S08.E20: 51's Original Bell

[jewel21]

When one of 51's own gets injured on a call, Severide becomes obsessed with helping out. Foster contemplates a big decision. Kidd is concerned for one of her high school trainees.

Airdate: 04/15/2020

[mxc90]

After I heard Capp go pass his quota of dialogue per episode, I had a feeling something was going to happen with him. And I was shocked he didn't suffer any permanent damage and will be back to work. The show does have a soft side!!!

Capp even faked out the somber music when he said his career was over!

Does Ritter have a sixth sense to detect relationship trouble? His back was to Violet and Gallo and then he turned around as if he knew something was wrong before they did.

Gallo is an embarrassment! 5 texts in 24 hours and then propose marriage! No way Violet can respect or sleep with him after this!

Was mentioning "Winnebagos"  in honor of Breaking Bad?

Cruz couldn't get time off for a honeymoon? The floater that replaced Capp wasn't available?

What was with that look Severide gave the floater after Boden introduced him?

Casey to Cruz: "Don't let him do anything stupid". (Without any words) Cruz told Casey: Severide owns him and he would never attempt to stop him.

And Severide got the "Stop Work Order" without giving a major speech! The man should run for mayor!

I was surprised Severide admitted he couldn't get a door open.

A little late for the April Fool's joke to replace the girl's lip gloss or is she the diva/show off of the class and the others wanted to bring her down a notch?

Did Wendy already bail on "Girls on Fire"?

Kidd doesn't know she is talking to Severide the master of being "invasive"? And of course, he gave her permission to call Kylie.

Did Kidd have to call Kylie and say " this is Stella from Girls on Fire"? It sounded so stupid.

How was the hearse driver not crushed to death? He must have impressive instincts to duck out of the way so fast.

If Capp was in the coffin after it opened, I would have jumped!

Too bad the show couldn't predict there will be no baseball when this episode aired.

That was probably the best we have seen Emily perform on the show. And the show should stop right there and let her leave on a high note!

Not sure why Sylvie is the reason she considered staying. Sylive got with Chaplain and left town without thinking twice about her.

Edited April 16, 2020 by mxc90

[greyhorse]

Emily has a chance to restart her dream of being a doctor.  WTF does Sylvie's feelings have to do with any of that?  Why would she give that up for fear of "abandoning" Sylvie in her time of need?  It should have no bearing on whether or not she pursues a lifelong desire.

 

[mxc90]

25 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

I like Capp, I am glad he is on the show.

Me too.

So what was the point of Capp's actions? To prove the Chicago doctors don't know what they are doing?

[Waterston Fan]

Didn't care for this episode but I don't understand why Sylvie got so upset about Foster's meeting. 

I didn't and still don't care about Girls on Fire but miss class one day and Stella is already worried but I admit, I didn't watch the scene with the girl or Stella so maybe i missed something. Gonna suck with no more episodes til September. 😞

[jewel21]

Capp's actions left me confused. I guess he was just scared and ran off but dude, let them fix your eyes before running away. You could go blind, sheesh. 

[greyhorse]

6 minutes ago, jewel21 said:

Capp's actions left me confused. I guess he was just scared and ran off but dude, let them fix your eyes before running away. You could go blind, sheesh. 

Ditto.  I thought he ran off because he knew he was blind and that he was depressed.  When Kelly and Casey went to see him at his home, I really thought he was blind and was pretending that he could see.  I thought him grabbing the beer would expose him as not being able to see.  Guess going blind would write him off the show and the writers weren't ready for that.

[Waterston Fan]

I meant to ask... when you leave a hospital and should stay for observation, can they really call the police on you? 

[iMonrey]

Sort of an anti-climactic season finale, even if we know why. I wonder what kind of cliff-hanger they had planned for us if they'd been able to shoot the final few episodes. We are usually left with at least a couple of main characters in peril.

Quote

I didn't and still don't care about Girls on Fire

Still seems like a stupid name to me. Sounds kind of like they have VD or something.

[Dowel Jones]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Sounds kind of like they have VD or something.

Reminds me of all the bad jokes people made about Elvis Presley's Burning Love. 

Just what was Severide planning to do at the wrecking yard, since he was cut off by the no work order?  He implied it was more than just talk to the guy.  Someone needs to put a leash on him.  He would have been on the hook, along with the city and the FD, for serious civil liability, not to mention possible criminal charges.

I wonder if CFD let the producers use a few out of date hazmat suits, or if the show replaced them out of the budget.  That would be a chunk of money.  At least the show, for once, showed people in the proper PPE for such an incident.  No bare heads, tee shirts, etc.  But it wouldn't have hurt to drag a hose into the mess, in case they got an explosion or something. Oh, wait.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Just what was Severide planning to do at the wrecking yard, since he was cut off by the no work order?  He implied it was more than just talk to the guy.  Someone needs to put a leash on him.  He would have been on the hook, along with the city and the FD, for serious civil liability, not to mention possible criminal charges.

I know I'm beating a dead horse but I'm sick of Severide going out to investigate every single case they get lately. Oh, there was an unexplained fire? Accident? Cave-in? Explosion? Never fear, Severide is on the case! 

Um . . . that's not his job. There's a whole department devoted to that work. They're called the police.

Now granted, they suck at their jobs, and half of them are crooked from what I can tell. Nevertheless, if they want to do a show about someone investigating suspicious cases then they need to do a different show. I know it's not exciting to just put out fires then go back to the station but that's what fire fighters do. If they've run out of ideas on that front then it's time to hire some new writers.

 

[WinJet0819]

With the shut down, this was exactly the type of episode that you would fear getting to end the season. This episode definitely wasn't made to end a season. I think they would have been better off stopping after last week's episode. The wedding would have been decent way to close the season.

Now we have to wonder what's gonna happen with Stella's Girls on Fire recruit next season, if the writers are sure to remember this storyline next season. Is Gallo going to be able to fix things with Violet? He should have just stopped at "I want us to be exclusive." They could be a decent couple if the actress (Hanako Greensmith) chooses to come back next season. Is Foster really going to go back to med school and leave the CFD?

It wouldn't surprise me if Foster does leave Fire and comes back in Med as a main character, and Violet comes over to partner with Sylvie. That would be the easy way. But that depends if Annie Illonzeh is staying or going, as well.

I didn't really understand Capp's behavior after the injury. What was the point of him leaving AMA, especially with an injury that could permanently affect his vision? And then he becomes unreachable, but winds up just being at home watching TV in the dark. What was Kelly really expecting to do by going back to that salvage yard? And at least we don't have to worry about Brett raising the baby or getting with Matt for another season.

But this season is what it is, which is incomplete, unfortunately.

[Guildford]

3 hours ago, WinJet0819 said:

I didn't really understand Capp's behavior after the injury. What was the point of him leaving AMA, especially with an injury that could permanently affect his vision? And then he becomes unreachable, but winds up just being at home watching TV in the dark.

I'm guessing just for the angsty Severide/Casey bromance moment. A throw back to season 1 when Hadley wanted to nose dive off the roof.

The Girls on Fire storyline needs to die a quick death. It is the single most boring thing this show has done this season. I don't know whether it is the fact that Stella is just a boring character but that class seemed like it was a total snooze fest. Nobody seemed remotely interested. No wonder the chick didn't turn up for the next class. Hopefully by next season they've moved on to another C-plot. The last thing this show needs is Gabby 2.0 and that's precisely the path Stella is on.

[Brookside]

20 hours ago, Waterston Fan said:

I meant to ask... when you leave a hospital and should stay for observation, can they really call the police on you? 

Depends which TV show you watch!

[jabRI]

2 hours ago, Brookside said:

I meant to ask... when you leave a hospital and should stay for observation, can they really call the police on you? 

I think Halstead was saying he'd have to report it to CFD, not CPD. That was how I heard it anyway.

[dovegrey]

This is the first time I've watched the show in a few weeks, and I only watched it live this week because my streaming apps wouldn't properly load on Wednesday night.

Very little of what these characters do makes any sense. I said it a few months ago as a joke, but I think the writers either use madlibs or a dart board to plan episodes. I'll never understand why Med and PD are written like real primetime shows, but Fire has been written as a Saturday morning feel-good tween show since sometime in season 5.

Capp's storyline made no sense at all, not with him being healthy and fine at the end (he should have been blind and gone; they're long due for a disabling injury).

Severide pestering the salvage site owner over and over made no sense, nor did Boden recognizing what Severide was going to do and then basically telling Casey to babysit him, rather than sitting Severide's ass down and doling out some strongly worded do-or-resign orders. It made absolutely zero sense that the salvage site was open and operating the same day that a massive incident/explosion occurred.

Foster sort of had a build-up to her storyline with all the passive aggressive huffing and puffing about Brett being PIC and stupid paramedic rules. It'd be great if she ends up on Med (because I don't watch it and can't stand her). If Brett would go with her, even better; the mousy, quiet, sweetly-repressed-emotion thing is old.

With Kidd's Girls Gone Wild or whatever thing - Does Chicago Public Schools not have high school career/technical education programs for Fire and Rescue? High school students in my neck of the woods get dual credit and a leg up at the Academy for doing real Fire/Rescue programs in high school, and they actually go to real firehouses, where they really gear up, really wear the uniforms, and really work with the crew and are trained by an officer in both experiential learning and manualized classroom instruction.

They're going to wring three more years out of this show, and I really don't see how, unless they bring in a competent showrunner. In hindsight, I respect the hell out of Monica Raymund for recognizing the decline and leaving the franchise when she did. I can't say I miss Gabby or think the show was better because of her (when she left), but I'd so much rather have stories with her and Casey again, than the another outlandish St. Severide storyline each week, while Kidd has nothing better to do than hand-wring over a high school student and Casey has nothing better to do than lift an eyebrow and compete with Tony for lines.

Edited April 17, 2020 by dovegrey

[Waterston Fan]

1 hour ago, jabRI said:

I think Halstead was saying he'd have to report it to CFD, not CPD. That was how I heard it anyway.

Hmmm... I thought he did say CPD. Now that being said, can a hospital do that in real life whether its police or fire? I should have made my question clear. 

[The Ringo Kidd]

On 4/16/2020 at 11:43 AM, jewel21 said:

Capp's actions left me confused. I guess he was just scared and ran off but dude, let them fix your eyes before running away. You could go blind, sheesh. 

Listen Cap knows Chicago Med and he knows he has a much better chance of survival if he went home and attached leeches to his eyes. If you go to Chicago Med they will kill you every time.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Hmmm... I thought he did say CPD. Now that being said, can a hospital do that in real life whether its police or fire? I should have made my question clear. 

I supposed it's possible that if a fire fighter refuses treatment or leaves the hospital without a doctor's consent they are required to report them. I've never heard of it before, but it's by far not the most outlandish thing this show has tried to sell.

[Dowel Jones]

I could see that happening (the report).  For Worker's Compensation issues, if nothing else.

[WinJet0819]

On 4/16/2020 at 4:41 PM, iMonrey said:

I know I'm beating a dead horse but I'm sick of Severide going out to investigate every single case they get lately. Oh, there was an unexplained fire? Accident? Cave-in? Explosion? Never fear, Severide is on the case! 

Um . . . that's not his job. There's a whole department devoted to that work. They're called the police.

Now granted, they suck at their jobs, and half of them are crooked from what I can tell. Nevertheless, if they want to do a show about someone investigating suspicious cases then they need to do a different show. I know it's not exciting to just put out fires then go back to the station but that's what fire fighters do. If they've run out of ideas on that front then it's time to hire some new writers.

 

Could not agree more. It's getting tiring seeing Super Severide having to investigate every suspicious case. If it's a suspected arson, he has to take lead and apparently knows more than OFI investigators. And when he actually gets assigned to OFI to help with the backlog, it's like he couldn't wait to leave, saying he's happy with Squad. If he's happy with Squad, stick to Squad-related duties only and leave possible arson cases to the OFI, as that's their job. Can't have it both ways.

The writers do need get more creative with actual fire related stories, instead of just trying to invent new storylines for Severide to save the day.

[Sake614]

On 4/15/2020 at 10:30 PM, mxc90 said:

What was with that look Severide gave the floater after Boden introduced him?

I wondered the same thing! I saw the look and thought WTF?

[SG11]

There was so much about this episode that made no sense.

-for a daredevil stud that Gallo is an unbelievable wuss

-The Severide Detective Agency gets more boring each week. And I liked how he said why bother waiting until after shift? I must investigate NOW.

-they never explained why Cap bailed. And yes the hospital can report that to CFD.

-I think I’m the only person here that isn’t bugged by the Girls on Fire name. It sounds exactly like the cool something someone would use to try to entice the girls. It’s boring though.

-WTH was Silvie pissed about?

-Why does Emily never get in trouble for illegally pretending to be a Dr in the field?

-Severide was a dick when he gave the replacement guy the stink eye.

-man that Sylvie “find Mom, love Mom, Mom move to Chi, lose Mom, lose baby, they move back to Rockford” storyline moved fast!

-PS, Rockford ain’t that far, Sylvie.

[The Ringo Kidd]

If you catch the new Netflix show “ Upload” you would find out that bad wig girl is actually a pretty damn good actress.

You could never tell that from the way they use her here.

[SnarkySheep]

On 4/16/2020 at 11:19 AM, Waterston Fan said:

I didn't and still don't care about Girls on Fire but miss class one day and Stella is already worried

IRL Stella would just assume the girl had to stay after school or whatever - she wouldn't likely reach out until Kylie had been out a few times. But of course, it's TV Land, so if someone misses something once, you know it's Totally Relevant to the Plot.

Overall, though, I agree with not caring about Girls on Fire. The whole storyline just feels so artificially PC to me. And are we really supposed to believe that initially none of the girls gave a crap about joining, but after one did, then all her friends ran right over? Sure.

[NJRadioGuy]

That story is definitely manufactured and not particularly germane to the overall thrust of the show in my opinion, but I honestly don't mind it. Maybe it plants the seed of an idea for a few young women in real life to consider the fire service as a career.

Now granted, probably not very many high school kids are watching this show with the same passion that kids in my generation tuned in Emergency! in the '70s. But that one, single TV show begat tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of career firefighters and paramedics and was responsible for the explosion of paramedic services worldwide in the years that followed. If this silly bit of dramatic fluff can have even 1/100th of the effect that Johnny and Roy had then count me in as a fan.

As a friend of mine on the job said of younger people in today's generation, what are the odds that you're even alive today because some kid watched the boys from the real Station 51 saving lives, hired on and saved your mom or dad in a crisis 25 years ago. So count me a fan of the storyline, regardless how silly it is.

Edited May 15, 2020 by NJRadioGuy

[dovegrey]

On 5/15/2020 at 3:53 PM, NJRadioGuy said:

That story is definitely manufactured and not particularly germane to the overall thrust of the show in my opinion, but I honestly don't mind it. Maybe it plants the seed of an idea for a few young women in real life to consider the fire service as a career.

Now granted, probably not very many high school kids are watching this show with the same passion that kids in my generation tuned in Emergency! in the '70s. But that one, single TV show begat tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of career firefighters and paramedics and was responsible for the explosion of paramedic services worldwide in the years that followed. If this silly bit of dramatic fluff can have even 1/100th of the effect that Johnny and Roy had then count me in as a fan.

As a friend of mine on the job said of younger people in today's generation, what are the odds that you're even alive today because some kid watched the boys from the real Station 51 saving lives, hired on and saved your mom or dad in a crisis 25 years ago. So count me a fan of the storyline, regardless how silly it is.

I respect your voice on this forum and always enjoy when you bring real-world perspective into how calls are handled on CF. I've thought about this comment more than I should probably admit, so I'll just blame lockdown/quarantine boredom, haha.

Every time I try to write a response, I end up spiraling into how far gone this show is with copious examples, especially compared to seasons 1-3 and even season 4. I'll try to keep it to this: I really hope that seasons 6-8 of CF AREN'T inspiring kids or young adults to be firefighters, particularly if these seasons of the show are their only influence. Since season 6, the show has shamelessly depicted firefighters as law enforcement. In full turnout gear, Cruz popped through a roof hatch with a semi-automatic rifle in his hands (the CPD episode of the S8 crossover). Severide is almost always using a routine call as a springboard for an investigation, even intimidating a "suspect" in a hospital room and now twice physically assaulting "suspect" teenagers. Casey led a multi-rig pursuit of theft suspects through Chicago. The EMTs spend most episodes investigating routine calls and meddling into lives.

These examples aren't the exception. Season 6 was ludicrous all the way around, but then the more measured season 7 started the "routine call triggers a ridiculous investigation plotline" trend that has dominated the storytelling for two years. This version of firefighting is backwards and frequently disrespectful, and I hope kids/teens aren't seeing it and thinking "I want to be a firefighter like Severide!" Because Severide pursues "suspects" far more often than he fights a fire or rescues somebody, and he is now clearly the main character and focus of the show.

The firehouse sitcom plots are annoying and infantile, but it's the more recent LEO portrayal of the firefighters and EMTs that I can't abide. This is not a comment on the value of LEOs but it is a comment on the improper portrayal of the neutral and victim-focused role firefighters serve. The earlier seasons of CF overtly fought the perception that FFs are law enforcement and often had Boden reminding the firefighters to stay in their lane. They need to go back to that, or go and do a show called Chicago OFI.

Seasons 1-3 nearly had me, a grown adult with an established career, go try to be a volunteer firefighter. It *was* inspiring. (...I've given this terrible show way too much thought.)

[NJRadioGuy]

Yes, the latest seasons have had a lot of hot garbage and I couldn't agree more with the insipid plots where FFs are performing LEO acts constantly. I'll give 'em kudos when warranted, but yeah, the writers and showrunners think the only way network procedurals can work today is to be of the police or medical variety. I like PD. I hate Med. But Fire doesn't fit either one neatly and I'm not sure TPTB know what to do with it. It's the red headed stepchild of the Dick Wolf universe now.

And that's a body blow because there's just so much good material for the show to draw on based on real life rescues and fires, and still leave room for those ridiculous firehouse B- and C-stories. And to circle back to Emergency! for a minute, their B- and C-plots were unwatchably bad. But the rescues were SO well done, and there were more of them. 

I'd watch Chicago OFI in a heartbeat., but I think it would have very limited appeal. Severide and PixieCut (sorry, I forget her name) do play well onscreen so that could maybe work. Air it when CF is on hiatus, maybe?

[dovegrey]

On 6/17/2020 at 10:51 PM, NJRadioGuy said:

Yes, the latest seasons have had a lot of hot garbage and I couldn't agree more with the insipid plots where FFs are performing LEO acts constantly. I'll give 'em kudos when warranted, but yeah, the writers and showrunners think the only way network procedurals can work today is to be of the police or medical variety. I like PD. I hate Med. But Fire doesn't fit either one neatly and I'm not sure TPTB know what to do with it. It's the red headed stepchild of the Dick Wolf universe now.

And that's a body blow because there's just so much good material for the show to draw on based on real life rescues and fires, and still leave room for those ridiculous firehouse B- and C-stories. And to circle back to Emergency! for a minute, their B- and C-plots were unwatchably bad. But the rescues were SO well done, and there were more of them. 

I'd watch Chicago OFI in a heartbeat., but I think it would have very limited appeal. Severide and PixieCut (sorry, I forget her name) do play well onscreen so that could maybe work. Air it when CF is on hiatus, maybe?

I have a feeling that a hypothetical Chicago OFI show would be 90% of what we're already getting on Chicago Fire, especially if ran by Derek Haas. I doubt they'd keep it to fire investigations, despite OFI only handling fire-related incidents. But if Haas were to go do Chicago OFI and leave Chicago Fire to someone who wants to write the premise and characters, I'd be overjoyed. 

I figure there has to be another attempt at a spin-off coming. How much life will Fire and PD really have left after the next three seasons, if PD even survives the BLM and police reform movements? If a fourth show were to be developed, they could air on Tuesday or Thursday, potentially, then fold into the Wednesday block. I actually think an OFI show would bridge better to PD than Fire, at least given how it's all currently being written.

(Andy Allo/Seeger is the lead on Upload, a really neat and enjoyable show. I don't think she's coming back to One Chicago.)

Edited June 23, 2020 by dovegrey
clarity

[NJRadioGuy]

On 6/23/2020 at 1:04 PM, dovegrey said:

(Andy Allo/Seeger is the lead on Upload, a really neat and enjoyable show. I don't think she's coming back to One Chicago.)

I knew that Nora somehow looked familiar but the penny didn't drop until I read your comment. Yes, that's a great show and I strongly recommend it.