S09.E09: Double Red

[jewel21]

Mouch, Gallo, Ritter and Mackey report for training. A nasty blow to the head brings Casey unimaginable pain.

Airdate: 03/17/2021

[FnkyChkn34]

Posting this before the episode airs...  Are they going to knock some sense, and a personality, into Casey?  Is this going to be his Grey's-Anatomy-brain-tumor-total-character-reset moment?  I kind of hope so...

[dovegrey]

9 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Posting this before the episode airs...  Are they going to knock some sense, and a personality, into Casey?  Is this going to be his Grey's-Anatomy-brain-tumor-total-character-reset moment?  I kind of hope so...

Heh, I’d be onboard with him having permanent amnesia and thinking it’s still season 2, before the other massive head injury he sustained. #bringbackmatt

[dovegrey]

How did 81 and 61 respond to the car accident in downtown before the police, or before the woman got out of the car using the seemingly non-damaged door? That’s about 15 minutes, at best, from the real-life firehouse location, but it seemed like the accident JUST happened. I don’t usually notice that kind of stuff but it was striking this time.

I think Rafferty was the last normal, non-creepy fill-in paramedic on this show. I did not like Paramedic Pornstache. I would have liked to have seen sourpuss EMT McAuley again, instead.

This is the first genuinely Casey-heavy episode in a long, long time that didn't focus on someone else's needs, like Brett or being an investigator or something. Very nice! Except I'm worried about why the writers suddenly dredged up this long-lost season 2 TBI storyline with only six more episodes in the season. I wonder how Jesse Spencer's contract negotiations for season 10 have gone so far... (And the Rolex thing with a sentimental love-of-your-life story behind it = Gabby. oh no.)

…it is really, REALLY surprising to see Casey’s sister again. It’s been something like six years since she was even mentioned. And to hear about his mom again…it’s been, like, eight years. How strange. But also great! …so, has Christie been conveniently re-introduced for when Casey ends up in a stubborn, stupid brain bleed coma (that's sarcastic speculation) and she’s his only family?

What the hell was Casey planning to do if/when Truck 81 got a call? Are we supposed to believe that Truck 81 didn’t get called to any other scenes besides the delivery truck injury for two shifts, and then are we supposed to believe that no one noticed he's barely able to do his job? Christ, Casey, put 81 out of service, send the floaters home, and get to a doctor before you kill a victim, put your team at risk, or get into a car accident. (IIRC, this same Casey storyline in season 2 didn't even try to address how he was managing to run calls, with no memory, blurry vision, and bad headaches. He was a mess at the house and off-shift but then mostly competent at scenes.)

I guess Casey hides scandalous, career-ending radiology records in a drawer he shares with two other officers (first and third shift Truck 81 officers)? (Hahaha, he must have been hiding the records from Gabby! Good thing they didn't burn with the apartment.)

Is Mackey really leaving?

Mouch made a fool of himself, but it was a nice subtle callback to when he told Herrmann he felt left behind. He's the last pre-Lt. Casey member of Truck 81, while everyone around him promoted up or to Squad (except Otis). And now Kidd's promoting up. That has to sting.

That last scene was cute. Severide had some personality in this episode, even! 

I liked this one!

[mxc90]

No concussion tests on the job? Was Boden ever told of the accident? Boden saw him acting a little weird and never questioned him.

Nothing real juicy from the Casey blow to the head this week. No amnesia or believing he was Severide or hallucinating he saw/was with Christie at the bank or calling Sylvie ..Gabby. Oh wait! He turned down $80,000?? Get your head checked Matt!!!

Wonder if the ground work is being set for Jesse to leave the show? At the end he said to Severide: "Maybe I'll be out of here sooner than you think". And he wasn't talking about the loft.

Another one bites the dust on Ambulance 61. Bye Mackey! I kept hearing of your "greatness". Too bad I didn't get to see it during your time here. You did give Sylvie good advice to beat up a drone and took an axe to a drawer with strength. Good times! Good luck on your next assignment!!!! Now Cruz can relax!!!!!

Great! She leaves and enters Violet for some Gallo and her tired romance!!!!!! 

If Mackey is needed in a Spanish speaking area, do they need to ask her if she wants to go to 33 or just tell her be there tomorrow?

What was that look on Boden's face when Cruz and Mackey left his office?

I was hoping Chief Zamos had told Mouch to STFU! Although, he was professional to not have undressed him in front of the others during training and waited until they left.

I'm a little irked Boden gave in to Mouch's excuse and got Zamos to pass him. I have a feeling Mouch did take the training 5 years ago and forgot he didn't pass it then.

Diggins had one shift to put on a "fake" face and failed in five minutes. He couldn't tell Sylvie and others saw through his crap and stop?

Cats or Kids! Sylvie should have been blunt with Diggins from the start..

Good for Veronicat to get a good scratch on him. Aim for the face next time!

Why would Herrmann turn down Kidd's proposal to add the "Shoot Out Pro" at Molly's? That's some business man!

The drunk Uber driver will probably try to sue the CFD for Casey punching him.

Earl what were you doing to get your leg in that position? Find some easier way to get some days off.

Edited March 18, 2021 by mxc90

[preeya]

1 hour ago, mxc90 said:

Wonder if the ground work is being set for Jesse to leave the show? At the end he said to Severide: "Maybe I'll be out of here sooner than you think". And he wasn't talking about the loft.

Yeah, I picked up on that quote also.

The entire squad saw Casey get thrown from the car. Isn't it mandatory that all head injuries get checked out by a medical professional?

Perhaps Jesse is on his way out.

[dovegrey]

5 hours ago, preeya said:

The entire squad saw Casey get thrown from the car. Isn't it mandatory that all head injuries get checked out by a medical professional?

But only Kidd and Brett were “really” there; everyone else were floaters who either wouldn’t stick their nose into it, don’t know Casey enough to know he’s acting weird, or who were/are gone before it could become an issue. And if Casey got checked out by Brett or a second EMT team, he probably said he was fine....he’s bad about that. (And this is the same crew where Brett and Mackey careened off an overpass, came out bloody, and didn’t go to the hospital.)

[DanaK]

Wow, I completely missed the radiologist report was referring to a years ago injury and not the current one; I don’t even remember Casey’s Season 2 injury. The episode makes somewhat better sense now

[Guildford]

8 hours ago, mxc90 said:

No concussion tests on the job? Was Boden ever told of the accident? Boden saw him acting a little weird and never questioned him.

Nothing real juicy from the Casey blow to the head this week. No amnesia or believing he was Severide or hallucinating he saw/was with Christie at the bank or calling Sylvie ..Gabby. Oh wait! He turned down $80,000?? Get your head checked Matt!!!

 

Another one bites the dust on Ambulance 61. Bye Mackey! I kept hearing of your "greatness". Too bad I didn't get to see it during your time here. You did give Sylvie good advice to beat up a drone and took an axe to a drawer with strength. Good times! Good luck on your next assignment!!!! Now Cruz can relax!!!!!

 

I think her 'greatness' was inferred, she was, after from that magical firehouse where everyone assigned there is the greatest most spectacular bestest firefighter/paramedic ever to walk the earth. It's the holy grail of firehouses and everyone just bows down at their feet on a daily basis.

If she was temporary she'd be useless/lazy/batshit crazy/idiotic/unprofessional (take your pick).

The relief ambo story wasn't even a tiny bit entertaining. Been there done that a gazillion times already.

The whole Mackey/Cruz dynamic was just fucking creepy. Thank god it's over. 

I think I like Ritter....and that's about it on this show. Which is one more character than I like on Med.

[FnkyChkn34]

I've watched every season of this show, and forgot that Casey had a sister.  There is no consistency anymore.

I get the feeling that they are writing Casey off - he'll get medically discharged from the CFD and go join Gabby in Puerto Rico, or wherever she and Antonio went.  (I miss Antonio on PD; I do not miss Gabby one bit.  I don't know if I'll miss Casey...)

I thought the basketball machine was a cute sub-plot.  Seeing Severide freak out over change was very Severide.  My first guess though was that she bought a dog. 🙂  

Mouch was annoying.  I can only feel bad for him to a certain extent... because he mostly does it to himself.  He hasn't gone for any promotions, he doesn't seem to participate in anything extra, so at this point being left behind is mostly his own fault.  I understand that there isn't room for every single person to move up and be promoted, but he's had opportunities.  He was the union rep for awhile - what happened to that? 

I have a feeling Mackey will be back.  If not - what was her point?  (EDIT:  Nevermind!  LOL.)

Edited March 18, 2021 by FnkyChkn34
Read that the actress needed to quit, Mackey won't be back.

[preeya]

1 hour ago, Guildford said:

The whole Mackey/Cruz dynamic was just fucking creepy. Thank god it's over. 

Yeah, and also the fact that he (Cruz) sat in on the transfer discussion with Mackey & Boden was just as creepy and weird. Generally, personnel matters are handled as one on one discussions. 

[preeya]

13 minutes ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

(I miss Antonio on PD; I do not miss Gabby one bit.  I don't know if I'll miss Casey...)

I vaguely recall reading something where Jon Seda has a new gig coming up.

[jabRI]

For most of the episode it felt like Casey was hallucinating from his head injury, that's what I was expecting to see.  Like his sister showing up, and then the watch?  Seemed really bizarre to me.

[dovegrey]

7 hours ago, DanaK said:

7 hours ago, DanaK said:

Wow, I completely missed the radiologist report was referring to a years ago injury and not the current one; I don’t even remember Casey’s Season 2 injury. The episode makes somewhat better sense now

I was really surprised that the previouslies didn’t at least include the ceiling collapsing on him/blood all over his mask, the brain surgery hospital scene, or at least the scene with Casey being told his skull and brain were forever and permanently compromised. It’s like they tried to keep the storyline a secret…but…hardly anyone remembers. Of all the previouslies to not include. That, and everything about Christie and their father-murderer mom…no one remembers. (I binged the show two years ago and love seasons 1-3; otherwise, I wouldn’t remember, either!)

4 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I get the feeling that they are writing Casey off - he'll get medically discharged from the CFD and go join Gabby in Puerto Rico, or wherever she and Antonio went.  (I miss Antonio on PD; I do not miss Gabby one bit.  I don't know if I'll miss Casey...)

I could see that and worry about that being the storyline. Very plausible. But it being so obvious probably means he’s not leaving. Derek Haas loves to play up these kind of things. (But I have noticed absolutely zero talk about this head injury storyline, which is weird.) All in all, I have to give praise to the writers on this one. They’ve set it up so that either Brettsey or Dawsey by 9x15 makes some sort of sense, regardless of what Jesse Spencer decides to do for season 10. I mean, they don’t have a choice, because they’re filming something like 1-2 episodes ahead of broadcast, but I think they’re doing some nimble writing with that possible uncertainty. (Or Casey dies and Haas sticks it to all the shippers.)

So, I think the Rolex watch is a heavy-handed symbol. If Casey goes Dawsey, he’ll keep the watch and believe in that one-true first (..er…second) love, just like Uncle Jake, and refuse to move on. If Casey goes Brettsey, he’ll sell the watch, take his half, and buy a house to signify that he’s ready to keep his roots down in Chicago (which was Brett’s question - would you leave Chicago with Gabby). Staying with Severide is him being transient and indecisive.

[iMonrey]

First of all, what certification did Mouch never get that he had to go back and get some 40+ (I'm guessing) years later? How has he been on the job this long without this certification? I missed the specifics on that.

Second of all, why would Brett think it was perfectly OK for this hair-trigger goofball to have a cat? Granted, she was relieved it wasn't a Big Brother situation, but if he's that much of a flake I wouldn't want him caring for an animal either. I also don't know of any pet adoption places that make you get references - I mean, what's the value in some rando signing off on this? The adoption place doesn't know Brett any better than this guy. And how can they "make" the reference signer the default owner if the adopter suddenly bails? How dumb.

I only vaguely remember Casey having a brain or head injury issue because for ages we were all complaining that the show just forgot about it. Seems weird they're bringing it back up now.

[FnkyChkn34]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

First of all, what certification did Mouch never get that he had to go back and get some 40+ (I'm guessing) years later? How has he been on the job this long without this certification? I missed the specifics on that.

Boden said Mouch didn't get it 5 years ago when everyone else did.  Maybe it's a new training, or a re-certification that has to happen every so many years.  

[Dowel Jones]

Mouch's excuse for his behavior at the training was the worst 6th grade whine I think I have ever seen on this show.  Any firefighter knows you don't upstage the instructor, even if you want to be the good guy.  Worse yet, he's imparting methods that might be dangerous for the crews to use.  "We saw a FF from 51 do it this way".  Bang.  Ouch.

[cameron]

17 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Mouch's excuse for his behavior at the training was the worst 6th grade whine I think I have ever seen on this show.  Any firefighter knows you don't upstage the instructor, even if you want to be the good guy.  Worse yet, he's imparting methods that might be dangerous for the crews to use.  "We saw a FF from 51 do it this way".  Bang.  Ouch.

Does anyone remember what the term Mouch means.  It's a suck up.  Can't stand the actor or the character.

[NJRadioGuy]

On 3/17/2021 at 10:27 PM, dovegrey said:

 

Quote

How did 81 and 61 respond to the car accident in downtown before the police, or before the woman got out of the car using the seemingly non-damaged door? That’s about 15 minutes, at best, from the real-life firehouse location, but it seemed like the accident JUST happened. I don’t usually notice that kind of stuff but it was striking this time.

I've noticed this on several episodes too. 18's quarters (i.e. the real station) would obviously not be first due in the Loop/business district. You might see them on a fifth alarm or something like that, but definitely not there and not the near-north side, and IIRC, I think that's where the firhouse is supposed to be set in show-cannon. Also, when they're on the radio they're calling "Main", which is the dispatch office for the north side. The south side's dispatcher is called "Englewood" on the air.

Quote

I did not like Paramedic Pornstache.

I wanted to shove the nozzle of a charged 2-1/2 up somewhere warm and moist on that prick after he dumped the cat off on Sylvie. Do not get me started down that road. 

Quote

What the hell was Casey planning to do if/when Truck 81 got a call? Are we supposed to believe that Truck 81 didn’t get called to any other scenes besides the delivery truck injury for two shifts,

It happens. Minor/inconsequential MVAs, ODs, accountability at minor fires (i.e. where they are not going to work, just being on standby in case Something Bad happens to a working company). Some days it's just very....there's a word to insert here that starts with the letter that comes after P and before R. I don't ever dare say it in context or else alarm bells will start sounding spontaneously, cars will crash of their own volition, piles of oily rags will combust, etc. One does not say that word. But yes, some days--weeks--can be like that. The brother of a good friend of mine was a probie in Buffalo in the 90s. Every shift he was on he was bored off his arse. The shifts before and after had worker after worker. He was stocking the fridge, mopping the floors, drilling on the rig, etc. I think it took him like 3 or 4 months before he caught a decent job.

Quote

Christ, Casey, put 81 out of service, send the floaters home, and get to a doctor before you kill a victim, put your team at risk, or get into a car accident.

Turn in your bugles while you're at it. You don't have the needed analytical skills for your position. 

Quote

Mouch made a fool of himself

Sadly, that's his role now. Comic relief. He should have been teaching that class. And he sure as shit should be drilling the newer members of T81 between runs. Especially on how to carry and throw ground ladders since they seem to be allergic to it, just as E51 has a distinct water allergy.

Edited March 20, 2021 by NJRadioGuy

[Guildford]

1 hour ago, cameron said:

Does anyone remember what the term Mouch means.  It's a suck up.  Can't stand the actor or the character.

Part Man Part Couch....so Mouch, because he's always on the Couch.

[dovegrey]

18 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

It happens. Minor/inconsequential MVAs, ODs, accountability at minor fires (i.e. where they are not going to work, just being on standby in case Something Bad happens to a working company). Some days it's just very....there's a word to insert here that starts with the letter that comes after P and before R. I don't ever dare say it in context or else alarm bells will start sounding spontaneously, cars will crash of their own volition, piles of oily rags will combust, etc. One does not say that word. But yes, some days--weeks--can be like that. The brother of a good friend of mine was a probie in Buffalo in the 90s. Every shift he was on he was bored off his arse. The shifts before and after had worker after worker. He was stocking the fridge, mopping the floors, drilling on the rig, etc. I think it took him like 3 or 4 months before he caught a decent job.

Turn in your bugles while you're at it. You don't have the needed analytical skills for your position. 

For sure. It’s just that 51 has been made out to be the busiest house in Chicago, and it seemed awfully convenient that Casey got hurt and had two of those kind of shifts. It also seemed awfully convenient that Squad was called to the gruesome home gym scene instead of Truck 81; it’s been a long time since Squad caught a call like that on the show. If the writers had hung a lantern on it and had the FFs complaining about a slow couple shifts, I would have bought it. 

I’m somewhat willing to chalk up Casey's lapse of judgment to having an injury to the frontal lobe, which houses decision making, judgment, metacognition, and self-regulation abilities. Any reasonable person with Casey's medical knowledge (like doing emergency tracheotomies with Windex bottles and performing intubations better than a pediatric ER physician last season) would have gone to the hospital at some point in the four days he was having ongoing, major neurological symptoms. He’s completely compromised. But his coworkers...what the hell? Brett and Kidd saw the accident; Kidd knew he was bullshitting about being okay, and she's an EMT. Boden clearly thought something was up. Severide lives with him. No one is noticing or saying anything? C’mon, Severide’s known Casey for something like 20 years and was the one pushing Casey to get help in season 2, and there is absolutely no way Casey getting dragged by a drunk driver through downtown Chicago and then head planting onto the street didn’t become the talk of the shift. It was probably on national news.

There's some sloppy writing. 🙂

[JustBecause]

40 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

It happens. Minor/inconsequential MVAs, ODs, accountability at minor fires (i.e. where they are not going to work, just being on standby in case Something Bad happens to a working company). Some days it's just very quiet. Yes, some days--weeks--can be like that. The brother of a good friend of mine was a probie in Buffalo in the 90s. Every shift he was on he was bored off his arse. The shifts before and after had worker after worker. He was stocking the fridge, mopping the floors, drilling on the rig, etc. I think it took him like 3 or 4 months before he caught a decent job.

FTFY; you're not a firefighter, so you can say quiet 😁

Bringing this up reminds of S1, when Mills brought up the quietness of a shift, and without fail, 81 was called to the accident that Voight's son caused. Had he not done so, there'd be no #OneChicago. The takeaway? Sometimes it's best to say quiet.

[NJRadioGuy]

19 minutes ago, JustBecause said:

FTFY; you're not a firefighter, so you can say quiet 😁

Bringing this up reminds of S1, when Mills brought up the quietness of a shift, and without fail, 81 was called to the accident that Voight's son caused. Had he not done so, there'd be no #OneChicago. The takeaway? Sometimes it's best to say quiet.

I know too many folks in the medical field to ever utter that word in-context. I was a patient in the E.D. a few months ago (false alarm, thankfully), and not much was going on. I very deliberately said Oh, it seems to be very....I let the lack-of-a-word hang "much less busy than I'm sure you're used to." I treat it the same way as The Scottish Play.

[Dowel Jones]

On my wildland crew decades ago (1975), we had Wed-Thur off.  It was a rule in the crew bus that we did not utter the word fire on Tuesdays afternoons, before we went off duty. Doing so would merit the penalty of a pink belly (everyone in the bus gets a hand slap on your exposed stomach).

[MssdDrms]

Continuing to drag Dawson up in the show doesn’t make sense to me.  They’re acting like she and Casey were some magical, fairytale love when actually, when she left, they appeared to be on the way out in their marriage.  She treated Casey as an afterthought - always.  I’m going to be a firefighter regardless of what you say or think.  I’m going to adopt this kid, with or without you.  I’m going to have my own baby, even tho it could kill me - deal with it.  She was a horrible person, a hot head, and everyone just fawned over her.  I liked her in the beginning, but I was glad when she left.  Brett and Casey would be good together.

speaking of Brett, I wish she had shown more concern over Casey.  once or twice it seemed like she knew something was off, but to watch the man you’re still in love with get dragged by a car and you don’t show anymore concern than she did....maybe this Brett/Casey storyline is really dead.  

[dovegrey]

2 hours ago, MssdDrms said:

Continuing to drag Dawson up in the show doesn’t make sense to me.  They’re acting like she and Casey were some magical, fairytale love when actually, when she left, they appeared to be on the way out in their marriage.  She treated Casey as an afterthought - always.  I’m going to be a firefighter regardless of what you say or think.  I’m going to adopt this kid, with or without you.  I’m going to have my own baby, even tho it could kill me - deal with it.  She was a horrible person, a hot head, and everyone just fawned over her.  I liked her in the beginning, but I was glad when she left.  Brett and Casey would be good together.

speaking of Brett, I wish she had shown more concern over Casey.  once or twice it seemed like she knew something was off, but to watch the man you’re still in love with get dragged by a car and you don’t show anymore concern than she did....maybe this Brett/Casey storyline is really dead.  

What’s funny about the firefighter example… Casey’s first head injury wiped out his memory of Gabby getting accepted into the fire academy, talking to him about it, doing the opposite of what he suggested, and them fighting about her decision right before a ceiling fell on his head. Casey told Severide he didn’t remember the two days before the injury all the way through the injury itself, which means he didn’t remember any of that. I’ve always kinda sorta wondered what Gabby told him. Was she honest about what happened, or did she foo-foo around it?

(And I’ve always kinda thought Dawsey was built on Casey’s grief for Hallie, Gabby being there for him when he nearly died from the TBI, and then her getting pregnant. It was all emotional momentum, until life got normal and there was no momentum left. 5x22 didn't help, but yeah. Brettsey would/should be a lot more stable and healthy than that, but the writers have done a real good job of taking all the joy and goodwill out of it.)

Edited March 20, 2021 by dovegrey
language is hard sometimes :\

[FnkyChkn34]

On 3/19/2021 at 8:08 PM, cameron said:

Does anyone remember what the term Mouch means.  It's a suck up.  Can't stand the actor or the character.

I think you're thinking of the word "mooch." 😉  Mouch's nickname is Mouch because it's a portmanteau of "man" and "couch."  He's lazy and only sits in one spot on the couch; he's not exactly a suck up.  Didn't he tell Ritter and Gallo not to do any extra work for Boden (the office paperwork)? 

[cameron]

27 minutes ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I think you're thinking of the word "mooch." 😉  Mouch's nickname is Mouch because it's a portmanteau of "man" and "couch."  He's lazy and only sits in one spot on the couch; he's not exactly a suck up.  Didn't he tell Ritter and Gallo not to do any extra work for Boden (the office paperwork)? 

Your right, but I find it interesting that the different actors pronounce it both ways.  Some pronounce it Mouch and some say Mooch.

Edited March 22, 2021 by cameron

[WinJet0819]

So Mackey makes a name for herself, just 9 episodes in, and gets a transfer to another house. I know the actress quit the show, but the writers really could have come up with something better. She was just transferred to 51 in the fall, and now she's getting a dream transfer to another house. That just doesn't add up. With her leaving after 9 episodes, it just makes the forced relationship tension between her and Gallo that much more pointless.

Violet is back and predictably is going to take Mackey's spot. I always thought she was going to come over, anyway, when Foster left after last season. I do hope the Ambo 61 spot doesn't become a cursed position like the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors at Hogwarts. And who would have thought that now Sylvie is the longest tenured paramedic on the show, in her seventh season, surpassing Dawson, who left after 6 seasons.

Mouch acted like a total idiot. And his excuse about wanting to show his stuff in front of the young firefighters just doesn't fly. You make a mockery out of a mandatory training just because you feel nobody notices your skills? Stupid. And of course, on Chicago Fire Anatomy, his stupidity gets rewarded.

In regards to Casey, for once, for the sake of realism, have Casey make the conscious decision to get his head checked out, instead of just trying to tough it out. Saw this story with Severide in Season 1. Predictably, the writers of Chicago Fire Anatomy seem to be waiting for someone to get hurt or killed before he finally has to face reality. It's a waste of time, IMO. And in regards to the scans Casey looked at, I have to say it seems the Director and Producers think we're stupid. The year on his head scans show 2012. Casey first hurt his head in the "Not Like This" episode, which aired Dec 10, 2013. So unless they're thinking Seasons 1 and the first half of Season 2 were one whole year, the date on those scans doesn't track.

And when you consider the fact that the doctor in that episode in Season 2 said that a second blow to the head might be debilitating, and the fact that Matt's been allowed to be "very lucky" for over 7 years, and they bring his head injury back into the story now, I really wouldn't be surprised if Jesse Spencer is on his way out. I wouldn't blame him, considering they took his character's balls away when they put him with Dawson. He's been with the show, living on location in Chicago for 9 years of his life. And if the writer's aren't willing to give him and his character a challenge anymore, it could very well be that time.

[FnkyChkn34]

5 hours ago, WinJet0819 said:

So Mackey makes a name for herself, just 9 episodes in, and gets a transfer to another house. I know the actress quit the show, but the writers really could have come up with something better. She was just transferred to 51 in the fall, and now she's getting a dream transfer to another house. That just doesn't add up. With her leaving after 9 episodes, it just makes the forced relationship tension between her and Gallo that much more pointless.

I can forgive stuff like this - the actress's choice to leave was an abrupt departure that caught the writers off guard.  Everything says she left for undisclosed private reasons, so I guess I'm only assuming that it was abrupt, but it sure seems like it.  They had one episode to wrap up her story.  It is what it is.

[dovegrey]

11 hours ago, WinJet0819 said:

And in regards to the scans Casey looked at, I have to say it seems the Director and Producers think we're stupid. The year on his head scans show 2012. Casey first hurt his head in the "Not Like This" episode, which aired Dec 10, 2013. So unless they're thinking Seasons 1 and the first half of Season 2 were one whole year, the date on those scans doesn't track.

Heh. I noticed that. The scans said January 2012....Casey was actually still Dr. Chase at that time. Fire chronologically and canonically started in September 2012 as that was Darden’s death date on the Academy wall. The scans would have been February 2014 as they were at least 6 weeks after he got hurt.  (Edited to add: Shay canonically died in May 2014 and that was the same season.) And they had his age on the radiology report as 42...so I guess Casey is 51 years old this year. 😕

Production was bragging on Instagram about having the clock at the bank reflect that Casey was late, though. Attention to detail, second to none. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by dovegrey
Noted

[jabRI]

On 3/23/2021 at 4:37 AM, WinJet0819 said:

So Mackey makes a name for herself, just 9 episodes in, and gets a transfer to another house. I know the actress quit the show, but the writers really could have come up with something better. She was just transferred to 51 in the fall, and now she's getting a dream transfer to another house. That just doesn't add up. With her leaving after 9 episodes, it just makes the forced relationship tension between her and Gallo that much more pointless.

I find it stretches the imagination beyond even my usual disbelief that she's like the only paramedic in all of Chicago fluent in Spanish. Sheesh... edited ... sorry, i wrote this before i saw upthread that the actress quit unexpectedly.  So yeah, I guess the writers did the best they could in the circumstances.

Edited March 25, 2021 by jabRI

[WinJet0819]

On 3/23/2021 at 8:47 AM, FnkyChkn34 said:

I can forgive stuff like this - the actress's choice to leave was an abrupt departure that caught the writers off guard.  Everything says she left for undisclosed private reasons, so I guess I'm only assuming that it was abrupt, but it sure seems like it.  They had one episode to wrap up her story.  It is what it is.

 

9 hours ago, jabRI said:

I find it stretches the imagination beyond even my usual disbelief that she's like the only paramedic in all of Chicago fluent in Spanish. Sheesh... edited ... sorry, i wrote this before i saw upthread that the actress quit unexpectedly.  So yeah, I guess the writers did the best they could in the circumstances.

 

Even with her unexpected departure, there's other stuff that could have been more realistic. Considering she said looks after a number of kids at group home she volunteers, maybe she decides to resign to volunteer full time to help them out. A tough case could have helped make the decision that much clearer for her. Or she learns she has a debilitating medical condition or cancer, that she withheld from Cruz because he would just worry, that's going to cause her to resign her position. That's stuff that could have been thought up on the fly. Or even the very simple, quick and dirty way of either suffering a career-ending injury or being killed in the line of duty. But to have 8 previous episodes over a 4 month period where the only interesting thing she did was survive being driven off a bridge with Sylvie, and then suddenly catch the eye of an officer because she speaks Spanish and can be on the path to leadership, seems half-baked, at best. The writers just don't seem to even want to try any form of actual realism anymore, even when it wouldn't take that much effort to do it. And it's funny how, in a recent interview,  Haas actually says the coming and going of emergency workers actually happens in real life. While true, he's been deviating from real life for the past several years with a lot of these storylines.

And with all that said, there must have been something really serious for Adriyan Rae to want to quit the show so abruptly, after just 9 episodes.

On 3/19/2021 at 9:10 PM, dovegrey said:

For sure. It’s just that 51 has been made out to be the busiest house in Chicago, and it seemed awfully convenient that Casey got hurt and had two of those kind of shifts. It also seemed awfully convenient that Squad was called to the gruesome home gym scene instead of Truck 81; it’s been a long time since Squad caught a call like that on the show. If the writers had hung a lantern on it and had the FFs complaining about a slow couple shifts, I would have bought it. 

I’m somewhat willing to chalk up Casey's lapse of judgment to having an injury to the frontal lobe, which houses decision making, judgment, metacognition, and self-regulation abilities. Any reasonable person with Casey's medical knowledge (like doing emergency tracheotomies with Windex bottles and performing intubations better than a pediatric ER physician last season) would have gone to the hospital at some point in the four days he was having ongoing, major neurological symptoms. He’s completely compromised. But his coworkers...what the hell? Brett and Kidd saw the accident; Kidd knew he was bullshitting about being okay, and she's an EMT. Boden clearly thought something was up. Severide lives with him. No one is noticing or saying anything? C’mon, Severide’s known Casey for something like 20 years and was the one pushing Casey to get help in season 2, and there is absolutely no way Casey getting dragged by a drunk driver through downtown Chicago and then head planting onto the street didn’t become the talk of the shift. It was probably on national news.

There's some sloppy writing. 🙂

That's the understatement of this year.

[WinJet0819]

On 3/20/2021 at 8:14 AM, MssdDrms said:

Continuing to drag Dawson up in the show doesn’t make sense to me.  They’re acting like she and Casey were some magical, fairytale love when actually, when she left, they appeared to be on the way out in their marriage.  She treated Casey as an afterthought - always.  I’m going to be a firefighter regardless of what you say or think.  I’m going to adopt this kid, with or without you.  I’m going to have my own baby, even tho it could kill me - deal with it.  She was a horrible person, a hot head, and everyone just fawned over her.  I liked her in the beginning, but I was glad when she left.  Brett and Casey would be good together.

speaking of Brett, I wish she had shown more concern over Casey.  once or twice it seemed like she knew something was off, but to watch the man you’re still in love with get dragged by a car and you don’t show anymore concern than she did....maybe this Brett/Casey storyline is really dead.  

I say good. This was the first episode of the season where there wasn't any longing glances from afar between them.  Quite refreshing to watch an episode absent of the forced tension between them. I really wouldn't be surprised if they're using Casey's head injury to set up his exit from the show. And predictably, if he does leave, his last scene will be him buying a plane ticket to a foreign country to be with Gabby. That's how hung up he still is on her, and it's probably what's frustrating Jessie Spencer.

[FnkyChkn34]

9 hours ago, WinJet0819 said:

Even with her unexpected departure, there's other stuff that could have been more realistic. Considering she said looks after a number of kids at group home she volunteers, maybe she decides to resign to volunteer full time to help them out. A tough case could have helped make the decision that much clearer for her. Or she learns she has a debilitating medical condition or cancer, that she withheld from Cruz because he would just worry, that's going to cause her to resign her position. That's stuff that could have been thought up on the fly. Or even the very simple, quick and dirty way of either suffering a career-ending injury or being killed in the line of duty. But to have 8 previous episodes over a 4 month period where the only interesting thing she did was survive being driven off a bridge with Sylvie, and then suddenly catch the eye of an officer because she speaks Spanish and can be on the path to leadership, seems half-baked, at best. The writers just don't seem to even want to try any form of actual realism anymore, even when it wouldn't take that much effort to do it. And it's funny how, in a recent interview,  Haas actually says the coming and going of emergency workers actually happens in real life. While true, he's been deviating from real life for the past several years with a lot of these storylines.

And with all that said, there must have been something really serious for Adriyan Rae to want to quit the show so abruptly, after just 9 episodes.

Sorry, but a young, single woman in Chicago can't just quit her job to go volunteer.  She needs a paying job to make money.  And I'm pretty sure they didn't want to kill her or give her a debilitating injury or disease because they wanted to leave the door open for her to return.  Maybe she could have moved away to a different city or something for family reasons, but then people would be complaining, "they'd never talked about her family in a different city before! This story is stupid!" 

She transferred houses, where she's being groomed over the next YEAR for a promotion.  It's not like she was immediately promoted now.  The guy just said he saw potential in her.  Like I said before, I thought it was fine.

[dovegrey]

Mackey was unfortunately such a non-entity, that I don’t know if I would have noticed if she was quietly replaced by Violet without any explanation. It’s cool that they gave the character and actor a positive send-off (versus the back-to-back Chili and Borelli catastrophe in season 5). If I armchair quarterbacked it, I would have had her request a transfer to get away from Cruz’s nonstop hovering and micromanaging control, and then given Cruz a bit of a storyline with that.

With Jesse Spencer/Casey leaving, it’s hard to say. I keep waffling on where this is going. Storylines don’t usually go where they realistically should, and Derek Haas writes a lot of stuff for cheap thrills. Just look at 5x22 and 6x1, when Casey, Mouch, and Herrmann realistically had absolutely no possible way to survive the warehouse fire; it was all hand-waved so Haas could hint that Jesse Spencer was leaving all summer and then do a 10-second fake funeral for Casey in 6x1. All three characters were written into a corner, and then Haas wrote it so that the corner never existed. Cheap, disappointing, superficial thrills. 

So, Casey’s headaches could be post-concussive syndrome with intense headaches and vision issues/migraine auras; he needs a week or two to recover, his season 2 injury fully resolved over time, and he’s given the all-clear. The storyline would probably then be a way to give Kidd temporary command of Truck and probably push Casey and Brett together (total speculation). Or, Casey’s headaches could be a slow bleed/skull fracture with permanent brain damage; his career is over, and he retires to Puerto Rico where all Dawsons go to be written off.

Whether or not Jesse Spencer renews for season 10, it won’t be because of this storyline, because this storyline probably won’t exist by 9x12, just like it stopped existing in season 2 when skull-compromised Casey was immediately knocked unconscious by the bombing at Med and then t-boned in the face by Truck 66. 

[WinJet0819]

10 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Sorry, but a young, single woman in Chicago can't just quit her job to go volunteer.  She needs a paying job to make money.  And I'm pretty sure they didn't want to kill her or give her a debilitating injury or disease because they wanted to leave the door open for her to return.  Maybe she could have moved away to a different city or something for family reasons, but then people would be complaining, "they'd never talked about her family in a different city before! This story is stupid!" 

She transferred houses, where she's being groomed over the next YEAR for a promotion.  It's not like she was immediately promoted now.  The guy just said he saw potential in her.  Like I said before, I thought it was fine.

We'll have to agree to disagree.

To see potential in someone, the person has to show something to warrant that potential. Mackey didn't. Her speaking Spanish, which was never mentioned prior, while nice, is not going to instantly put somebody like her on other's radar. That whole story just didn't jive for me. Especially, considering the strings Cruz had to pull to get her to 51, which was a busier house, which she initially was not comfortable with early on. As dovegrey mentioned, it would have been more believable, and definitely understandable, if Mackey, herself, requested a transfer because she had enough of Cruz's overprotectiveness, and she needed to go somewhere where she could stand out on her own, instead of constantly being in the shadow of Cruz.

The show actually makes it seem that Cruz was a big part of the little family she had left. Remember, she said he's the only link to her dead brother, and they grew up together.

And young, single women in Chicago work at plenty of non-profits and shelters. They will get paid, just a lot less than what they would be if they were paramedic. But if they're really committed to their cause, they'll find funds. Even ex-cons, who get out of jail with no income are able to do this to help people not follow their same mistakes.

But like I said, agree to disagree.

[dovegrey]

On 3/18/2021 at 1:30 PM, jabRI said:

For most of the episode it felt like Casey was hallucinating from his head injury, that's what I was expecting to see.  Like his sister showing up, and then the watch?  Seemed really bizarre to me.

I rewatched the episode and just wanted to say how much I can see this angle. When Casey was talking to Severide then laid back down to sleep, the episode immediately cut to Casey walking in a quiet and seemingly abandoned firehouse, then his sister showed up out of the blue after six years to take him to a surreal-looking bank vault to find a mystery riddle watch. I totally thought of this comment.

It’d be pretty fun if Casey actually never woke up and this week’s episode reveals he’s been in a coma. Suddenly Hallie is hanging around, Shay and Otis are back, and the watch is ticking down to something. I’m a total sucker for coma dream episodes, and I KNOW this isn’t the storyline, but it’s kinda fun to think about. 

[Leeds]

On 3/25/2021 at 5:48 AM, FnkyChkn34 said:

Sorry, but a young, single woman in Chicago can't just quit her job to go volunteer.  She needs a paying job to make money.  And I'm pretty sure they didn't want to kill her or give her a debilitating injury or disease because they wanted to leave the door open for her to return.  Maybe she could have moved away to a different city or something for family reasons, but then people would be complaining, "they'd never talked about her family in a different city before! This story is stupid!" 

But a young, single man in Chicago could?  

[FnkyChkn34]

6 hours ago, Leeds said:

But a young, single man in Chicago could?  

No?  But we weren't talking about a man, we were talking about Mackie, so I kept my comment character specific.  Sorry, I fail to see your point.  Unless independently wealthy, I don't think anyone could live in Chicago without a paying job.