S10.E14: An Officer with Grit

[jewel21]

Chief Hawkins goes above and beyond to help Brett and Violet with a problem. Kidd pursues an open lieutenant position. A blast from the past asks Mouch and Herrmann for a favor.

Airdate: 03/02/2022

[LittleIggy]

OMG! Stella makes Gabby look like a piker when it comes to Mary Sue status! 🤢 Damn, I liked Pelham. I had a sick feeling that he was going to fall on his sword for St. Stella but was hoping it wouldn’t happen. 🤬

[yourdreamer]

Stella was almostttttt gone, darn it. I am fine with seeing her at Molly’s or the apartment, but it was nice having somebody else there. And Violet getting to jump the line for the heater. That’s a lawsuit/reprimand waiting to happen for the chief. I hope that happens sooner rather than later. Ugh. 

[FnkyChkn34]

I was going to come here and post halfway through with my prediction of Pelham volunteering to go to the House of Misfit Firemen and give his spot to Stella, but then I figured - no need. Everyone here already predicted that too. Anyone who did not see that coming clearly hasn't been torturing themselves by watching this show for 10 years... 

Ugh. 

[magicdog]

2 hours ago, yourdreamer said:

Stella was almostttttt gone, darn it.

 

1 hour ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I was going to come here and post halfway through with my prediction of Pelham volunteering to go to the House of Misfit Firemen and give his spot to Stella, but then I figured - no need. Everyone here already predicted that too

 

Stuff like this is when I refer back to Rules for TV #784:  If someone of the main cast is given an awesome opportunity (promotion, dream job, choice of school, marriage to best spouse evah) the writers should stick with it, not suddenly bail with some flimsy excuse (I don't want to leave my friends, my scores weren't high enough, I lost the lottery ticket, etc.) .  IRL, Stella would be filing a lawsuit claiming discrimination considering "the paperwork went through".

I was surprised to see Spiro back after all these years!  I was annoyed that they redeemed him with his "keeping the money in cash on his person because he couldn't figure out how to use a cash register" bit.  IRL, many bartenders tend to skim the till (remember when in Roadhouse, when Dalton catches a bartender cheating the owner?) and as a former cashier myself, they are not all that hard to figure out.  Hermann et al have to keep track of expenses and taxes so you can't just do that in a bar.  I also don't understand why it was a problem for former patrons of The Bombadier to have been at Molly's at all.  It's not a yuppie bar, and most patrons already are a mix of working class (firefighters and cops) along with doctors (Chicago Med).  It's not like you're clashing with a biker bar vs. a gay bar or something.

2 hours ago, yourdreamer said:

Violet getting to jump the line for the heater. That’s a lawsuit/reprimand waiting to happen for the chief. I hope that happens sooner rather than later. Ugh. 

It's not uncommon and I don't blame Violet for taking advantage - especially when you consider their vehicle was extremely cold and the people they transport need the heat too.  If anything I'd blame Chicago Fire's rules for it taking so long to fix.  It's a fact of life when people can take advantage of an opportunity they usually will.  There are worse things.

[Artsda]

Well that was mean, we were so close to Stella being gone now she's got Casey's job.

[mxc90]

Baffling was Herrmann and Mouch leaving their bar before close, left Spiro there (all by himself?), not knowing he had trouble with the cash register or unaware he was holding 4 grand all that time but assumed the patrons didn't pay.

I feel sorry for the citizens in the area 72 covers. How did these guys make it through the academy? And no one from 51 complained about them was even more confusing.

Why couldn't the other fire fighters who were "forced" to wait get a replacement fire engine? 

Stella is the worse! I didn't think they could make a character as annoying as Gabby. I was proven wrong!

[iMonrey]

Yay, Stella is transferring! No! Damn you Pelham! Damn you all to hell!!! I mean, it was pretty presumptuous of him to assume Stella really wanted to stay at 51. For all he knows she really relished the idea of whipping those green firefighters into shape at the other house. And practically speaking, it would be a better move for her to start fresh over a bunch of newbies rather than leapfrog over her co-workers into a leadership position in her current house.

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House of Misfit Firemen

Bwah!

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I feel sorry for the citizens in the area 72 covers. How did these guys make it through the academy?

Agreed - that was over the top. An entire station filled with a bunch of incompetents? Honestly it's a wonder the Chicago Fire Department hasn't sued this show for slander by now.

We got a glimpse of the outgoing EMT this episode. This station has at least 2 other shifts. I think it would be interesting if they did a whole episode with one of the other shift crews. We could see "our" cast leaving for the day while another shift takes over and does the rest of the episode. Who knows, they might be more interesting than these bozos. 

[limecoke]

Well crap, I KNEW that would happen. I KNEW IT and I hate it. They just had to make her another Gabby. Why, show, why?  And I liked Pelham. 

Edited March 3, 2022 by limecoke

[iMonrey]

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Well crap, I KNEW that would happen. I KNEW IT and I hate it. They just had to make her another Gabby. Why, show, why?

I don't get the show's fascination with this character either. Gabby and Stella both come off like a couple of flakes if you ask me. Gabby was all over the map with what she wanted to be: a doctor, a firefighter, a mother, Casey's wife - only to run off to Puerto Rico or wherever. And after Stella ghosted her fiancé and her boss for who knows how long, her credibility is zilch. Who's to say she won't flake on the Lieutenant's job the minute something else shiny catches her eye?

[preeya]

7 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Baffling was Herrmann and Mouch leaving their bar before close, left Spiro there (all by himself?), not knowing he had trouble with the cash register or unaware he was holding 4 grand all that time but assumed the patrons didn't pay.

Herrmann is the biggest asshole character on TV. What a loud mouth jerkoff.

[Dowel Jones]

8 hours ago, iMonrey said:

An entire station filled with a bunch of incompetents?

And whose job was it to train the firefighters?  Sounds like the outgoing Lt. drank from the same koolaid as the crew.  Put his time in and fled the scene for AZ, when he should have been working his crew every shift until they knew the job.  And if Boden wasn't so busy filling in for the absent BC, he would know which company officers were not doing their jobs.

[tinderbox]

I really liked Pelham. 😢  Why can’t we have nice things?

[LittleIggy]

On 3/4/2022 at 12:20 AM, tinderbox said:

I really liked Pelham. 😢  Why can’t we have nice things?

We are like Kim on Chicago PD! 

[Leeds]

Has anyone else noticed that Stella's mouth has taken on a role of its own?  It's very distracting trying to decide whether to listen to her words, watch her mouth, or watch her eyebrows waggling.  Too bad her Dumbo ears aren't equally flexible - perhaps they'd fly her away and put us out of our misery.

[Sake614]

I knew it but I still allowed myself to hope for one brief, shining moment that Stella would actually leave. I couldn’t believe when she asked Kelly ‘what about us?’ As if their whole relationship depended on them working in the same house on the same shift. If that’s truly the case, they have more problems than they know.

[iMonrey]

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I really liked Pelham. 😢  Why can’t we have nice things?

He really didn't have much in the way of personality though. Now that he's gone I suspect they will have to hire another replacement for Jesse Spencer, although I don't know what kind of role he'd play. Taylor Kinney cannot carry the show as the sole male lead, he just does not have the acting chops. Maybe they intend to do more with Hawkins.

[dovegrey]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

He really didn't have much in the way of personality though. Now that he's gone I suspect they will have to hire another replacement for Jesse Spencer, although I don't know what kind of role he'd play. Taylor Kinney cannot carry the show as the sole male lead, he just does not have the acting chops. Maybe they intend to do more with Hawkins.

I get the sense that Miranda Rae Mayo/Kidd has replaced Jesse Spencer/Casey as the co-lead and also leapfrogged Kara Killmer/Brett as the show’s female lead. Just look at the updated season 10 promo poster. Really, if the producers were looking for another male co-lead, wouldn't Brett Dalton/Pelham have been it?

Though I agree about Taylor Kinney’s abilities, Severide & now Stellaride have a fairly rabid fanbase out there, and the show/production is in for a world of hurt if Taylor Kinney leaves after this season, even more so if Mayo also leaves. I’ve been saying for years that this show is absolutely terrible about building out a depth chart of viable lead characters and planning for departures (five main characters have been on the show since season 1 and its two women leads have been on since seasons 3 and 4, respectively; Jesse Spencer leaving is probably not some random unicorn event).

Honestly, I think it would have been wiser to retire Herrmann, have Kidd take over Engine, and keep Pelham on Truck. With season 11 guaranteed, I would have tried to keep Brett Dalton at nearly any cost, but what do I know...this show appears to be a ratings powerhouse now matter how terrible and stagnant it gets.

Edited March 7, 2022 by dovegrey

[SonofaBiscuit]

I actually never minded Stella until she flaked off and ghosted Kelly and Boden this season…After that whole ordeal, I’ve been supremely irritated. Would have loved for her to go to the other station (and I would have been completely fine if she was still on the show), but now I am just annoyed we lost Pelham instead, ugh!

God, I really dislike Gallo. Hawkins is cute and not a man-child, so I would prefer that the show pair him with Violet instead (which won’t happen because we can’t have nice things). It’s tricky since Hawkins is Violet’s superior, but I think they could make it work (but I know they won’t since this show is clearly intent on getting Violet and man-baby back together).

[WinJet0819]

On 3/3/2022 at 1:43 AM, magicdog said:

It's not uncommon and I don't blame Violet for taking advantage - especially when you consider their vehicle was extremely cold and the people they transport need the heat too.  If anything I'd blame Chicago Fire's rules for it taking so long to fix.  It's a fact of life when people can take advantage of an opportunity they usually will.  There are worse things.

The problem with this is that it shows favoritism. It's exactly why sleeping with the boss, man or woman is frowned upon. All other paramedics who aren't sleeping with Hawkins don't get a bump to the top of the line for a maintenance issue. They just have to deal with it. But Violet gets special treatment because she is sleeping with him. That's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Not to mention, the guys on truck were delayed, and kept out of service longer, because the work on their rig was started and then had to be stopped for an hour while the special request to accommodate Violet's ambo was given priority, simply because she's sleeping with the Chief That's a bad look, and gives the impression that she can curry special favors from her boss because of their relationship. 

[WinJet0819]

OMG!!!! What did I just watch? I'm really dreading catching all the way back up.

The deification of Stella is complete. First off, she gets to choose where she wants to be a lieutenant? Total BS. A lieutenant opening isn't something that's up for someone to apply for just because "I want it." There are plenty of other firefighters who passed the Lt. test that want it, too. That's why there's a promotion list. Look at Hermann. He was on the promotion list for years before he finally got the spot. That is why it is so damn aggravating that the writers continue to think the viewers are not going to notice the inconsistency in how Hermann got his Lt. position and how Stella got hers.

And as others said, I really did like Pelham. It sucks that he fell on his sword so that Stella could conveniently stay at 61 and abuse the PDA rules with her Lt. fiancé. I so wanted her to be gone and she could have taken her Girls on Fire with her. Brett Dalton could have been a great co-lead. Truck does need more members. A truck in Chicago needs to have more than 3 firefighters. I saw a few episodes ago they added some filler characters. And this is kind of where the depth issue comes into play. Peter Mills left. Gabby gave up her spot. Cruz went to Squad. Hermann got the promotion to Engine. Otis died. Matt left. They've let characters leave truck without really replenishing. Stella and Gallo are the only additions to Truck in the 10 seasons of the show. That's more the reason why they should have kept Pelham.

And the special treatment given to Violet simply because she's sleeping with Hawkins was just disgusting. This is exactly why the CFD actually has rules that prohibit these types of relationships. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen.