S10.E18: What's Inside You

[jewel21]

Firehouse 51 must band together when one of their own is taken hostage.

Airdate: 04/13/2022

[DanaK]

That was a really enjoyable episode

[mommalib]

Boden is my favorite character and he was the man in this episode. The leadership, the courage , the empathy was on display. I know that one man that died is gonna stay with him but he saved a lot of lives. 

[LittleIggy]

38 minutes ago, mommalib said:

Boden is my favorite character and he was the man in this episode. The leadership, the courage , the empathy was on display. I know that one man that died is gonna stay with him but he saved a lot of lives. 

Boden is my fave, too. Eamonn Walker just brings the heart, strength, and soul of the character to life. Glad that he got a chance to shine. I liked the retired lawyer character who stepped up.

[Leeds]

Where was the Slamigan when Boden needed it?

[jcbrown]

I backed up and listened to what Boden said at the end about the he dead guy three times and I still cannot hear it as words, thanks to his gravelly whispery delivery of the line. Can anyone enlighten me? Also,who shot that dude?

[DanaK]

4 hours ago, jcbrown said:

I backed up and listened to what Boden said at the end about the he dead guy three times and I still cannot hear it as words, thanks to his gravelly whispery delivery of the line. Can anyone enlighten me? Also,who shot that dude?

He told the officer that there’s a dead victim of a gunshot and he’s sure the gunman didn’t do it and he would testify to that. He implied it the bullet came from a police gun since they were shooting into the store at the gunman, which at the time I thought was rather dangerous given there were customers in the store

Edited April 14, 2022 by DanaK

[Joe Bacigaloop]

All in all the police procedures in this episode were abysmal.

Just what you would expect from this franchise.

Luckily they managed to glorify the criminal and leave the victims on the floor like garbage. Typical for this franchise.

[iMonrey]

I thought this was a pretty strong episode even though it had zilch to do with fire and rescue. I think my one nitpick is the unlikelihood that there would be no other exit from the store other than the loading bay doors which, for some unexplainable reason, they were unable to open. It was just a way to shoehorn the fire fighters into the story.

Also? I'm amazed it wasn't Stella who saved the day. For once. 

Quote

Luckily they managed to glorify the criminal and leave the victims on the floor like garbage. Typical for this franchise.

I'll admit the show maybe didn't need to make the gunman sympathetic to the audience. He could have just been a random creep who escaped from prison. It felt a little too social message-y.

Also, did Severide say he was grilling a six pound brisket for lunch? You'd need six to seven hours to do that. It wouldn't be ready by lunch.

[Joe Bacigaloop]

They had to load the dice to cover their social justice warrior flank.

This guy was a violent criminal who shot at the police and took hostages while spouting terroristic threats.

They were much more concerned about him than the people he terrorized.

Typical of this franchise.

[magicdog]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I thought this was a pretty strong episode even though it had zilch to do with fire and rescue. I think my one nitpick is the unlikelihood that there would be no other exit from the store other than the loading bay doors which, for some unexplainable reason, they were unable to open. It was just a way to shoehorn the fire fighters into the story.

Agreed.  It's against regulation to not have a viable [rear] exit of a building.  There must always be an emergency exit.

 

30 minutes ago, Joe Bacigaloop said:

They had to load the dice to cover their social justice warrior flank.

This guy was a violent criminal who shot at the police and took hostages while spouting terroristic threats.

They were much more concerned about him than the people he terrorized.

Typical of this franchise.

ITA!  I wished the guy had succeeded in his suicide by cop moment!  

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Also, did Severide say he was grilling a six pound brisket for lunch? You'd need six to seven hours to do that. It wouldn't be ready by lunch.

I think he mentioned it would be ready in 5 hours.  If he began cooking early in the morning, it's possible (of course I make my briskets in the crock pot and that takes 8 hours on low).

 

7 hours ago, DanaK said:

He implied it the bullet came from a police gun since they were shooting into the store at the gunman, which at the time I thought was rather dangerous given there were customers in the store

 

3 hours ago, Joe Bacigaloop said:

All in all the police procedures in this episode were abysmal.

Agreed on both counts!  It's not Boden's job to gauge whose bullet killed the man, that's ballistics' job.  IRL, the cops would have avoided firing into the store like that.  They would be more likely to have a hostage negotiator to hopefully have a peaceful ending to the confrontation.  Failing that, a sharpshooter carefully trained on the perp. 

[Joe Bacigaloop]

I thought a show about fireman should have…you know….  fires.

Not non-stop police work.

[mommalib]

8 hours ago, Joe Bacigaloop said:

All in all the police procedures in this episode were abysmal.

Just what you would expect from this franchise.

Luckily they managed to glorify the criminal and leave the victims on the floor like garbage. Typical for this franchise.

There was nothing about this episode that sent a message the victims don't matter. Boden's presence was about the hostages. I did like that highlighted Boden's empathy and explained how the hostage taker got into that situation and not just treated another young Black man like some throw away criminal. At the end of the day the guy went to jail like he was supposed to. 

Edited April 14, 2022 by mommalib

[iMonrey]

Quote

I thought a show about fireman should have…you know….  fires.

You'd think. Or at least rescue calls. There was no real reason for the fire department to be at the scene of a robbery/hostage situation.

[jcbrown]

13 hours ago, DanaK said:

He told the officer that there’s a dead victim of a gunshot and he’s sure the gunman didn’t do it and he would testify to that. He implied it the bullet came from a police gun since they were shooting into the store at the gunman, which at the time I thought was rather dangerous given there were customers in the store

Thank you!

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Also, did Severide say he was grilling a six pound brisket for lunch? You'd need six to seven hours to do that. It wouldn't be ready by lunch.

I noticed that and it bugged me, too.

[Joe Bacigaloop]

1 hour ago, mommalib said:

There was nothing about this episode that sent a message the victims don't matter. Boden's presence was about the hostages. I did like that highlighted Boden's empathy and explained how the hostage taker got into that situation and not just treated another young Black man like some throw away criminal. At the end of the day the guy went to jail like he was supposed to. 

You are right. He was not treated like a criminal who was shooting at the police and trying to kill them to escape from jail. Or someone who terrorized a roomful of innocent people.

 

[LittleIggy]

At the end with Severide, Kidd, and Hermann, the Chief expressed his regret at not finding the shooting victim earlier and maybe being able to help him (honey, the dude was shot in the forehead!).

[NJRadioGuy]

12 hours ago, Joe Bacigaloop said:

They had to load the dice to cover their social justice warrior flank.
This guy was a violent criminal who shot at the police and took hostages while spouting terroristic threats.
They were much more concerned about him than the people he terrorized.

They had a clear shot half the time he was holed up in there. One sniper round and that's that.
Lawyer was right about one thing: Causation. If someone dies in the commission of a violent felony, in most jurisdictions (I'm sure Illinois is one but IANAL) then he takes the full ride for felony murder. And a dozen counts of kidnapping and forcible confinement wouldn't be two years either. Although in modern-day Woke Chicago it might very well be, so who really knows. And since urban markets have video cameras, there's enough evidence to convince even a sympathetic jury that he needs to be buried under the prison.

9 hours ago, Joe Bacigaloop said:

I thought a show about fireman should have…you know….  fires.
Not non-stop police work.

Gaah. Yes. Tonight it was Chicago MedPolice, Chicage FirePolice, and an uncharacteristally good Chicago PD. ENOUGH WITH EID'S POLICE FETISH, FFS.

I miss the rescue calls the most. Their fires are just so fake that it takes me right out of the story, but they do a decent job on MVAs/pins, unusual events, high-angle rescues, etc. 

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

You'd think. Or at least rescue calls. There was no real reason for the fire department to be at the scene of a robbery/hostage situation.

Not to mention the entire house deciding to roll out to offer moral support. Glad I wasn't three blocks in the other direction with my house on fire, or me having a coronary event, etc. WTAF.

15 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I thought this was a pretty strong episode even though it had zilch to do with fire and rescue. I think my one nitpick is the unlikelihood that there would be no other exit from the store other than the loading bay doors which, for some unexplainable reason, they were unable to open. It was just a way to shoehorn the fire fighters into the story.

Every supermarket I know of has employee entrances, loading bay doors for deliveries that come in all day and night, etc. Lazy writing there too.

Quote

Also, did Severide say he was grilling a six pound brisket for lunch? You'd need six to seven hours to do that. It wouldn't be ready by lunch.

Six pound point, at that. Where you find a separate point cut is beyond me. Flats, yes, but point? I've never seen them sold separately. Best part of the whole damned cow if it's cooked right, but six pounds would be about 8 hours low and slow or about 3 hours hot-and-fast, so not unreasonable. I've done 14 pound full packers in 4-5 hours (starting at 400° and dropping down to 275 after about 2 hours). And best Texas-style rub would have been Lawry's Season Salt, 16 mesh coarse black pepper, and granulated garlic (ugh--I hate garlic). Cumin works in small doses, but add in some Cayenne and ancho chile powders, celery seed (makes for a killer smoke ring), and a couple of teaspoons of espresso grind coffee. Wonder how much the show got paid by Weber for that promotional shout-out?

[Dowel Jones]

Hermann replied to Cruz that Chief was cooking it for dinner, but that he would be back by lunch.  Unless it's a late dinner, still too long as others have posted.

My old command center would have heard the 51 units rolling out and replied "Negative, cancel, cover 51.  Call the command center."  You don't self dispatch to another area (note the other engine already at scene) when there is no need for extra personnel.  At least until they manufactured the need.  The Squad boys should be exhausted since they dead-lifted several employees 20' up to the roof.

Chief, you don't know where that bullet came from.  It could have been a ricochet from the bad guy's weapon.  You'll get taken apart on the stand.  By the way, where does an escaping prisoner get a handgun?

Big plus:  A bare minimum of the redundant, silly, cringeworthy relationship draaaaama this week.  More Boden!  Every week, if that's what it takes.

Did anyone else want the bad guy to shoot that idiot manager?

The offhand remark about the ambulance AED batteries being dead was interesting.  I wonder if that is going to lead somewhere.

[Leeds]

23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

.

Also, did Severide say he was grilling a six pound brisket for lunch? You'd need six to seven hours to do that. It wouldn't be ready by lunch.

You forget that it's Severide we're talking about - the super hero who can do anything (and everyone) any time, any where.

8 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

 

Gaah. Yes. Tonight it was Chicago MedPolice, Chicage FirePolice, and an uncharacteristally good Chicago PD. ENOUGH WITH EID'S POLICE FETISH, FFS.
 

 

What's EID?

[iMonrey]

Quote

He was not treated like a criminal who was shooting at the police and trying to kill them to escape from jail. Or someone who terrorized a roomful of innocent people.

There's two ways to look at this. One is that they wanted to flesh out this character and give him some backstory rather than just have some random psycho being a psycho. I guess that sort of makes sense. But on the other hand, trying to make him somewhat sympathetic given the circumstances does seem like the show is trying too hard to make social commentary, and I can see where people would balk at that. 

Quote

 By the way, where does an escaping prisoner get a handgun?

That's a very good question. He was being transported back from the hospital to prison when he escaped. I assume he forcibly took the gun from an officer escort, and we have no idea what happened to him/her.

Quote

The offhand remark about the ambulance AED batteries being dead was interesting.  I wonder if that is going to lead somewhere.

And at the end of the show, two of them (I don't remember which - Herrmann and Mouch, maybe) were commenting that there was something "off" about the new EMT. I think they're laying the groundwork for an upcoming reveal that paves the way for dumping her once Sylvie comes back. Didn't they say they couldn't find any record of her being where she said she was?

[NJRadioGuy]

1 hour ago, Leeds said:

What's EID?

Rick Eid, IIRC he's one of the showrunners of the whole One Chicago thing.

[Joe Bacigaloop]

The thing is they kept telling this skell that he shouldn’t go to jail for the rest of his life for what he had done which is exactly what should have happened. He continually shot at the police trying to kill them so he could escape lawful incarceration. He brutalized and terrorized innocent people continually screaming that he was going to kill them if he didn’t get his way.

They need to lock him up and throw away the key. They are totally wrong to want him to walk away with minimal consequences.

[NJRadioGuy]

1 hour ago, Joe Bacigaloop said:

The thing is they kept telling this skell that he shouldn’t go to jail for the rest of his life for what he had done which is exactly what should have happened. He continually shot at the police trying to kill them so he could escape lawful incarceration. He brutalized and terrorized innocent people continually screaming that he was going to kill them if he didn’t get his way.

They need to lock him up and throw away the key. They are totally wrong to want him to walk away with minimal consequences.

Agreed. He got a gift sentence of 11 months and he was whinging about it, when being an accomplice in an armed robbery should have gotten him 5-10 years. He should have kept his head down, his mouth shut, did his time and got on with his life. I can see him fleeing custody when the opportunity presented itself, but as portrayed in the episode, he wasn't violent by nature initially. But if he had ready access to a firearm in the brief time he was on the lam, and chose to take it, then I would strongly dispute the non-violent thing anyway.

Once it became a hostage situation with an unstable EDP perp, SWAT had multiple clear shots to end it, and that's what they should have done.

[NJRadioGuy]

10 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Hermann replied to Cruz that Chief was cooking it for dinner, but that he would be back by lunch.  Unless it's a late dinner, still too long as others have posted.

Assuming an early morning shift start (i.e. bacon and pancakes), fire up the smoker at 11 or 12 and it's done by 7 or 8 if you push the temps a bit and commit the cardinal sin of not resting it for an hour or two.

But this is firemen we're talking about. Basically walking stomachs. Six pounds of point meat? Christ on a cracker, after trimming and shrinkage during the cook they'd be lucky to get 3 or 4 pounds to serve. That's enough for 6 normal people, or two firefighters. For the whole house? Start with an 18 pound full packer and maybe everybody will get some.

[Guildford]

8 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Rick Eid, IIRC he's one of the showrunners of the whole One Chicago thing.

Rick Eid only ruined PD, he had nothing to do with Fire, they turned into FireCop all by themselves.

[NJRadioGuy]

7 minutes ago, Guildford said:

Rick Eid only ruined PD, he had nothing to do with Fire, they turned into FireCop all by themselves.

Ahh. For some reason I thought he was the one responsible for that abominable T81 pursuit scene last season or the year before.

[dovegrey]

17 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Ahh. For some reason I thought he was the one responsible for that abominable T81 pursuit scene last season or the year before.

I remember Derek Haas bragging on Twitter that he wrote that scene and storyline to pay homage to himself and his old 2 Fast 2 Furious script. I wish I was kidding or exaggerating. (It was the episode where some guys stole the K12 saw from Truck 81, right?)

IMO, Fire went downhill when Matt Olmstead left after season 3, and then nosedived when Michael Brandt stopped being actively involved, which left Derek Haas all by himself around mid-season 5 (I tend to use the Boden Pisses Off a Chief Who Reassigns Everyone to Silly Posts arc as the clear marker for when the last semblance of Fire as a quality show was taken out back and shot). The old season 4 discussion here tracks with that. IIRC, Eid was never involved with Fire, but Haas had his hand in the early seasons of the other shows.

[TM101]

Oh look, Firehouse 51 playing cop again! I almost fell off my couch at the squad shielding Boden and the shooter after he tackled him. Any city police department would have told the FD to get off their hostage scene and let them do their job before they get people killed.

Nonetheless, entertaining episode because Boden is the only character I actually really like on the show.

[greyhorse]

 

On 4/14/2022 at 11:58 PM, NJRadioGuy said:

Every supermarket I know of has employee entrances, loading bay doors for deliveries that come in all day and night, etc. Lazy writing there too.

Six pound point, at that. Where you find a separate point cut is beyond me. Flats, yes, but point? I've never seen them sold separately. Best part of the whole damned cow if it's cooked right, but six pounds would be about 8 hours low and slow or about 3 hours hot-and-fast, so not unreasonable. I've done 14 pound full packers in 4-5 hours (starting at 400° and dropping down to 275 after about 2 hours). And best Texas-style rub would have been Lawry's Season Salt, 16 mesh coarse black pepper, and granulated garlic (ugh--I hate garlic). Cumin works in small doses, but add in some Cayenne and ancho chile powders, celery seed (makes for a killer smoke ring), and a couple of teaspoons of espresso grind coffee. Wonder how much the show got paid by Weber for that promotional shout-out?

I get that production probably found a closed down grocery store so then they could go in to do several days of filming.  But come on, that was the most pathetically stocked grocery store ever.  Yes, it was a Mom and Pop / Mexican store.  But just not realistic.  If they had the budget to do that over the top car in the Chicago river episode, then they could have spent more money on props to at least fill the shelves.

Wow, you're making me hungry.  I've never done brisket before, I favor tri-tip if I'm going to do something other than a steak.  But one of these days I'm going to try.

Agree that the fill-in paramedic is shady.  Something's up.

[mommalib]

On 4/14/2022 at 8:47 PM, Joe Bacigaloop said:

You are right. He was not treated like a criminal who was shooting at the police and trying to kill them to escape from jail. Or someone who terrorized a roomful of innocent people.

 

It was hostage situation for god's sake of course the main point was to talk him down. But again he went to jail like he was supposed to but I guess the only thing that would satisfy you is the guy getting shot to death. 

[Joe Bacigaloop]

32 minutes ago, mommalib said:

It was hostage situation for god's sake of course the main point was to talk him down. But again he went to jail like he was supposed to but I guess the only thing that would satisfy you is the guy getting shot to death. 

I would be satisfied if this skell was treated like a criminal instead of everyone trying to get him off with the least consequences possible.

But that is par for the course for a Dick Wolf show. They are are more concerned with the criminals than the victims.

Unless of course they are white supremacists who are the criminals in 90% of the plot lines of these Wolf shows. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Joe Bacigaloop

[mommalib]

3 hours ago, Joe Bacigaloop said:

I would be satisfied if this skell was treated like a criminal instead of everyone trying to get him off with the least consequences possible.

But that is par for the course for a Dick Wolf show. They are are more concerned with the criminals than the victims.

Unless of course they are white supremacists who are the criminals in 90% of the plot lines of these Wolf shows. 

Oh right so unfair to White supremacists. lol

[limecoke]

I’m so weary of “store hostage situation” storylines. It’s been done a million times, over & over. Is there no writing creativity left in Hollywood? Is this not a show about firefighters and paramedics? Can’t they come up with enough fire & EMT situations to keep the show running? Fire has become Chicago PD Lite.  Between Stella the Good & Kelly the Fire Inspector/Cop, I fast-forward a lot. 

[WinJet0819]

Boden was the star of this episode. Plain and simple. 

But as others have said, no other exits in a store? There's more than just a front and back entrance.

And really, the whole house has to roll to a HOSTAGE situation simply because their chief is involved. Give me a break. There is not even a remote necessity for them being there. Screw any other fires or emergencies. Our chief is a hostage and that takes priority.

It really does seem going through this season that the writers can't come up with any actual firefighting storylines. Kelly is doing arson investigations. St. Stella is investigating suspicious car crashes. Boden is in a hostage situation. It's true that there aren't fires all the time, but these storylines are so, so, so far out of the realm of possibility for firefighters. It's pitiful. I really wish this show could learn from what 9-1-1 is doing and get back to where the actual job is the focal point. Not contrived stories.

Edited November 18, 2022 by WinJet0819

[NJRadioGuy]

On 11/16/2022 at 2:44 PM, WinJet0819 said:

It really does seem going through this season that the writers can't come up with any actual firefighting storylines. 

it's gotta be budget related, plain and simple. It's an old/expensive show with actors who command a premium, and ratings that just 2 or 3 years ago would have resulted in overnight cancellation of the show (less than a 1.0 in the adult demos). Fire and rescue scenes have to be staged perfectly with all sorts of safety precautions, real PD/FD/medics on set, etc, and I'll bet they can only afford to do that maybe 4 or 5 times a year in any greater capacity than a few MVAs.