S08.E06: What Went Wrong

[jewel21]

Cruz and Severide suspect foul play when a fire started by an elderly woman turns deadly. Kidd, Foster and Brett create a women’s-only lounge. Firehouse 51 celebrates some good news.

Airdate: 10.30.2019

[spunky]

Damn! She killed her own mother for money. Casey if you would have let him explain Gallo would have told you what happened. How cute Severide is Cruz's best man.

[dovegrey]

One of the best episodes in a long while, except for the lounge thing. Pretty sure Herrmann arranged the takeover of the lounge. Still tired of the sitcom C plots. 

The officers were being officers and working with their crews. Multiple characters were developed through that interaction. The storylines were balanced and well paced. Stellaride was nowhere to be found.

I really enjoyed Casey and Gallo and how that story brought in Boden and Ritter. That entire storyline was excellent, especially with Casey's history of also losing his entire family (dad killed, mom in prison, estranged sister). I didn't know this show still had the ability to be subtle. Seriously well done and enjoyable.

They mentioned HALLIE!!! 😍

My complaint is how they always feel the need to artificially elevate Severide. Cruz has a beloved brother named Leon, but Severide, who has shared very few non-call scenes/lines with Cruz in 7.5 years, is best man? Also, if he wants to play cop every episode, there's a show for that and it shouldn't be confused for this one. 

Otherwise, hell yeah. Loved it.

[mxc90]

Really nice for Kelly PI to bring his new trainee Cruz along on the case. Break him in easy to attempt to bust a no good son in law.

Due to the weight of Kelly's ego, Van Meter went back (off clock) to conduct a thorough investigation in order to regain his trust, approval, and respect.

Poor Kelly! He was so certain it was the husband. He looked so disappointed and was speechless. No doubt he wanted to tell the husband (as the cuffs were going on): grandma didn't want her daughter to marry a plumber!

Kidd must have learned how to guilt superiors from Kelly.

The look on Sylvie's face (when Kidd was pitching the lounge to Boden) suggests there would be a lot of "action" going on in that room. 

The clumsy bride to be must have gotten a running start in the shower to be able to crash through the glass.

Gallo doing all the chores and not complain was a good move. Did he unintentionally earn some "sympathy" armor and now Casey will think twice to yell at him if he has another slip? Boden has already declared he will be easy on him after hearing his story. Next week, Gallo should pour hard liquor in the pancakes to test to see if he will get in trouble.

Did Ritter share the advice he told Gallo and told the other CFD women they can be "themselves" in 51?  How can that one woman start vaping/smoking in the house? She should have been booted immediately. 

If you are "on shift" why would you go to lounge at 51 and if you are "off shift" why would you go lounge at 51 (go home)? This maybe the worst B or C plot this season.

Once again, another group of CFD outsiders has to make the people of 51 look so good. Only Cap is designated the "gross one" of 51. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by mxc90

[ECM1231]

My nit pick this episode is when the fire marshal said the family had motive to commit arson/ murder b/c he went to the bank and found out granny squirreled away 300K! No way would that happen. Banks won't divulge that to attorneys or even next of kin. Her executor would have to present documentation. In NY it's called letters testamentary. 

[Dowel Jones]

I don't know about Illinois law, but in California, fire investigators must first obtain a search warrant to return to a burn site on private property, once the fire has been put out.  Of course, no one in the neighborhood would think to call CPD about seeing three guys with flashlights going through a recently burned building.  And the arriving cops wouldn't smell liquor on Cruz and Severide's breath, either.

Making small mistakes is one thing, but Gallo seems to do something really dangerous every episode, yet he is excused because 20 years ago he suffered a family tragedy.

[NJRadioGuy]

My nitpick is that Gallo could have easily killed off everybody working the job and he got a sympathy pass and some some extra chores for his trouble. And no, that's not hyperbole. Like us, fire is a living, breathing beast. It craves oxygen or it dies. Orchestrating when to breach an access point—like a door— in a heavily-involved structure fire is something that can't be taken lightly and f@#$nozzle Gallo gave it everything it wanted, and we saw the result.

Back story or not, Boden and Casey both should have had him reviewing ventilation protocols and drilling up and down ladders in bunker gear for a week. And Casey shouldn't let Gallo out of his sight on the fireground until he proves his worth.

But it also made little sense to even send Gallo to the back door, except as a backup in case something went haywire. And certainly not with only one truck company on the scene. See above. You want to control how much oxygen gets into the fire building, with the idea being you cut open the roof, then go in through the front door with your attack line(s). Force the heat and gasses up through the vent, then hit it with the H2O with extreme prejudice. 

Severide seriously needs to put in for OFI. He's good at it, and is frankly being wasted on Squad.

[dovegrey]

3 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Back story or not, Boden and Casey both should have had him reviewing ventilation protocols and drilling up and down ladders in bunker gear for a week. And Casey shouldn't let Gallo out of his sight on the fireground until he proves his worth.

Casey ordered Gallo back to the academy for retraining. They just didn't show it. And at least the show had Casey nearly being ready to let Gallo go, as he told Boden he couldn't trust Gallo with Kidd or Mouch. I think, for what this show is now, they hung a lantern on the severity of the screw up, which is more than I expect. Within expectations, they refused to let this story ride for more than 40 minutes. 

And Gallo needs therapy. Two minutes of with Casey isn't going to help him stop having uncontrollable emotional reactions in dangerous situations. But since it's Casey, who Boden should have forced into therapy plenty of times, it ain't gonna happen. 

[Waterston Fan]

How many of you guys thought the women's lounge would blow up in their faces, raise your hand... I thought it would for sure.... haha stupid plot though.

Not sure beer in pancakes really does taste good. 

I have to admit, if I started to explain something and someone cuts me off because they don't want to hear it, then later on asks me to explain, not sure I'd be willing to do so.  

I still think Gallo will either get himself killed or kill someone else and he almost did in that fire.  Why didn't Casey remind him he has a radio and to call ahead and let them know? But I guess that is too easy, right? lol 

Next week looks interesting. 

[Guildford]

2 minutes ago, Waterston Fan said:

How many of you guys thought the women's lounge would blow up in their faces, raise your hand... I thought it would for sure.... haha stupid plot though.

And low and behold someone not from 51 is fat/lazy/obnoxious/incompetent/rude/belligerent/out to get them blah blah blah....although kudos for mixing it up and making it girls this time. That was original🙄

[NJRadioGuy]

3 hours ago, cbsspecialreport said:

Casey ordered Gallo back to the academy for retraining.

Ah, you're right, and that's as it should be.

As for the dumb C-plot, heck, even "Emergency!" did it almost every single week. Their rescues were the best, but their attempts at levity were cringeworthy every single time. so CF is in good company there, at least.

[preeya]

7 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Severide seriously needs to put in for OFI. He's good at it, and is frankly being wasted on Squad

Sounds like this could be an upcoming scenario after Kidd gets her promotion.

Kelly out Kidd in, although her childish behavior this past episode could curtail that.

[dovegrey]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

At minimum a psych evaluation to make sure he has impulse control.  So far he hasn't shown any impulse control at all.

We haven't really seen him, though. He joined 51 in 8x2 (after demonstrating that he does have impulse issues); in 8x3 he offered a risky idea that Boden and Casey both readily approved; and 8x6 was the first episode since where he had more than a background role. In "show time," that's probably 3 months without any issues. It just happens that 8x6 opened a can of worms with this kid: he's not impulsive because he wants to be a hero...he's impulsive because he's never dealt with his issues. Both are dangerous (but I like the angle they're taking with this kid). Gallo's lucky that Casey, the king of leveraging unresolved trauma into stellar work performance, is his officer. And I suspect that Boden sees Casey in Gallo. 

I liked this episode (the bar is low), but this is another gripe I have with the overall pacing and tell-not-show writing. At Molly's, Boden TELLS Casey something like, "I've watched you train Gallo and build him into a firefighter over the last few months." But why haven't we SEEN that? Why hasn't Gallo, as a character, been given the chance to build capital and interest with the audience between 8x3 and 8x6? Because of the crossover? Because the writers insist on having sitcom C plots that devour time and pages of scripts?* Because Severide needs yet another investigation to prove that he's the be-all, end-all of everything related to firefighting and citizen policing and Taylor Kinney needs another chance to show off his one facial expression?

Similarly, why didn't Cruz actually get a storyline with Chloe? We saw her talk to Mouch, we saw her dump Cruz, we saw her talk to Brett, and we saw them get engaged: that's not a storyline, it's a collection of scenes. Chloe and Cruz have exchanged about 10 lines since they got together last season, but I'm supposed to be invested in his engagement. All the context is "tell," rather than writing and showing.

*These plots irk me so much, because my sense is that Derek Haas genuinely thinks Derek Haas is funny; all I think about when watching these plots is that their writers' room must be nothing but back-patting about 4th-grade level concrete thinking and lame humor. Likewise, Haas breaks every cardinal writing rule in the book (telling not showing; inability to let characters go; forcing characters into plots and breaking in-universe rules to manufacture those plots; etc) and then publicly mocks critical fans on Twitter. So frustrating. 

This got long.

[iMonrey]

I'm confused. Is Gallo the candidate, or is Ritter the candidate? I always assume the newest/youngest guy is the candidate and that was Ritter until Gallo arrived. Or are neither candidates? Gallo replaced Otis, who wasn't the candidate.

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If you are "on shift" why would you go to lounge at 51 and if you are "off shift" why would you go lounge at 51 (go home)? This maybe the worst B or C plot this season.

This had to be the dumbest subplot the show has ever done period. And that's a pretty high bar. These other female firefighters can't leave their own stations if they're working a shift, and if they're not working they can go anywhere they want. Why would they want to congregate in some dumb little room at some other fire station? WTF. 

Quote

 Also, if he wants to play cop every episode, there's a show for that and it shouldn't be confused for this one. 

Yeah they really need to cool it with that, it's getting really old. 

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grandma didn't want her daughter to marry a plumber!

I don't see why not. Plumbers make WAY more more money. 

[Dowel Jones]

I know it's evil (hey, it's Halloween), but every time I see the tired old scene of kid/husband/wife/etc. run up to the burning house, screaming "Let me in! My (insert relative) is in there!", I wish the firefighters would just let them run into the burning house.  Okay, dumbass, see how far you get inside there.  You'll get a bill from the ambulance crew later.

[izabella]

4 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I know it's evil (hey, it's Halloween), but every time I see the tired old scene of kid/husband/wife/etc. run up to the burning house, screaming "Let me in! My (insert relative) is in there!", I wish the firefighters would just let them run into the burning house.  Okay, dumbass, see how far you get inside there.  You'll get a bill from the ambulance crew later.

I have found my people!!

They could at least mix it up a little.  Maybe sometimes someone could be screaming, "Why are you just standing here when my grandma is inside!  Go get her!"

[Janie430]

OK, as a federal employee and a woman, am I the only one who wants someone to say "you want the CFD to create a sex-segregated space on official time/space only open to one gender for relaxation and bonding purposes?"  

I always eye-roll over that, because the only gender segregated spaces that are supposed to exist in government offices/spaces are restrooms.  Even nursing rooms are restricted based on breast-feeding status, not gender.  It reminds me of the episode of Strong Medicine where Jennifer Lewis was advocating for a special water supply for breast-feeding moms (primarily of color) at a public library.  

[NJRadioGuy]

On 10/31/2019 at 12:44 PM, iMonrey said:

I'm confused. Is Gallo the candidate, or is Ritter the candidate? I always assume the newest/youngest guy is the candidate and that was Ritter until Gallo arrived. Or are neither candidates?

Candidate here means probationary firefighter. Someone who graduated from the Academy but is still on probation and basically learning the ropes, both figuratively and literally. In NYC they're known as probies. Last we heard, Ritter was in this category. Gallo is a regular member, albeit young. In a few months (if not already) Ritter will be the same status. A candidate can still wash out easily if Something Really Bad happens, but once that status ends it's a different thing entirely and his or her full union protections kick in. At least one would assume a department like Chicago would have a policy along those lines.

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I don't see why not. Plumbers make WAY more more money. 

Yeah, but a FF isn't hip deep is literal $#!+ half the day 🙂. Both honorable professions, but hell yeah, a plumber will make 2x or 3x what a FF does. 

Edited November 2, 2019 by NJRadioGuy

[dovegrey]

55 minutes ago, Janie430 said:

OK, as a federal employee and a woman, am I the only one who wants someone to say "you want the CFD to create a sex-segregated space on official time/space only open to one gender for relaxation and bonding purposes?"  

It didn't make any sense. These plots never do. I try to ignore they ever happened, because it makes the characters look ridiculous, stupid, or both.

Because taking this plot at face value, Kidd is now, canonically, a female firefighter who is known to bang the Squad lieutenant in the showers (see 8x5) and whines to a battalion chief to get special treatment based on her gender. What a role model for aspiring female firefighters, challenging paralyzing stereotype threat one shift at a time. Except the opposite. (...Firefighter Dawson was more professional and aspirational serving under her (ex)-fiancee in season 3.5 and season 4 than Kidd has been this season. FFS. DAWSON.)

Plus, Capp seems like the only manners-challenged person in the main group. Boo hoo. Squad is usually out on the apron floor at their table. Truck is pretty clean cut (seriously, if they can't handle guys like Casey, Mouch, and Gallo...), and Herrmann and Ritter are pretty normal. Kidd, Brett, and Foster just didn't want to be around firefighters who talk about firefighting. In a firehouse. And one of them is a firefighter. 🥴

[Donder]

That is because you got male writers who can't write female characters even though they think they are writing them as we tough modern chicks.........Yet idiots at the same time. I doubt they know it. Stellaride is silly, my guess right after Severide blows into her, he completely has no use for her for the next 5 minutes. Casey/Gabby Sue was much more realistic though, I have seen it in my life.

[izabella]

4 hours ago, Janie430 said:

OK, as a federal employee and a woman, am I the only one who wants someone to say "you want the CFD to create a sex-segregated space on official time/space only open to one gender for relaxation and bonding purposes?"  

It was a silly plot and comic relief.  I could see them wanting a quiet room away from the tv/kitchen room.  Sometimes you just want some space.  Or maybe you want to read.   But it should be open to everyone, and I thought that might be where they would go with go with it.  But then the other women showed up, and it became really confusing why they were there.

[CoyoteBlue]

9 hours ago, izabella said:

It was a silly plot and comic relief.  I could see them wanting a quiet room away from the tv/kitchen room.  Sometimes you just want some space.  Or maybe you want to read.   But it should be open to everyone, and I thought that might be where they would go with go with it.  But then the other women showed up, and it became really confusing why they were there.

We have a "quiet room" at work and it is fucking amazing. It's dark and has a couple of recliners, some prayer rugs, and futonesque mattresses in the cubicles. Great place to take a nap during lunch, some people watch shows on their phones.

I also thought they'd open it up to everyone instead of just tanking it. Mouch was really wanting to relax with that potpourri and knows how to chill. Herrmann is too tightly wound to enjoy that room.

[Brookside]

On 10/31/2019 at 4:21 AM, cbsspecialreport said:

 Two minutes of with Casey. 

What does this mean?

[dovegrey]

22 minutes ago, Brookside said:

What does this mean?

Haha - that I need to proofread better. Take out "of." I was trying to say that Gallo having the quick heart to heart talk with Casey won't change how Gallo is triggered into emotional reactions. 

[SG11]

I know Kelly is a full time arson criminal investigator on the side, but I’m sorry, that set of circumstances was not enough to suspect foul play in that case. That strained logic. “Oh she played chess last week, she wasn’t feeble minded.” Stop it.

The twist with the mom doing it was a nice touch.

I thought the black gay kid was gonna kiss Gallo in the locker room. Surprised he didn’t.

The women’s lounge was annoying. Of course women only want to be treated the same as men... except when they are being treated special. If I was Bowden I’d have asked the ladies if being part of this fire team wasn’t enough for them and maybe they could explore girl power in another career.