Firehouse 51 has weathered many storms where people wanted to tear them down. However, never has the threat come from this close. In the latest Chicago Fire, Patterson makes clear his intentions to take over, and a final horrible twist may well put him there.
First let’s discuss the few moments of levity in the episode. A grateful survivor of a fire, who happens to work for the Canadian rock band RUSH, offers Firehouse 51 backstage passes to the band’s show. Mouch is so giddy he runs around the firehouse rehearsing what he is going to say when he meets the band. Alas, Mouch is so flabbergasted when the moment comes that he forgets how to speak. A ticket mix-up makes him and the rest of the gang think that they were given bad seats. Everyone else leaves while Mouch is escorted to the front of the stage for the night of his life. Also, Chili and Borelli are enjoying their new flirtation. There are no secrets in the house, so word spreads pretty fast. Not that it matters; in-house romances are part and parcel by now.
Cruz gets an unwelcome blast from the past during drills. A gangbanger named Freddie who used to hang around his little brother Leon starts coming around the house. At first Cruz thinks Freddie is a threat, but Freddie just wants to send Leon some old baseball cards they used to collect as kids. Cruz can see the pressure in Freddie’s face. The truth is he is just a scared kid who wants out of the gang life and wants Cruz’s help to do it. Patterson asks Cruz for the truth and makes a big show out of wanting to be there for him. Cruz does tell the truth, but questions the way Patterson is choosing to run squad. Patterson’s answer that the chain of command comes first is truly one of the most disgusting things I have ever heard on this show.
The tension that has been brewing between Patterson and Severide is coming to a boiling point. Patterson’s ambition is a huge problem for Squad 3 and the rest of the house. Chief Riddle blatantly tells Patterson he has it out for all of Firehouse 51, and he expects Patterson to be on his side when he goes after them. Patterson puts Severide through his paces as if he was a candidate. Casey tries to come at Patterson from a peaceful angle, but that doesn’t work. It gets so bad that Patterson’s decision not to try to diffuse a tense situation at a roadside crash is swept aside because Severide didn’t follow a direct order. It doesn’t matter that Severide was right, it just matters that Patterson is the big boss. When he can’t get Severide thrown out of the house, he picks a fight with him at Molly’s off-duty. Severide warns him that he has no right to get in his face when they are both off the clock, but Patterson keeps pushing until he gets a reaction he can use to suspend his enemy.
In the meantime, Chief Riddle orders Boden to hand over all of his incident files for the past year. Boden knows that Riddle is fishing, but he has no idea that it’s a distraction from a much more sinister plot against him. I wish I was being overly dramatic. Boden and Donna get a new Air B&B neighbor named Serena. She seems nice at first, but alarm bells start going off in Boden’s head when Serena calls him personally to get her into her place when she locks herself out. Sure enough this woman ends up making false allegations that Boden beat her. Office politics do not excuse this. This crosses a very clear line.
How will Firehouse 51 make their way through this conspiracy?
[Photo credit: Elizabeth Morris/NBC]
Follow Us
