S09.E08: Escape Route

[jewel21]

A call to a familiar location brings back mixed emotions for Severide. Herrmann heads out for a vacation. Casey is not thrilled with his replacement.

Airdate: 03/10/2021

[WinJet0819]

Based on the promo, this episode just screams relationship drama.

[mxc90]

On 3/6/2021 at 12:28 PM, jewel21 said:

Casey is not thrilled with his replacement.

 

19 hours ago, WinJet0819 said:

Based on the promo, this episode just screams relationship drama.

I have not seen the previews. What are the odds this replacement will be Grainger who will make Sylvie blush and Casey fuss?

If Casey and Severide go on vacation, there are in house replacements.

When Herrmann goes, someone from the outside has to replace him because the show never bothered to develop the rest of his team (except Ritter) after his assignment.

[dovegrey]

Aaaaand this is why there’s no fraternizing in firehouses. UGH. What a waste of an hour.

It doesn’t make much sense for the second shift lieutenant of Engine 40 to “float” for the second shift lieutenant of Engine 51. Who is covering Engine 40 for Grainger while Grainger covers Engine 51 for Herrmann….and why, other than for manufactured soap opera drama? (Have we EVER seen a floater lieutenant before? Cruz covers for Severide, Herrmann used to cover for Casey, and no one is brought in to fill the gaps. I mean, in this episode alone, Severide’s running all around Chicago, and no floater was brought in to replace him.)

It makes no sense that Casey and Grainger were familiar and comfortable with each other, and on a mutual last-name basis, back in the donut episode, but now it’s like they’ve never met before. It’s either lazy writing or writing that assumes we’re not intelligent.

Casey establishing command of an incident scene is not about his thing with Brett or a thing against Grainger. It should be about avoiding another Darden and doing his job. But, sure, it’s because he’s jealous and possessive of a woman in a way HE’S NEVER BEEN PORTRAYED in the last 8.5 years of the show. Part out of character writing, and part Grainger not being able to handle an officer who isn’t warm, fuzzy, and demonstrative (three words I’d never use to describe Casey).

Brett, you've embarrassed yourself. If I was Casey, that last scene would be the end of any non-collegial friendship let alone a relationship. NOPE.

Escape to Puerto Rico, Casey.

Go to hell, Cruz.

Go back to Med, April.

I kinda love Capp.

(Is this...the return of Casey's long lost head injury?!?!)

Edited March 11, 2021 by dovegrey

[mxc90]

These writers had a good streak going with no "Gabby" reference and blew it. Tried to be slick by saying "Dawson" this time. They just can't let her go!

That drainage pipe supported their weight? Did lazy Mouch make an attempt to get the ladder there after Severide called for it? 

Surprised a brash teen Severide needed to sneak out through the window and not just walk like a pimp passed Benny through the front door.
Why does Detective Severide need a CPD detective to accompany him to the house?

That cop was pissed he couldn't bust the family on meth charges. He took off and left the social work to  Severide.
Casey wound tight. Seems like an on point description for this dick. I was rooting for Grainger and Sylvie to make out in front of him.

Herrmann needed to be benched in order to get some lame Casey/Grainger drama. I was hoping Grainger didn't waste his time trying to prove his worth to Casey or buy him a drink. 

Just like the girl with Casey a few episodes back, Grainger/her easily picks up on a Casey/Sylvie vibe and gets in bed anyway.

How hard was it to move the cabinet. It came down like a deck of cards. Mackey was rude to the guy and went full "stress relief" on it. Surprised he didn't file a complaint with CFD.

Wonder how soon to be dad Cruz has all this time to be out at a bar.
How did Ms. Magoo and car end up in that position? For a while, I thought she was walking and got hit and waiting to see the driver in the wreckage. She must have been doing 120 mph.

Ms. Magoo is pinned to the wall and Casey tells her "try not to move. OK?" Where was Rescue on this call?

As usual! It would only take a good out of the box idea on the job to earn Casey's approval and respect.

Kidd has been there all these years and never once complained about the gear! Now it's a problem! I hope they design something special to make sure Kidd's big ears are safe and snug!!
April drove all that way to give Severide the news first before going to the father and son! She knows her priorities!
So all that time Dylan hasn't taken his insulin?
Good to know where young Severide hid his weed and condoms.

Edited March 11, 2021 by mxc90

[Leeds]

Every episode I find myself a little curious as to how the "blonde" one keeps her eyes open given her ten pound fake eyelashes.

I need a life.

[MaryHedwig]

1 hour ago, Leeds said:

Every episode I find myself a little curious as to how the "blonde" one keeps her eyes open given her ten pound fake eyelashes.

I need a life.

Well...I've wondered if they are flammable! 

[Leeds]

6 hours ago, MaryHedwig said:

Well...I've wondered if they are flammable! 

Now that would make for an interesting storyline.

[FnkyChkn34]

This episode was just all kinds of messed up that I don't even know where to begin.

Maybe I'll just say the one good thing I picked up on - when Boden told Severide that he could go to the house with the cop and then check up on the family or whatever, Boden said, "I'll cover Squad."  So finally an acknowledgement that the shift was covered, at least.  

Oh man... if that's the one good thing I picked up on, that's sad.  

Stella, Sylvie, and all of the other women that have come and gone clearly have clothes that fit them.  They wear tight pants and t-shirts.  Stella said her pants are too tight in the hips and have too long of a rise?  Not that I'm specifically looking at that, but no... they don't.  Maybe her turnout gear is made for a man, that could be a fair point.  But otherwise, their clothes appear to fit them all just fine.

The teenager went 48+ hours without his insulin?  I don't think he'd still be perfectly healthy like he was.  I also don't see how a clinical trial would be his only option?  There have to be other programs to help pay for insulin.  I know it's unnecessarily expensive and the pharmaceutical companies price gouge, but really? No help to just keep get what he's been getting?

I liked seeing April on a mini-crossover episode.  It makes sense too, given the storyline.  I am also glad, however, that the cop who showed up was not one of the detectives from PD - that would have made no sense.  Using a random narcotics detective at least made sense.

Who else thought that the episode was going to end with Severide buying his old family house back, so that he could repair it and then make new memories and erase the bad? Plus that would have given the family some money to buy medication.  Also, he seemed to take offense to the comment about it being a bad neighborhood now.  Severide (and Casey's Construction) to the rescue!

[MsJamieDornan]

Is it just me or do Gallo and Grainger look a lot alike ?

[MaryHedwig]

1 hour ago, MsJamieDornan said:

Is it just me or do Gallo and Grainger look a lot alike ?

I agree. I was getting them confused. Also their last names are too similar. I think it's the hairline.

[DanaK]

Did I hear wrong or did Severide suggest he and April had a thing when they were young and he was living in that house?

[iMonrey]

Quote

Stella, Sylvie, and all of the other women that have come and gone clearly have clothes that fit them.  They wear tight pants and t-shirts.  Stella said her pants are too tight in the hips and have too long of a rise?  Not that I'm specifically looking at that, but no... they don't.  Maybe her turnout gear is made for a man, that could be a fair point.  But otherwise, their clothes appear to fit them all just fine.

Yeah, I was like "huh?" Plus, EMTs don't have turnout gear (do they?)

What I want to know is whether Capp, Mouch and Cruz are trained, talented print artists or whether they hired an artist to do their mockups. That neon frame Mouch was holding up looked expensive, please don't tell me he threw that thing together himself. And the drawings Capp, Tony and Cruz all showed looked like Disney himself drew them.

Please, stop this junior high nonsense with Casey and Brett. Just stop.

Quote

Did I hear wrong or did Severide suggest he and April had a thing when they were young and he was living in that house?

That was my takeaway. He said he was sneaking her back into the house or something like that. 

[FnkyChkn34]

1 hour ago, DanaK said:

Did I hear wrong or did Severide suggest he and April had a thing when they were young and he was living in that house?

I think that's been implied before?  My take is that they were friends with benefits.

[dovegrey]

7 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Who else thought that the episode was going to end with Severide buying his old family house back, so that he could repair it and then make new memories and erase the bad? Plus that would have given the family some money to buy medication.  Also, he seemed to take offense to the comment about it being a bad neighborhood now.  Severide (and Casey's Construction) to the rescue!

I didn't think that, but I think that would be a really strong and enjoyable storyline, with a good callback to some of the stuff the firehouse crew used to advocate for/contribute to in the earlier seasons. I would LOVE that story. As it is, I wondered where the storyline was going the entire time, and I'm not sure I remember where it ended...so, not good. Kinda nice to see Severide compassionately work with a kid again.

Not as a reply to anyone:

I think what's bugged me the most about the Grainger storyline is how Grainger reacted to finding out he's been sleeping with his temporary boss's ex. I remember when Casey slept with Temporary Chief Pridgen’s ex-wife (not realizing who it was) and freaked out because his career was suddenly in jeopardy. It wasn’t a matter of “man, that guy is being a real dick about me sleeping with his ex”; it was a matter of, “oh, shit, I slept with my boss’s ex… YOU DON'T DO THAT. OMG. HE CAN’T FIND OUT. EVEN SEVERIDE THINKS I SCREWED UP. OMFG!” (And then Pridgen found out and went nuts.) Point being: there’s a level of decorum and self-preservation that should kick in when you find out you’re sleeping with your boss’s ex, which, minimally, should include cooling it with the ex for a bit. It does not include emotionally storming into your boss’s office and half-assing a behavioral analysis about the relationship, especially when all your boss has essentially done is firmly establish chain of command and then not be gracious about an equipment mix-up. Unbunch your tighties, Greg, and then buy a clue.

The whole entire thing was painfully, badly, awfully manufactured by bad, juvenile, first-draft writing. With more realistic writing, Brett would have told Grainger "Casey and I had sort of a thing but not really a thing" (or whatever), and Grainger would have called it a night and then put the brakes on with Brett until he was back at 40. And then I would have maybe empathized more with Brett's decision to flip out on Casey and essentially rub Dawson walking out in Casey's face (which is a pretty shitty breach of basic human decency...Matt is effectively-orphaned, effectively-widowed, and suddenly/involuntarily divorced, which maybe means nothing to a person who's walked out on two fiancees and apparently never felt enough emotion to look back).

[jewel21]

I've always found Brett's eye lashes distracting. Glad I'm not alone. 

I actually like Granger and find the actor very pleasant to look at. I don't mind having him round, even if the circumstances don't make sense. I just focus on the pretty, heh. 

[Dowel Jones]

I sure hope someone managed to get upstairs and rescue Severide's $3000 SCBA that he left on the floor so they could shimmy on down the pipe.

Is this Grainger's first floater shift that he's ever pulled?  Never ever worked with a Captain at any other station?  It was always drilled into me that, unless I was first on scene, my job was to get instructions first.  That being said, Casey was a jerk to him back at the station.  He could have said "Understood, don't do it again." on their first encounter, and Grainger wouldn't have been steaming. 

Wonder why Boden wasn't sent to the structure fire.  Did I miss something?

The LDH trick was interesting at the car wreck, but wouldn't a Jaws tool been a lot faster?  And I don't think I've ever seen a 5" hose cap/plug.

The shark tank subplot was just cringeworthy.

Sorry, dude, but your grandmother bought some cheapo furniture if it came apart that easily.

[dovegrey]

2 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Wonder why Boden wasn't sent to the structure fire.  Did I miss something?

I’ve noticed this season that Boden is almost never responding to scenes. He’s been to a couple for sure but otherwise it’s Casey. I don’t think the show has explicitly addressed why that’s changed. 

[NJRadioGuy]

7 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I sure hope someone managed to get upstairs and rescue Severide's $3000 SCBA that he left on the floor so they could shimmy on down the pipe.

Is this Grainger's first floater shift that he's ever pulled?  Never ever worked with a Captain at any other station?  It was always drilled into me that, unless I was first on scene, my job was to get instructions first.  That being said, Casey was a jerk to him back at the station.  He could have said "Understood, don't do it again." on their first encounter, and Grainger wouldn't have been steaming. 

Wonder why Boden wasn't sent to the structure fire.  Did I miss something?

The LDH trick was interesting at the car wreck, but wouldn't a Jaws tool been a lot faster?  And I don't think I've ever seen a 5" hose cap/plug.

The shark tank subplot was just cringeworthy.

Sorry, dude, but your grandmother bought some cheapo furniture if it came apart that easily.

How much maintenance would that gutter lead have had to still hold a 200-ish pound person in turnout gear 30 years after it last successfully held a person's weight? I was looking at the heavy support brackets in the shot. Just what my gutters (don't) look like.

Why didn't they throw ground ladders when there were reports of entrapment on the second floor? It's only a 2 story house. Takes a lot less time that setting outriggers and manoeuvering the stick.

Agreed, for a legit working fire why wasn't there a B/C on scene as incident command? Even for the made for TV 1-and-1 response.

I'd have to rewatch with subtitles, but the job toned out for an address in the 3600 block of whatever the street was, but the house number was 1644, IIRC, when they show it at the end. Oopsie.

Wonder how long it took the props department to make that wardrobe? I was expecting a Narnia joke to be honest. Now imagine if it had belonged to Severide's grandmother and not J. Random Person? It would be a Revered Heirloom that would get the entire house refurbishing it.

Honestly, they're not even trying with this shit any more. Since last summer my TV watching has been mostly YouTube and Scandi-noir crime dramas. Going back to U.S. network fare feels like I've been lobotomized.

[Josh371982]

On 3/11/2021 at 10:02 AM, MsJamieDornan said:

Is it just me or do Gallo and Grainger look a lot alike ?

Yass!! I'm been saying for Weeks that I don't want to see Brett with a Sibling of Gallo 

[jabRI]

8 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

 

Honestly, they're not even trying with this shit any more. Since last summer my TV watching has been mostly YouTube and Scandi-noir crime dramas. Going back to U.S. network fare feels like I've been lobotomized.

Scandi-noir all the way.  And all the Harlan Coben adaptations (despite the gazillion red herrings).  Netflix to the rescue for sure.

[StevedeMena]

On 3/12/2021 at 12:43 AM, Dowel Jones said:

The LDH trick was interesting at the car wreck, but wouldn't a Jaws tool been a lot faster?  And I don't think I've ever seen a 5" hose cap/plug.

 

I couldn’t understand what the LDH was supposed to be doing. He layed it on the ground (it seemed) behind the car. When they filled it up what happened? 
 

it seemed like it just cut to them smashing the windshield and next shot they’re carrying the driver out on the board  

 

[Dowel Jones]

Presumably they laid the flat hose up between the car and the wall, too, and when inflated it pushed the car 5-6" away from the wall.  A lot of work for little return in my opinion.  Plus, I don't know of any engines that have 5" discharges.  Suctions, yes, but no discharges.  That means they would have to dig out some  2 1/2"-5" adapters to make it work.  More time lost.

[dovegrey]

59 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

Presumably they laid the flat hose up between the car and the wall, too, and when inflated it pushed the car 5-6" away from the wall.  A lot of work for little return in my opinion.  Plus, I don't know of any engines that have 5" discharges.  Suctions, yes, but no discharges.  That means they would have to dig out some  2 1/2"-5" adapters to make it work.  More time lost.

Grainger's idea seemed completely manufactured by the writers in the dumbest way possible.

The entire relationship between Casey and Grainger didn’t make sense compared to the donut episode, when Grainger was introduced. That episode gave (me) the impression that Casey and Grainger knew each other; Casey was comfortable around Grainger and treated him like a peer; and there was mutual respect on both ends - no need for Grainger to come up with that nonsense idea to impress Casey and prove his worth. No need for Grainger to forget chain of command and/or that Casey is a captain, since it sure seemed like they’d worked together in the past. No need for Casey to ask someone what Grainger’s name is. No need for almost any of the BS in this episode.

I think these writers have forgotten that the “fun” is in how characters organically interact with each other, rather than with characters being contorted to fit random stories.

[WinJet0819]

On 3/11/2021 at 12:14 PM, DanaK said:

Did I hear wrong or did Severide suggest he and April had a thing when they were young and he was living in that house?

When April's character was first introduced 5-6 years ago, before Med started, it was indicated that she and Severide did have a relationship in the past. Just didn't know the past went back to his childhood days.

[WinJet0819]

Another episode, and more cringe moments on Chicago Fire Anatomy.

The whole Casey-Grainger crap is just stupid if you ask me. A forced tension storyline because Casey is still hung up on Sylvie. And to drag the relationship to work and use it to assert his authority is, ugh!!!. This is why relationships are forbidden in a firehouse. And yes, while Casey is the captain, and should be the one the first call out orders, him coming down on Grainger is very hypocritical considering Severide has called out orders to his team before Matt could.

And now Super Severide adds another notch to his belt, and becomes a child social worker. And it also seems to be his job now to routinely go back to fire scenes to assist in some type of investigation or clean up.

The rest of the episode just seemed like comedy hour. I am happy there weren't any scenes with Mackey and Gallo, as well as no cuddling between Stella and Kelly. Though really, the writing and the storylines continue to further deteriorate each episode, it seems. Maybe I'm the only one who sees this, but it seems the fires and accidents are just background to the personal drama, instead of the drama being background to the fires, which is what the show's namesake, after all. Hence, why I call it Chicago Fire Anatomy now.

And fun trivia fact, Jon Ecker, who plays Grainger, is the girlfriend of Lauren James, who played Molly, Street's girlfriend on SWAT. And for anyone who's watched that show, we saw how Molly was thrown to the side. I hope the same doesn't happen to Grainger.

[Leeds]

On 3/15/2021 at 12:27 AM, WinJet0819 said:

 

And now Super Severide adds another notch to his belt, and becomes a child social worker. And it also seems to be his job now to routinely go back to fire scenes to assist in some type of investigation or clean up.

The rest of the episode just seemed like comedy hour. I am happy there weren't any scenes with Mackey and Gallo, as well as no cuddling between Stella and Kelly. 

I've got used to calling him detective/investigator/super-fireman Severide.  After I realised during this episode that I would have to add child services superstar to his job title, I've decided to go back to my original, Ruled by his Dick Severide.