells me that I’m going to get my wish…

As for Hank Voight, my respect for him as grown. The man spends most of this season dealing with problems. But while he’s putting out fires in his own destructive ways, he also sticks with his morals. By the end of the season, my heart bled for the man as he has to say goodbye to his son, murdered while attempting to help the wife of a man we went through basic training with. In rage, he finds the man who did it, forces him to dig his own grave, and takes care of him.

Other major storylines include more of Jay and Mouse’s backstory (I love Mouse, he’s hilarious and damn good), Platt marrying a Mouch from Fire, and Officer Romen finally being written out.

This was probably the strongest season yet. I happily give it a 9/10.

Chicago Med Season One

So, my first impression of this show (not including what we’ve already seen in the crossovers) is that I feel like I’ve seen it before. It’s very… hospital drama. Which is exactly what it is, but by that I mean, they’re not reinventing the wheel. You’ve got the perfect guy who knows a lot and is returning home (played by the actor who played Tommy Merlyn on Arrow, and he’s hot and he knows it), the cocky one, the new girl, the ladies that exist to butt heads with people… It’s all very generic.

Honestly? I won’t be continuing with it. I only watched through the major crossover and just gave up. I’m not a fan of hospital dramas in the first place. I gave it longer than I normally do. I will however watch episodes or storylines that involve characters from Fire and P.D. It just didn’t work for me. I will say that of what I did see, I was impressed.

I will not be giving this season a rating out of respect for the fact I only watched maybe a fifth of it.

Crossovers and Character Appearances

There are two major crossovers during this year. The first (“The Beating Heart”/”Malignant”/”Now I’m God”) is across all three One Chicago shows, beginning with Christopher Herrmann’s stabbing. Things take a turn during the crossover when it is discovered that cancer-free patients are overdosing on chemotherapy drugs. By the time it hits the final episode, Voight takes center stage in a major performance as it is revealed that his own wife may have been a victim.

While this does end up being two separate storylines that are crossed in the middle with Chicago Med, it shows the powerhouse of acting that are the shows have employed. I can’t say I’m anything but impressed by it. It was magnificent.

The second crossover (“National Manhunt”/”The Song of Gregory William Yates”)is actually one with Law & Order SVU, which ends up being a sequel to a storyline from the previous season. I don’t really want to go into too much detail, because I’m just not a fan of this crossover. There was no need to revisit the storyline. I have respect for everyone involved, but it just wasn’t for me.

All in all, I’m happy to continue on (and I did, nine months later, lol). And how I go onto Year 4 of One Chicago. I’m excited to see what’s coming next.

Until next time!

Review “One Chicago” – The 2014-15 Season

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Well, this took longer than I thought. I ended up having to take a break from binging right after Fire‘s emotional opening, which I mention below. But I’m back at it and happily can say that I finally finished both seasons.

Both shows has somewhat of a rocky season, which is fine and all, but it didn’t always work. But on the bright side, we got three different crossovers (two with SVU, see below) and the backdoor pilot for Chicago Med! So, let’s break down both series, as well as the crossover

Once again, spoilers ahead!

Chicago Fire Season Three

This season begins with grief and people not knowing how to act post tragedy. Paramedic Leslie Shay dies in the the first few minutes of episode one. While I felt that the series had really hit a rut with her character, killing her off just doesn’t sit will with me. It also is used more as a plot device for Kelly Severide to have another emotional storyline. It does get resolved by mid-season, but I’m very much not comfortable with the first main character to be killed on Chicago Fire to be an out lesbian. (As for Severide, during his mental crisis, he ended marrying some woman he met in Vegas, but that storyline ended in four episodes. As it should.)

Also in this season is the writers kinda dancing around the rules of reality when it comes with firefighters and romance. Having a lieutenant and a paramedic date and get engaged while in the same House is problematic enough, though it apparently is possible in the real world. Having a lieutenant and a firefighter candidate one the same shift and truck is not, regardless of the Chief’s permission. This ended up being one of the more unrealistic storylines throughout the season, with Dawson and Casey constantly in a spiral of on and off. I’d honestly be much happier if Dawson returned to ambulance.

With Shay gone too soon, new paramedic Sylvie Brett steps into the role of blonde paramedic. While seeming timid, she seems like she has a heart of gold and she’s willing to go the extra mile to help. She also managed to gel almost immediately with the team, which was good. I was worried she was only going to be around for a few episodes, as one of the first things we see is that she looks like Shay, but she has really grown into her own character. I’m cool with her. She ends up having a few different partners throughout the season, starting with Dawson, then Mills once he finds out he can no longer be a firefighter due to health reasons, and then ending with Jessica “Chili” Chilton.

As for Mills, since I’ve singled out his character in the past, he has a series of storylines that didn’t click with me, mostly relating to his father. And honestly, he still didn’t impress me. By the time we reach his last episode, I was more than happy to see the back of him. I know he has his fans, but I really felt that this just wasn’t a show for him. I haven’t looked up the actor lately, but I wish him luck in his future endeavors.

The back half of the season (barring the crossover episode) were more rough compared to other episodes. Some of the plotlines just didn’t really work for me. The Truck vs. Squad argument during the final few episodes is the main one that comes to mind, as it really was a he-said, he-said situation to could have been solved by a few grown men talking together, instead of behind each others’ backs. I was happy to see the exit of the character in the center of it. He won’t be missed.

All in all, it was a rocky season, but I’m really starting to see why people enjoy this show so much. My rating for this season? 7/10.

Chicago P.D. Season Two

I ended up enjoying this season so much more than last season! The team and characters have come together much better, and the storylines seem more polished.

I actually have started to like Sgt. Voight. This season gave us the more human side of him, the more venerable side that we were really deprived of in previous seasons. From his handling of his son and pregnant girlfriend, to Erin Lindsey and her choices this season (more on that later), to even him dealing with his team during their cases and off hours. He steps up more this season to protect them, while also following his personal code. In particular, his reaction to Nadia’s death (later) proves that he truly is human.

As for Erin Lindsey, it’s been a while since I’ve been so hot and cold on a character. Lindsey doesn’t have the easiest year. She starts the season helping a teenage prostitute get off drugs and break the habit, including getting her a job answering phones for the Intelligence Department while studying to become a cop (more on this in a bit). Lindsey also strikes up a romance with fellow detective Jay Halstead, while simultaneously taking a position on an FBI task force… that lasts for like two episodes. And then, after the final crossover, she spirals and quits again. So, she has reason for having issues. I honestly just wasn’t convinced due to her character’s writing… and her portrayal.

As for other characters, Halstead gets some time to shine this season, dealing with a bounty being put on his head early on, as well as some family time in the form of his brother, Dr. Will Halstead, new at Chicago Med. Antonio Dawson deals with the aftermath of his divorce as well as a second job that goes just a bit sideways. Even our beat cops have major storylines, with Officer Kim Burgess being shot in the line of duty, and her new partner Officer Sean Roman having to deal with the aftermath. They both handle everything just fine, no issues, none at all.

The only issue I have with this season is that, once again, the episodic nature of the cases. Most are solved in the hour, that’s it, probably no call backs later on. There were a few instances that things went over to a second episode, but that was mostly for cliffhanger purposes, and was quickly solved. But if that’s my only real complaint, can I really complain?

I absolutely rate this season a solid 9/10. SOLID.

Crossovers and Character Appearances

This season continues the tradition of having characters appear in the opposite show. It gives the franchise a feeling of togetherness, as the two teams work together, or pass information to one another, or just end a shift at Molly’s. It’s feels real.

There were three major crossover “events” this season, two of which tied into Law and Order: SVU. Thankfully, I was able to find SVU over on Hulu, so I was able to actually get what was happening when those crossovers happened!

Our first triple crossover aired in November 2014. “Nobody Touches Anything/Chicago Crossover/ They’ll Have to Go Through Me” deals with the discovery of a pedophile ring and the aftermath. Honestly, if they hadn’t used the last five minutes of the Fire episode to tie in, this could have easily been just a two-parter. The case itself was handled with respect, considering the topic. The SVU characters actually clicked for me a bit this time around, though I still couldn’t say that I was a fan. I was happy with the conclusion of this crossover, as both the SVU and PD characters got their chance to shine.

The second crossover is just between Fire and PD. “Three Bells/A Little Devil Complex” has the difficult task of solving the death of Leslie Shay. After Severide is tipped off by former firefighter/arsonist Hadley that the fire that killed Shay wasn’t an accident, he and Dawson go to investigate. Though they find a potential suspect, the Arson Department can’t pursue without direct evidence. As a favor, Intelligence steps in and is able to connect the arsonist to that fire, as well as many others. In the end, the arsonist is shot dead right before setting Dawson on fire. This crossover worked well, to the point that I blew through both episodes… and then watched them again, because I couldn’t believe that two hours had passed. I was very impressed.

The third and final crossover was another triple. “We Called Her Jellybean/The Number of Rats/Daydream Believer” will be sticking with me for awhile. While attending to a raging apartment fire, a woman who had been raped is rescued from the building, badly burned. The Intelligence Department takes over, trying to find the person who is doing this. Unfortunately, they are too late. Their suspect flees back to New York (SVU) with Nadia, where he kills her like his other victims. The Chicago team and the SVU team do successfully arrest the rapist, and he is sent to prison for his crimes.

I want to take a quick second to acknowledge Nadia’s character here. Here’s a girl that is bettering herself. Gets clean, goes back to school, has a steady job. Makes some dreams. Only to have that cut short. While I did love these episodes, I really feel that they did a disservice to Nadia and girls in her position. I know that hope is just a fickle thing, but I was really hoping for a happier ending for her character, not something so tragic.

As for Fire, they had one more important job this season: letting one of their episodes become a backdoor pilot. “I Am The Apocalypse” sets up Chicago Med in a big way, with someone exploding a bomb in the ER. The episode is actually a good one, with a great mix of both Fire characters, and who I assume will be main characters on Chicago Med, which starts in the next season. There’s just one little thing… while the backdoor pilot was absolutely needed, I have to give the writers of both shows credit, as they’ve been setting up Med all throughout the season. They had characters go to Chicago Med, they introduced Dr. Halstead before the backdoor pilot, to actual great success, they namedropped it like twenty times… It was handled well, and I for one was impressed.

So. All in all, a pretty solid Year 3. 107 episodes. I’m hoping to have finished at least most of Year 4 before September 22, when One Chicago begins with new episodes. I’m absolutely not going to finish the series by the time that rolls around, but I’m really hoping to make some headway.

Until next time!

Reviewing “One Chicago” – The 2013-14 Season

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

I’m actually impressed with how this series is shaping up.

Welcome to what I am lovingly calling my wonderful nightmare. Once Chicago P.D. debuted midseason, I flipped back and forth between the two shows in the order they aired. Thankfully I have the entire series typed out in episode order, mostly to save me from completely losing my mind. Once I got used to bouncing between both shows, everything came together pretty well.

As a reminder, spoilers abound.

Chicago Fire Season Two

This season was a bit of a rollercoaster. Some of the storylines were amazing, while others… didn’t land all that well.

Severide has probably some of the craziest storylines. The season opens with him seemingly targeted by an arsonist, which would have been an amazing storyline, if not for the fact that it was over in four episodes. At least the arsonist’s had a compelling reason to want to get revenge on Severide. From there, Severide discovers that he has a half sister, who ends up having a not-so-wonderful time once she ends up getting caught up in a revenge scheme targeted at Severide (seriously, is there a target on his back?). He also helped out a former firefighter that has the same issues that he himself dealt with the previous season, which was a storyline that mostly worked, though the other firefighter just didn’t do it for me. Finally, starts was is probably his most stable romance yet, with Detective Lindsay from Intelligence. All in all, while he has some major storylines, he sometimes seem to fade in the background.

Casey has three major storylines this season. First, he ends up taking care of the children of a friend, Heather Darden, who was the wife of the firefighter who died in Season One. Unfortunately, the writing for most of these scenes is pretty lacking, and it just doesn’t work well. It does set up a season spanning storyline featuring Casey and Dawson, with romance blooming, especially since Shay and Dawson has a midseason falling out (though they get over it). Finally, Casey suffers a major head injury that could have ended his career, though through the power of television, he is mostly recovered. Also, he pulls a Season 1 Severide and hides the severity of his injury. Because of course he does.

Other storylines include Shay’s choices becoming more and more questionable throughout the season, the firehouse almost being shut down because of budget cuts, and Dawson training to become a firefighter, which she passes on her second attempt. Oh, and a female firefighter joins 51 as a candidate, but after finding out that her father is trying to sideline her (in an attempt to protect her mother’s memory), she commits suicide off screen. Oh, and Mills moves to Squad, and I still have issues with his character.

I’d once again give this season a 8/10. (I’ll address the crossover and other character appearance at the bottom.)

Chicago P.D. Season One

It’s a police procedural drama. Seriously. That’s the quickest summary I can give.

Sergeant Voight runs the Intelligence Unit with a team of police that are willing to go beyond the law if needed. They’re all above board, kinda. They deal with the worst of the worst, organized crime and gangs and major murders. And he’s still kinda dirty, but not? He’s the reason I’m so hot and cold on this show.

Antonio Dawson, Paramedic Dawson’s brother, makes the jump from occasional appearance on Fire to full time here. He plays a major role in the show, basically as the second in command of Intelligence, as well as an amazing foil to Voight. He’s prone to loosing his temper a bit, but he also has reason too. He’s very passionate about his job and keeping his team safe. There are also Detectives Jay Halstead and Erin Lindsay, who help round out a lot of the cast with compelling storylines and amazing performances. Both have darkness in their pasts that play out on screen. Rounding out Intelligence is Detective Alvin Olinsky, a major partner to Voight and the other voice of reason, and Officer Adam Ruzek, a rookie cop with something to prove. Both provide undercover work, and are a great pair. Finally, we have Officers Kim Burgess and Kevin Atwater, who are both beat cops that often work with Intelligence. While their storylines are somewhat less compelling, they really help round out the cast.

My biggest issue with this series is the structure. Most cases they deal with are handled in just an episode, with their personal storylines taking up the bulk of the time. Which I’d be fine with… if the cases were worth it. Often I would get bored with them and just start skipping ahead, which is kind of a problem.

The other issue I have is this season spanning storyline of Voight verses Internal Affairs. It got old real fast. He’s able to get rid of his first handler by proving she’s dirty, but it just took way too long. Then, we get this other guy (played by the amazing Ian Bohen who is criminally wasted), and he’s just as dumb. It’s kind of a problem.

The show seemed to find its legs towards the end of the season, which only ran for fifteen episodes due to being a midseason replacement to great affect. It managed to keep a good footing in the world that Chicago Fire created, while also making something strong enough to stand on its own.

Simply because of Voight, I’m giving this season a 7/10. I’m hoping that my dislike of him will wear down in the next… seven seasons? And we still haven’t gotten to Chicago Med. There’s one more season to get to before we get that.

Crossovers and Character Appearances

Something that I actually really enjoyed was that the various characters would appear in the other shows. Detective Lindsay had more appearances then anyone, as she helped spearhead the efforts to save Severide’s sister Katie. They also start a cross-show romance, or at least a friends with benefits thing. It’s not exactly defined. Antonio appears a few times, supporting Gabby. On the flip side, Firefighter Christopher Herrmann makes quite a few appearances on P.D. at Molly’s Bar. He usually only had a few lines, but it really tied the shows together.

The major crossover event for this season came towards the end of both seasons. “A Dark Day”/”8:30 PM” dealt with the aftermath of a deadly bombing outside a hospital that was setting up for a charity run. Fire dealt with saving the lives of everyone in the hospital, including Dawson (who had just entered the hospital to sign up for the run). P.D. handled finding and stopping the bomber. Characters from both shows made cross appearances, with Burgess making the biggest, as her niece was also injured in the blast. It’s a pretty strong showing of the crossover capacities, as most of the major characters get time to shine in some way.

P.D. also crossed over with Law & Order: SVU at about the middle of the season. Unfortunately, this didn’t hit me as well as it could, as I had no connection to the SVU characters, who just appeared to be wasted. I also couldn’t watch the first part of the two-parter, as it was blocked by Peacock Premium, and I was not about to shell out money for a few episodes spread across like eight seasons. I cannot give a complete review because of that.

So. That’s year 2, as I’m calling it in my head. 61 episodes. I have 430 episodes remaining. Oh wait, I take that back. It’s 417, as I’m not about to pay for Chicago Justice, and that’s 13 episodes. Seriously, it’s not streaming free anywhere (legally that is). If I really want to watch it, I may just wait until I finish this binge-fest, and watch it later.

Well, onwards to Year 3 of One Chicago. May I still love it in 46 episodes when I finish this season.

Until next time!

(Quick aside, the reason for the delay in posting this week is because I’ve been doing interviews for a couple of jobs. It’s kept me from sitting down and actually finishing a post, or honestly watching anything. Hopefully once I can nail something down and get a working schedule again, I’ll be back posting consistently. And now I’m off to an in-person interview. I’ll explain more later. <3)

Reviewing “One Chicago” – The 2012-13 Season

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

So, I’m spending the next two months watching all the shows in the One Chicago series from NBC. I took the afternoon the other day to make a Google Sheets spreadsheet of all 491 current episodes in the series, in episodic order. Yes, that means that once I get into Season Two of Chicago Fire, I’m going to have to jump back and forth to Chicago P.D. The reason I did this is because there are a lot of crossovers in the series, and this way I’m not watching a bunch of one series, then jumping back for another block. It just works for me, even if doing the episode juggling on the Peacock app on my PS4 is going to be an absolute nightmare.

Anyway, let’s get to the review. Because of how I’m watching the series, I’m going to review all the seasons that aired together. For example, in the 2016-2017 season, all four Chicago shows had seasons air (Fire‘s 5th season, P.D.‘s 4th season, Med‘s 2nd season, and Justice‘s lone season). When I finish those seasons, I will review them all at once. But that’s at least six weeks away, depending on how fast I continue watching this series.

There will be spoilers below! You have been warned.

Chicago Fire Season One

For a first season, this was a pretty powerful beginning. The show opens with a pretty shock opener, which set the stage for the entirety of the season. We’re also introduced to all the main characters, who all are quickly set up with storylines of varying degrees of success.

Opening a show with the death of a character that has ties to every major character in a show is risky. There has to be drama in the first episode to hook viewers, especially when you are setting up a new show. But something like this can make or break a show. And in this case? It made it.

For one, it effects Lieutenant Kelly Severide, having a friend die at a scene was just the beginning of his struggles in this season. In the same fire that killed Firefighter Andy Darden, Severide was injured, though he chose to hide it. Over the first half of the season, he struggles to deal with the pain of a spinal fracture and turns to pain medication of increasing strength… and legality. His roommate and best friend, Paramedic Leslie Shay, finally convinces him to do something about it through tough love. The back half of the season has him dealing with the return of his father to Chicago, which doesn’t exactly go over well due to his father’s actions. The end of the season deals with him being accused of sexual assault by a former temp paramedic, though he is able to get her to drop the bogus charges once he confronts her.

Taylor Kinney is able to hold his own with both of these heavy storylines, especially since they feel like they are all five episodes too long. But that’s not his fault, that’s on the writers. They were dealing with a large cast, and the need to give all of them various amounts screen time.

While Severide is dealing with his issues, his counterpart on Truck, Lieutenant Matt Casey has issues both in his professional life, as well as personal. During the month after Darden’s death, Casey breaks up with his fiancée Hallie due to wanting different things with family (he wants kids, she doesn’t). Though he does reunite with Hallie, she is unfortunately killed at the end of the season in a blitz attack at the clinic she works at. He also has to deal with his mother, who he has an unstable relationship with, owing to the fact that she spent fifteen years in prison for killing his father. During the middle of the season, he is caught in in a dispute with Detective Voight which almost ends up with him getting killed. He ends the season neutral ground with the detective. Jesse Spencer is able to show so much emotion, especially with storylines that demand such power. It’s great to watch.

There’s also Paramedics Gabriela Dawson and Leslie Shay… who have some of the worst storylines in the season. Dawson can be reckless and she has gone over the professional line, leaving her to have to be written up several times. It got old at the second one. She also spends much of the season pining over Casey, while also getting into a relationship with Peter Mills (more on that later). On the other hand, Shay is basically there to have a crisis and be a lesbian. Oh, and want to have a baby, because her ex-girlfriend had one and now she wants. Half the time I think she hold’s Severide’s lone braincell, especially when he’s being stubborn.

The last character I want to bring to the table is Firefighter Candidate Peter Mills. Welcome to the most unstable writing in the damn show. (Or it could be Charlie Barnett’s acting, but that might just be personal preference). He spends half the time being a firefighter, the other half cooking. His relationship with Dawson was ill-advised and yet he continues, putting both their careers in danger. On top of that, part of the reason for becoming a firefighter is to follow in his father’s footsteps, but that doesn’t exactly work well considering the Battalion Chief Wallace Boden was there when his father died, and is hiding things from Mills. He also has a major temper problem that is rarely addressed. Oh, and he runs off at the end of the season because he doesn’t get named for Squad, something that is implied that is very difficult to get into. He’s still under one year. Cue my eyeroll.

There are other characters, obviously. I’m just hitting on the ones that are immediately standing out. Firehouse 51 is full of many firefighters that we see and follow their storylines. Most of which are actually pretty good, and I hope we revisit them in coming seasons.

Now, I’m ragging on the writing, and what I really mean to rag on is pacing. There are several storylines that I feel as though they could have been shorter (much shorter in some cases), but there are others that I think could have been extended. The actors work well with what they get, and the show comes out in a very cohesive way. I just think there are things being left behind so that there’s more for later seasons. Ten bucks says I’m right.

I’m happy to say that I’m pleasantly surprised that I’m enjoying this show. I know the back half of the second season is split with Chicago P.D., so I’m curious to see if pacing is an issue. I know there are character crossovers.

All in all, I’d give season one of Chicago Fire an 8/10.

(I probably won’t go into this much detail in subsequence posts, mostly because I’ll be talking about two or more seasons at once. Also, I’m now under the gun to get through 400+ episodes in like ten weeks. Which is a scary thought.)

Until next time!