S09.E06: Blow This Up Somehow

[jewel21]

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Gallo makes a split-second decision during a dangerous fire rescue leaving Casey steaming that his direct orders were not obeyed. Kidd feels a strain in her relationship with Severide. Brett and Mackey find themselves searching for answers following a series of suspicious calls.

Airdate: 02/10/2021

[CoyoteBlue]

So... Kelly's just a fucking idiot, isnt't he? And the fact that Casey didn't tell him so when Kelly shared his idiocy makes him one too.

Casey looks hot with his hair all ruffled.

They are dragging this Cruz-Mackey super-secret BS out waaaaay too long. It can NOT be interesting enough to be worth all this kerfuffle.

[mxc90]

This week on "Chicago Secrets Fire"..........

I understand Casey's explanation at the end but it seems he and Gallo should have cleared any issues they had after they arrived from the incident and not just send him home. Didn't Casey need to know the details for his report? He just heard Gallo talking and then decided to ream him??

Why bring in the poor Sydney to be the fool? I'm sure Casey called out Sylvie's name when he climaxed (probably had Sydney wear a blonde wig). Then Sylvie just happens to bump into her. Finally, the ultimate embarrassment to her from the writers was having Casey watch Sylvie like a creepy stalker as she got into the ambulance/drove away and completely turn his back to her. 

Casey can't go in for round 2 with Sydney???? What a disgrace! And after all that foolishness, she says "Don't lose my number Captain Casey". Oh. Sydney! He never had it to lose!!!!!

So Stella tells Severide she knows she can pass the test, why did she tell Boden she wants to delay taking the test????? I think she purposely left Boden's door open, knowing Kylie is a nosy body, she will immediately run to tell Severide and the fire is lit under his ass to profess his love. Stella is a crafty one!

When will the word get spread to CFD that Casey is also living with Stella and Severide?

Severide has a huge apartment.  Probably has more room for other fire fighters/police/med to move in. 

Poor guy got nothing for his pain! 

Chief Colson automatically assumed it was Mackey that switched the drugs.??!! 

How long does it take for Colson to open an inquiry? Sylvie and Mackey were already investigating before Colson got back to his office. And all he can do at the end was simply nod his head. 

Who or what huffed and puffed to blow the Gas station's canopy down?

I'm impressed Colson's SUV and the police car did not collide.

Don't care about Gallo and Mackey or a tattoo on Mouch's ass.

Edited February 11, 2021 by mxc90

[FnkyChkn34]

Stella and Severide are just... not that smart?  Bad at relationships?  I don't know.  What on earth was that?  At least hopefully now it's over - with a ridiculous bit of dialogue - and we can move on.

But Casey and Sylvie are next.  Yay for more non-communication!  Not.

Mackie and Gallo sure escalated quickly.  "What is this between us?"  Well, I would have said a one-night-stand for now, but apparently Mackie is already naming their children.  "We just work so well!"  Uh... do you?

As for the actual firefighting part of the firefighting show... that wasn't bad.  Though I'm pretty sure a GAS STATION catching on fire would be a much bigger deal and there would have been a lot more trucks there a lot faster?  If an underground tank caught fire, I'm guessing it could level nearly the whole block.  But sure, let's let just one house cover the whole thing.  I did laugh at Casey asking who the second lady was; he really should know his scene better.

[iMonrey]

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Mackie and Gallo sure escalated quickly.  "What is this between us?"  Well, I would have said a one-night-stand for now, but apparently Mackie is already naming their children.  "We just work so well!"  Uh... do you?

Yeah, and I'm not feeling it. I'm fine with Mackey as a new character, but why did they have to throw her into a romance right off the bat? We barely know her, and they've never really fleshed out Gallo that much either. I have zero investment in either one.

Severide is a day late and a dollar short with his apology. Stella wasted a lot of time stressing over his attitude when she should have been focused on her upcoming tests.

I suppose we're meant to see Casey as all noble not dating Sydney while he's still hung up on Brett, but it's not as if she was looking for a proposal. Loosen up and have a little fun for Pete's sake.

The whole thing with Mouch thinking Cruz and Herrmann were talking about him was childish.

If they were able to determine that the Fentanyl was swapped out with water or whatever because the foil seal had been tampered with, why didn't Sylvie notice that when she was administering it to the guy who sawed his leg off?

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Chief Colson automatically assumed it was Mackey that switched the drugs.??!! 

The "white shirts" on this show are always portrayed as assholes.

[jabRI]

Cruz is way out of line.  Mackey can be with who she chooses and make her own mistakes.  Last I looked she's a grown woman.

[FnkyChkn34]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

If they were able to determine that the Fentanyl was swapped out with water or whatever because the foil seal had been tampered with, why didn't Sylvie notice that when she was administering it to the guy who sawed his leg off?

I guess I handwaved this because they are working fast in a high-pressure situation - maybe they don't really have time to notice that the foil is broken?  It looked like it was haphazardly put back on, so maybe that's enough for them not to notice in an emergency.

[Guildford]

Is Gallo supposed to be a young Severide? Is that it? Whatever it is it is not working. At least Severide used to be an interesting & fun character, although now he's a little feckless. Gallo doesn't even have that going for him.

And I guess we are supposed to assume that they either called in a reliever or just run a shift a man down on truck when Casey just sent him home? 

The paramedics playing cops again is a new twist....NOT. All wrapped up in a nice little bow within one episode. This missing drug story was much better the first time they did it when it lasted more than a hot second back when this show put effort into stories & the characters weren't so meh. I miss Shay 😞

 

[MinorL]

5 hours ago, jabRI said:

Cruz is way out of line.  Mackey can be with who she chooses and make her own mistakes.  Last I looked she's a grown woman.

Agreed. I hate this trope. She’s an adult and he had no business interfering. It’s patriarchal and sexist. 

[FnkyChkn34]

1 hour ago, Guildford said:

And I guess we are supposed to assume that they either called in a reliever or just run a shift a man down on truck when Casey just sent him home? 

I thought the same thing!  But then I think Severide made a joke about it, so yep - they just operated a man down!  So stupid, and dangerous.

[Dowel Jones]

I think Brett would still be held accountable for letting Schedule 1 drugs out of her control, even if it was a setup.  And I'm surprised that guy hadn't bled out, let alone still conscious. That was a ferocious, arterial level laceration.

I agree that Casey didn't handle the Gallo incident as well as he could have.  IRL you would have to get the BC's permission to downstaff, even if temporary, and there's no guarantee they could find a replacement on the spot.  And then, the counseling in the bar was all wrong.  So much could go wrong if there were a disciplinary hearing later.  Do it at the station.

Hermann needs to do some more training with E-51.  Two minutes for a couple of guys to roll out some hose, connect the eductor and put it in the pail of AFFF?  Tsk, tsk.

I really don't pay much attention to the relationship drama, so I got nuttin'.

[dovegrey]

3 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I thought the same thing!  But then I think Severide made a joke about it, so yep - they just operated a man down!  So stupid, and dangerous.

But it happens all the time with Squad 3, when Severide decides to investigate some arsons at OFI (for how many episodes last year, with Squad running with 3 firefighters led by Replacement Lieutenant Cruz) or decides to tag along with Boden so he can avoid Kidd. And, last season, Boden haphazardly pulled Mouch from Truck to be Engine's 5th firefighter and Truck ran with 3 firefighters for multiple shifts. In context of this show, Casey sending Gallo home for being a whiny jackass who didn't follow orders and nearly got killed (which would probably be the end of Casey's career) tops the list of appropriate-adjacent reasons one of these rigs has run short. All in all, I think the show has stopped trying to be realistic.

However, the drama between Casey and Gallo seemed 100% tacked on and didn’t make a whole lot of sense. I guess Gallo is supposed to be Casey’s Casey (back when Casey was a hot head who did dumb shit and also got sent home for being obtuse about it)…but Gallo seemed out of character when he went off on Casey. And the rest of it seemed like they spliced this storyline in from another episode, because Casey didn’t seem to really care about any of it.

For the rest of the episode:

I was disappointed that Casey dumped Sydney. That seemed like a kind of hot, fun relationship. For the 2.5 seconds it seemed possible, I was hoping she’d be Casey’s new Hallie…

…because he and Brett are back to being absolutely boring: bonding while bitching about ~~nut-flavored?!?!?!~~ coffee. Sparks are flying…not. But he’s totally whipped and bends whichever way Brett tells him to, so that's just great.

This show is a soap opera. The dialogue between Mackey and Gallo at his apartment was SO. BAD.

Cruz is being really creepy about Mackey. I said it back when she was introduced. He’s acting like her chaperone with ownership of her body and decisions.

I KNEW Kidd would instantly forgive Severide. Grow a spine, Kidd. Severide is hardly a catch. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life wondering when he's going to revert to the emotionless, self-absorbed manwhore he's been for the majority of his adult life?

I liked the Casey/Severide friendship scenes, mostly. They just don't seem like comfortable best friends who live together. It's one of the most interesting relationships on the show because of all their rough history, and I wish there was more to that than me reading into it.

…I actually kind of liked the Mouch/Herrmann/Cruz/Ritter storyline… I can’t believe I said that.

With the fentanyl storyline, was it not possible that the fentanyl was stolen from 1st shift? Was it really possible to narrow it down to Brett or Mackey that quickly? (Though I loved the Rafferty reference.)

Edited February 12, 2021 by dovegrey

[FnkyChkn34]

On 2/11/2021 at 9:58 PM, dovegrey said:

But it happens all the time with Squad 3, when Severide decides to investigate some arsons at OFI (for how many episodes last year, with Squad running with 3 firefighters led by Replacement Lieutenant Cruz) or decides to tag along with Boden so he can avoid Kidd. And, last season, Boden haphazardly pulled Mouch from Truck to be Engine's 5th firefighter and Truck ran with 3 firefighters for multiple shifts. In context of this show, Casey sending Gallo home for being a whiny jackass who didn't follow orders and nearly got killed (which would probably be the end of Casey's career) tops the list of appropriate-adjacent reasons one of these rigs has run short. All in all, I think the show has stopped trying to be realistic.

 

I thought they replaced Severide when he went to OFI, we just didn't see it?  I also thought that if they got a call and were needed when he and Boden were doing the vacant house check that they would stop that and go join the call.  I don't know, maybe I should stop giving this show the benefit of the doubt? LOL.

[dovegrey]

1 hour ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I thought they replaced Severide when he went to OFI, we just didn't see it?  I also thought that if they got a call and were needed when he and Boden were doing the vacant house check that they would stop that and go join the call.  I don't know, maybe I should stop giving this show the benefit of the doubt? LOL.

Haha, I hear you.

IIRC, we didn't see anyone else join Squad for the OFI stretch, but they also basically wrote Squad off the show when Severide went to OFI. I think we only saw Squad hanging out at the Squad table, and it just was the regular three. Cruz was appointed acting lieutenant but Squad didn’t respond to any calls. (Haha, I remember complaining about it.) When Severide went off with Boden, he made Cruz acting lieutenant, which to me would mean that Severide didn’t intend on joining Squad if there was a call. I don’t remember if he had his radio with him. Even if he did, it’s still completely unprofessional for him to run off with Boden to avoid his girlfriend and it puts lives at risk if he takes an extra 5-10 minutes to respond to a call PLUS still needing to gear up AND catching up with the scene (which is funny, because response time being impacted by "jurisdiction" 🤣 was the thrust of a storyline last season with that Engine crew we haven’t ever seen again and also with that private school storyline with all the false alarms).

Even giving the writers the benefit of the doubt on those two storylines, Boden still inexplicably pulled Mouch off 4-person Truck to ensure Engine had 5 firefighters instead of 4, and Truck was shown responding to a handful of calls with just 3 firefighters…and that was a multi-episode storyline last year. 

I don’t think the writers care or possibly even know (like, I don't think they care/know that there are three shifts at 51 and that the crew doesn't work 8-5). It’s whatever they need at the moment to fit the show+setting+characters into what they want to write. (With all that being said, I still watch it, and I still kinda enjoy it.)

Edited February 13, 2021 by dovegrey

[iMonrey]

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All wrapped up in a nice little bow within one episode. This missing drug story was much better the first time they did it when it lasted more than a hot second back when this show put effort into stories & the characters weren't so meh.

IMO this show has never put much effort into the character driven storylines. All the attention seems devoted to the action scenes. It's sort of a good news/bad news situation, because even though the "drama" stories usually stink they only last an episode or two. 

[spunky]

When it comes to Mackey,  Cruz needs to have several seats. His behavior is inappropriate.  

I understand why Casey was angry,  however his leadership skills are as bad as his attempts at flirting.  He should have pulled Gallo aside and spoken to him instead of just sending home.  

[dovegrey]

2 hours ago, spunky said:

When it comes to Mackey,  Cruz needs to have several seats. His behavior is inappropriate.  

I understand why Casey was angry,  however his leadership skills are as bad as his attempts at flirting.  He should have pulled Gallo aside and spoken to him instead of just sending home.  

Agreed on both counts but especially about Cruz. They need to give a lot more relevant background on Mackey for any part of Cruz's behavior to even start coming close to partially understandable.

I watched the episode again last night, and I honestly think that Gallo's emotionally-charged line of "you knew I was quick to act when you hired me; that’s why you hired me" sounded a lot like the last thing Gabby said to Casey, which was something like, "you knew I was like this when you married me; that's why you loved me." I think that Casey internally flipped his shit and reacted...because his facial expression did a sort of scary 180.

I thought this when the episode aired but figured I was reading into it, but this interpretation is the only way I can make sense of Casey's non-apology to Gallo that basically started out with "Brett dumped me because of Gabby and now I can't think straight. But I'm not apologizing." (But, boy, this would be some near-decent writing with actual subtext instead of anvils and giving the audience the benefit of the doubt, so....probably not, then.)

Edited February 15, 2021 by dovegrey
extra words instead of missing words whaaaat

[Dowel Jones]

4 hours ago, dovegrey said:

I watched the episode again last night, and I honestly think that Gallo's emotionally-charged line of "you knew I was quick to act when you hired me; that’s why you hired me" sounded a lot like the last thing Gabby said to Casey,

Wait, does that mean that Gabby had extensive surgery and is now Gallo?  Have we seen them in the same room at the same time?

[NJRadioGuy]

On 2/11/2021 at 9:24 PM, Dowel Jones said:

Hermann needs to do some more training with E-51.  Two minutes for a couple of guys to roll out some hose, connect the eductor and put it in the pail of AFFF?  Tsk, tsk.

Anything here in North Jersey it's usually 5+ minutes from arrival to first drop of water. Then again, it's all vollies up here. 

[spunky]

6 hours ago, dovegrey said:

Agreed on both counts but especially about Cruz. They need to give a lot more relevant background on Mackey for any part of Cruz's behavior to even start coming close to partially understandable.

I watched the episode again last night, and I honestly think that Gallo's emotionally-charged line of "you knew I was quick to act when you hired me; that’s why you hired me" sounded a lot like the last thing Gabby said to Casey, which was something like, "you knew I was like this when you married me; that's why you loved me." I think that Casey internally flipped his shit and reacted...because his facial expression did a sort of scary 180.

I thought this when the episode aired but figured I was reading into it, but this interpretation is the only way I can make sense of Casey's non-apology to Gallo that basically started out with "Brett dumped me because of Gabby and now I can't think straight. But I'm not apologizing." (But, boy, this would be some near-decent writing with actual subtext instead of anvils and giving the audience the benefit of the doubt, so....probably not, then.)

I didn't notice that Gallo's line was basically the same thing Gabby said to Casey.  

[WinJet0819]

This show has officially become a joke. Its title now is Chicago Fire Anatomy.

First off, thanks to the stupid writers, they made Severide so darn stupid. What could have been a simple conversation to explain to Stella why he was backing off, got dragged into a pointless 4 episode story arc to make drama for the sake of drama. Just incredibly stupid.

And my God, what has happened to the Stella Kidd character? She was literally contemplating skipping the Lieutenant's test because of her relationship issues with Severide. Are you freaking kidding me? Yet, another instance where the writers make a supposedly strong woman look very weak. And what irony when she tells Kelly she came up alone, fighting, with people looking down on her and that she has a built in armor. And yet, she NEEDS Kelly to give her reassurance of "You got this, Stella Kidd." In my opinion, this is an insult to all female first responders if they need a man to constantly reassure that they're good enough. If she has this so-called armor, why should her relationship woes dampen her drive to be a lieutenant? This is a testament to how far the character of Stella has fallen from when she first came onto the show. It is truly sad.

Next, I swear, if I see Matt and Sylvie exchanging awkward glances one more time, I am going to break my TV. Move on, writers. Stop dragging this out. They said there would be resolution to the will they/won't they scenario early on in the season. We're past that point. Now, it's not enough that Matt struggles to get over Gabby. Now, he can't even move past what happened with Sylvie. This crap is getting annoying. He's not married. If Sydney makes him happy, let him see where that relationship takes him, instead of having him pining over Sylvie.

My worst fears with Mackey came true. From episode one, trying to push her Gallo together. They are so forced. I'd rather Mackey's backstory get fleshed out, instead of instantly trying ship her with another character.

The Gabby Fire era of this show was bad. But the way this show is going now, the Chicago Fire Anatomy era will be worse.

On 2/11/2021 at 12:01 PM, iMonrey said:

Yeah, and I'm not feeling it. I'm fine with Mackey as a new character, but why did they have to throw her into a romance right off the bat? We barely know her, and they've never really fleshed out Gallo that much either. I have zero investment in either one.

Severide is a day late and a dollar short with his apology. Stella wasted a lot of time stressing over his attitude when she should have been focused on her upcoming tests.

I suppose we're meant to see Casey as all noble not dating Sydney while he's still hung up on Brett, but it's not as if she was looking for a proposal. Loosen up and have a little fun for Pete's sake.

The whole thing with Mouch thinking Cruz and Herrmann were talking about him was childish.

YESSSSSS!!!!!