S08.E19: Light Things Up

[jewel21]

Tension builds when a group of rabble-rousers attempt to lock down the firehouse. Brett is faced with a monumental decision. Cruz readies himself for a big day. Gallo and Ritter attempt to launch Firehouse 51 into the social media age.

Airdate: 04/08/2020

[mxc90]

This maybe their dumbest episode ever! I thought the episode when they put Boden on a diet was weak but this one beat it by a mile!

I can see the people protesting because of crime in the neighborhood with slow police response but the closing of a firehouse??!!! How many emergencies are going on that takes so long to respond? Not all ambulances comes from a firehouse. 

How was Boden not immediately calling the police? He was way too calm.

The fight came way too late! Beatings should have been handed out after they walked out the side door.

The protest was such a big deal, local news didn't bother cover it.

I was hoping someone knocked out the annoying guy who claimed to now "own" the firehouse. The fool doesn't even live in the neighborhood! He really showed up because he wanted to "cry" about being turned down for CFD not because of Lewis' tweets. And because of this dope, I hope Station 87 doesn't re-open! And close a firehouse near his neighborhood.

Scott doesn't have Sylvie's cell phone number and had to ask a cop to go get her?!

Why was the alderman passing medical supplies to Emily and not Boden or another fire fighter?

Now Lewis is going to have a huge medical bill because of this! I'm sure those people won't chip in to pay!

Cruz got knocked out by a guy that weighs less than a fire hose. A little sad people walked around him as he laid there.

Was Cruz's bachelor party too raunchy to be shown? 

Cruz is now married. This is shocking! Now I'm convinced Chole will not survive. No way they are making Cruz a happy man!

Surprised Best man Severide didn't walk Chloe down the aisle.

When Chloe paused, I thought she was going to turn around and run!

I hope that congrats to Foster means she will soon get back hospital work and leave the firehouse.

Gallo couldn't add "One Brawl" and some footage?

So what's your decision Scott?

Edited April 9, 2020 by mxc90

[The Ringo Kidd]

Someone should warn Chloe about the “Curse of the Ponderosa.”

[mommalib]

his episode reminds me of why Boden is a great leader. I like that he's calm and doesn't fly off the handle. He thinks before he acts, if he was a different type of leader that situation could have got really ugly.  He wanted to not escalate the situation and he didn't. 

[Glw9894]

I’m a bit afraid that this episode will be known as the one when this series “jumped the shark”. Really sad to see a really great program go down so quickly.

[greyhorse]

Dumbest. Episode. Ever.

That's all.

[Dowel Jones]

Note to CFD - When there is trouble at the firehouse, secure the firehouse.  Those bay doors should have come down the minute the rumble guys showed up.  And you let them inside the fire house?  Are the writers forgetting that it's a battalion station, and that there are administrative staff, albeit unseen, in the building also? CPD should have responded enough officers to counter the crowd in the station.  Start hooking people up with zip ties immediately.  Confiscate all cell phones.  Hold them responsible.  In my state, interfering with a firefighter in the normal performance of duties is a felony (PC 452).  If I was the property owner who lost his garage to the fire that 51 missed, that guy in the hospital would be on the hook for a lot of money.

I liked Severide's idea to cut the PVC out, but not the use of the Slammigan.  How hard would he have to hit that tube, and then twist it to open it up?  No potential for injury there, nope.  Why not just cut it on both sides?

And, to absolutely no one's surprise, Scott wanted Sylvie to take the baby.  Because she has so much spare time to raise a child, no doubt.

[Guildford]

This is rapidly veering into Chicago MED territory...and that's not a compliment.

[Waterston Fan]

One word.... LAME. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

And, to absolutely no one's surprise, Scott wanted Sylvie to take the baby. 

Uuuuugggggggggghhhhhh!!! I bow to all the rest of you who predicted exactly this would happen. I was stupid enough to give them the benefit of the doubt that surely they wouldn't do something that lame and obvious. Boy they proved me wrong. So why was it that back when Sylvie first knocked on her birth mother's door, Scott pretended she didn't live there? They never really went back to that, all they did was sort of hand-wave it when her mother showed up at the fire station to meet her. I was expecting some additional hostility. Not "take my baby." FFS.

Quote

What this episode did do is justify the actions of those assholes that took over the firehouse, and Boden played right into that.  Now that will embolden others to do the same damn thing due to that stupid video they put out.   Boden is a fool.

You said it. Number one rule dealing with terrorists? You don't negotiate with terrorists. I can see Boden not wanting to escalate the situation but that's why you get the cops involved and shut that shit down, pronto. So this guy who chained himself to the rigs gets rewarded by getting his local station re-opened. 

And once again, all the other politicians and officials in Chicago are crooked ne'er do-wells. Except Casey.

[worleybird]

So the Corona situation cut the season by 3 episodes. I wonder what the cliff hanger was going to be? For the previews for next week they said'the final episode of the season' NOT 'the season finale'

[mommalib]

8 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

Only because there wasn't a massive emergency call needing multiple firehouses being called out.   This was a slow day for that firehouse.   Boden wouldn't have sat there with his thumb up his ass if people were being burned alive due to that firehouse being unable to get trucks out.

What this episode did do is justify the actions of those assholes that took over the firehouse, and Boden played right into that.  Now that will embolden others to do the same damn thing due to that stupid video they put out.   Boden is a fool.

Boden is not a fool. Your talking about a what if scenario. It was Boden's demeanor kept that situation form getting out of hand. You need to think about how much worse things could have gotten. And also the fact that that man risked his life to fight for a just cause, a cause that most people with a heart would agree with even if they don't agree with the method.

[NJRadioGuy]

The same miniature grinder that they used to score the PVC could just as easily cut through a link at each end of the chain at the end of the pipe securing the guy to the apparatus.

There's protesting and there's rioting. Wave your signs, chant your slogans, but interfere with public safety and that's the limit. I'd have had half the local precinct down there within 10 seconds flat to restore order and crack some skulls (and maybe throw that malcontent ringleader into Voight's "special cell" back at the 21st district).

Firehouses close, it's a fact of life. And if 87 had been crazy-busy it wouldn't have been on the chopping block. EMS runs outnumber fire calls by an order of magnitude, and all you need to do is station ambulances strategically within a defined response area, and base them out of a larger house or a hospital. In my area, EMS is a hodgepodge of paid and volly, with the local volly squad (BLS) in their own dedicated quarters, but the paramedics (ALS) are paid and are based at two local EDs, but are pretty much always on the road responding over the air to emergencies to back up BLS.

CFD is structured differently, obviously (both real-world and TV-land) but similar principles are involved. Get as much coverage in the area as you can. What will suck will be actual working fire response times, but there are fewer of them in real life, and the vast majority are after dark, meaning generally emptier streets and a quicker response than during the day.

FDNY went through this a few years ago. They closed a few neighborhood houses, consolidating them with bigger nearby houses, and reduced staffing to 4-man crews, down from 5. For anybody interested, here's a NYTimes article from 2003 that covers the issues pretty well. Times Change, Officials Say, and So Firehouses Are Closing (April 2003)

[jewel21]

That was a really pretty church. 

[JenLily]

On 4/10/2020 at 1:35 AM, jewel21 said:

That was a really pretty church. 

That's the church where I got married! It's Holy Family Church in Chicago and it's absolutely stunning. And the parishioners there are so lovely and welcoming. I'm delighted it *finally* made it onto one of the Chicagos. ❤️

[iMonrey]

I don't know why Chloe would need Sylvie to be one of her bridesmaids. Were Foster and Stella bridesmaids too? Doesn't Chloe have any friends? I saw a few randos sprinkled in there but I found it unrealistic she'd ask Cruz's co-workers to be bridesmaids at her wedding.

[WinJet0819]

Not the best of episodes. I'm all for protesting, but doing so by keeping firefighters and paramedics from actually responding to an emergency is beyond crossing the line. That is a felony. The people that need the emergency help are the ones that suffer because they have to wait longer for another company to arrive. Those people did nothing to the protesters. Would the 4 kids of the one guy want their daddy to prevent innocent people from being helped and possibly dying just so he can get their firehouse reopened?

And maybe people that work in a firehouse can best answer this, but does the public normally have this easy an access to a firehouse? I've been curious about this for years. Over the 8 seasons, there have been friends, lawyers, family and even criminals show up unannounced on the apparatus floor like it's nothing. And now protesters walk in, and they're all unaware until they see the doors are locked.

And Boden was too passive, IMO. He needs to get his house back in service, and he's worried about bad press. He doesn't close the bay doors immediately and lock the outer doors to prevent more from coming in. The police presence was soft

And of course Scott shows up, during the protest (since he doesn't have Sylvie's cell phone #), to say he wants Sylvie to take the baby. No surprise to anyone.

Shame we didn't see any of the bachelor party. Would have been nice to see. They showed one for Mouch before he married Trudy.

Nice to see Chloe again. I almost forgot Cruz was engaged considering he's living with two other women. And last season, we saw that Chloe had a mom and dad. They said Joe had been a positive for Chloe in helping get her life turned around. You would expect one of them to be there to walk her down the aisle and give her away to Joe. I've never heard of a bride-to-be walk down the aisle alone at such a big wedding. She also had friends at her workplace. How can none of them be there? I wouldn't think she knows Stella or Foster well enough to be bridesmaids. Sylvie I can understand since they do spin-class and it was her that convinced Chloe to not let Joe go. We see all of Joe's firefighting family, and even Leon, but really didn't see anyone for Chloe.

Edited April 11, 2020 by WinJet0819

[Dowel Jones]

Many urban firehouses keep the bay doors closed and all the doors locked for that reason.  You ring the doorbell and someone comes to meet you.  I remember seeing a Riverside County FS in southern California that had bulletproof vests for the personnel if the call was deemed hazardous.  Rural fire stations are often more accessible.

[Waterston Fan]

Even though this was a small firehouse at the time where I used to live, I do remember having to ring the doorbell when I wanted to visit. I only visited once and they have since renovated it but I never did go back as I didn't want to bother them. 

[sweetandsour]

The nerve of those people who stormed into the common room of the firehouse and headed straight for the crew's food spread!!  This isn't a complimentary visit to Sizzler!  They didn't cook this food for aggressive protesters who decided the pop-tart they ate this morning wasn't enough.  They cooked it to feed the actual firehouse employees and give them fuel to help people in peril!

This episode was otherwise too meh for me to comment on, except Chloe looked really pretty at the end.  I'm surprised they didn't somehow have the great Wendy Seager swoop in to save the day somehow.  Severide was more hostile to the protesters than Boden wanted because he was bored from not investigating his weekly arson fire.

[Josh371982]

On 4/9/2020 at 2:58 PM, worleybird said:

So the Corona situation cut the season by 3 episodes. I wonder what the cliff hanger was going to be? For the previews for next week they said'the final episode of the season' NOT 'the season finale'

Casey and Brett hooking up and next morning Brett clad only in Caseys shirt opens his door to the return of Saint Gabby preggo with Dawsey Baby😜

[Josh371982]

On 4/11/2020 at 12:21 PM, iMonrey said:

I don't know why Chloe would need Sylvie to be one of her bridesmaids. Were Foster and Stella bridesmaids too? Doesn't Chloe have any friends? I saw a few randos sprinkled in there but I found it unrealistic she'd ask Cruz's co-workers to be bridesmaids at her wedding.

My guess for Brett being a bridesmaid is that she convinced Chloe to not bail on  the relationship and Marriage when she was afraid of losing Cruz after Otis died and seeing how his GF was handling it 

[FnkyChkn34]

On 4/11/2020 at 12:21 PM, iMonrey said:

I don't know why Chloe would need Sylvie to be one of her bridesmaids. Were Foster and Stella bridesmaids too? Doesn't Chloe have any friends? I saw a few randos sprinkled in there but I found it unrealistic she'd ask Cruz's co-workers to be bridesmaids at her wedding.

I just rewatched this episode, and I was thinking the same thing!  Stella was her maid of honor - why???  Do they even know each other?  The desire to show Brettsy and Stellaride walking down the aisle together shouldn't outweigh realism.  Where were Chloe's parents?  We met them when she was in the hospital.  They have said she has a great relationship with them, but she didn't want her dad to walk her down the aisle?  OK, maybe that's too traditional, but they should have at least been there...

I didn't hate this episode like some others seem to, but the wedding part did have a lot of issues.

The look on Severide's face as he was undressing Stella with his eyes during the ceremony was pretty good though.