S10.E20: Halfway to the Moon

[jewel21]

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A family friend asks Herrmann for some advice on opening a bar. Tensions run high between Emma and Violet. Kidd struggles to keep her team together.

Airdate: 05/11/2022

[LittleIggy]

The decision to want to be a member of Squad was Gallo’s, but Stella made it all about her. 
I would like to see an accountancy themed bar. 😆

[Artsda]

Stella is so annoying. I miss when she was gone. Her going after Severide for something Gallo wanted for a long time making it about her. Ugh.

[magicdog]

54 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

I would like to see an accountancy themed bar.

I can only begin to imagine!

If Bar Rescue taught me anything, it's that you need to have something that sets you apart from the competition.  While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I  can't see "Olly's" surviving very long.  It's also insulting to have a fake helmet on the wall. 

When that sneaky paramedic threatened to claim Violet was incompetent and that her boyfriend was not going to be able to be a good character witness (for obvious reasons), I kept whispering, "Kill her!" hoping she'd be hit from behind.   She deserves it.  

[iMonrey]

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The decision to want to be a member of Squad was Gallo’s, but Stella made it all about her. 

The whole show is about Stella! This episode really doubled down on Stella-centrism. First she has the colossal gall to accuse Severide of poaching her crew, as if Gallo is someone's property. But, because she's Saint Stella she eventually comes around and gives Gallo her blessing, only to have Gallo turn around and take the knee and pledge his loyalty to Stella. Good grief, I could just puke. Squad can wait? Until when? Gallo isn't getting any younger, and squad is a physical job. 

Firehouse 51, Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambo 61, Battalion 25. Why do they all have different numbers? Shouldn't they all be 51?

The plot hole in the Evil EMT Emma is, why would she be so determined to work at a station where clearly everyone hates her? If she succeeds in replacing Violet everyone will know why. She's just cartoonishly evil for the sake of being a villain.

[preeya]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

She's just cartoonishly evil for the sake of being a villain.

Lately, that seems to the modus operandi for Dick Wolf run shows.

[limecoke]

Maybe Emma is a spy for CFD.👀🤷🏼‍♀️

[dovegrey]

I actually watched this one. For a long while, the writing has made supporting character stories all about the Main 2 (Casey, Severide) and their girlfriends. Gallo’s story being about Kidd was no surprise. Kidd is the new #2. I’m waiting for Kara Killmer to leave so Kidd’s actress can take her #2 billing.

Gallo isn’t Squad certified and so Gallo doing that rescue was all kinds of wrong. He doesn’t join Squad just because Severide says so. If that had gone sideways…. Cruz, Capp, and Tony shouldn’t be so happy about Gallo being assigned their elite, highly specialized job on a whim like that. Back in the good days of the show, that would have triggered a firehouse meltdown between all the different companies.

Edited to add: in the first three years, Casey and Severide often butted heads about Severide stealing all the people Casey had trained up on Truck. There was a lot more territoriality. But I don’t recall Casey refusing a Squad transfer and in fact pushed through at least three.

Run, Stella Kidd, run. Why are you marrying an emotionally stunted person who makes you feel like a pile of shit at least once a year?

Edited May 12, 2022 by dovegrey

[Dowel Jones]

19 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I would like to see an accountancy themed bar. 😆

Forget about the cash registers.  There would be one of those gigantic adding machines with levers - clack clack clack, rrriiinnggg.  And everyone would be wearing green eyeshades.  And there would be a 1040 Schedule D special on the menu.  

I understand that the inability of the truck's ladder to reach the guy was integral to the plot, but at first glance I said, "What, you got a 50' ladder on that thing?"

3 hours ago, dovegrey said:

If that had gone sideways….

Gallo goes whizzing by the victim, and hits the concrete just beside the airbag.  Somewhere in the distance a faint "Beep beep!" is heard.

What if Gallo got a promotion (God forbid!) to another station?  Would Stella squawk at that?

Emma doesn't know how to play Godfather. I don't see her hiding the nebulizer while she was on the ambo and surprised by Ritter, because there's no real possibility that she would have known there would be a call for it later on.  However, she should have mentioned it to the victim if she wanted to play the long game, and then Violet would be on the hook at the Board of Review.  And they don't need Emma's word about the 'special relationship' going on, because it seems to be old news already.  Violet would be toast.  But, as I say, she ain't no Corleone (more like a JR Ewing) and threw herself out there all at once.  Blow up coming soon.  Maybe it will include a knock down hissy fit between Violet and Emma over Gallo.  Soap opera delight!

Show of hands.  How many of you thought that the random civilian with a book club connection was going to be in direct competition with Molly's?  Everyone?  Okay, then.   Dude, you need a reality check.  Bars are fringe businesses anyway; you would know that as an accountant.  They're dependent on disposable income.  Hermann's quote "You know what makes Molly's great....?"  It is people, and Molly's was kept afloat by the patronage of Station 51.  If he doesn't have the capital to do the same with Olly's, he's done.

[LittleIggy]

Emma wasn’t surprised by Ritter as she left the ambo. She was surprised by that new firemen. Ritter would have told Violet to go check the equipment to make sure everything was there.

[MaryHedwig]

On 5/11/2022 at 9:22 PM, LittleIggy said:

I would like to see an accountancy themed bar. 😆

How about a book-club-themed bar? I would go and I don't even drink.

[magicdog]

18 minutes ago, MaryHedwig said:

How about a book-club-themed bar? I would go and I don't even drink.

Wouldn't it be a book store and coffee shop then?  My local Barnes & Noble already does that!

[eyesopen]

21 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Forget about the cash registers.  There would be one of those gigantic adding machines with levers - clack clack clack, rrriiinnggg. And there would be a 1040 Schedule D special on the menu.  

Show of hands.  How many of you thought that the random civilian with a book club connection was going to be in direct competition with Molly's?  Everyone?  Okay, then.   Dude, you need a reality check.  Bars are fringe businesses anyway; you would know that as an accountant.  They're dependent on disposable income.  Hermann's quote "You know what makes Molly's great....?"  It is people, and Molly's was kept afloat by the patronage of Station 51.  If he doesn't have the capital to do the same with Olly's, he's done.

I like these 2 ideas. 😄 Actually menu and drinks have tax and accounting related words would be fun. Yes, I'll have that Cash Flow Upflow Fizzy Cocktail please. (that name's a bit long...)

The first thing that popped into my mind when the guy asked for help on a bar he’s going to open if I were Hermann is where is your bar going to be. Because if it’s close to my bar I can’t help you if it’s going to make me go out of business.

Hermann again being clueless/naïve/positive thinking of his fellow humans. smh

[NJRadioGuy]

On 5/12/2022 at 11:14 AM, iMonrey said:

Firehouse 51, Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambo 61, Battalion 25. Why do they all have different numbers? Shouldn't they all be 51?

Nope, this is very common. They are different companies, just based out of the same House. In many cases, this came about as a result of consolidation from old neighborhood houses that closed and were consolidated into a newer, bigger building. Even the actual station building the show films has real-world Engine 18 and Ambulance 65 (along with a Deputy District Chief and District Chief and a High Rise Unit, according to Wikipedia).

[iMonrey]

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The first thing that popped into my mind when the guy asked for help on a bar he’s going to open if I were Hermann is where is your bar going to be. Because if it’s close to my bar I can’t help you if it’s going to make me go out of business.

I know right? That didn't even come up. It has to be reasonably close for Herrmann to keep dropping by.

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Nope, this is very common. They are different companies, just based out of the same House. In many cases, this came about as a result of consolidation from old neighborhood houses that closed and were consolidated into a newer, bigger building. Even the actual station building the show films has real-world Engine 18 and Ambulance 65 (along with a Deputy District Chief and District Chief and a High Rise Unit, according to Wikipedia).

Yeah I figured it was "real" but it still doesn't make any sense to me. If they're all out of one station they should all have the same number. What, is there some law a truck can't change it's number if it moves to a different hosue?

[NJRadioGuy]

27 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

What, is there some law a truck can't change it's number if it moves to a different hosue?

Tradition. Mess with tradition at your own peril. And it's less confusing for radio calls as well. Some departments will standardize, many won't. Just what it is, I guess. LA standardizes for the most part. FDNY doesn't.

LA County's roster: https://www.lacountyfiremuseum.com/stations-and-apparatus/

Chicago Fire Department roster: https://metrochicagofire.com/cfd.htm

FDNY Roster: https://www.n2nov.net/fdny_locations.html

Edited May 14, 2022 by NJRadioGuy
Links added.

[dovegrey]

48 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I know right? That didn't even come up. It has to be reasonably close for Herrmann to keep dropping by.

Yeah I figured it was "real" but it still doesn't make any sense to me. If they're all out of one station they should all have the same number. What, is there some law a truck can't change it's number if it moves to a different hosue?

The show doesn’t depict this well (anymore) but the different companies have different functions and specialties. Engine does different stuff than Truck, and Squad are elite specialists for particularly difficult and dangerous rescues. They’re not the same, but the show is terrible at depicting it (like Severide sending Gallo up in this episode….NOPE). It would be like eliminating different departments in a regular company and saying everyone has the same job because they work in the same building, from HR to developers to marketing to retail to custodial, etc (maybe a bad analogy but hopefully it helps). 

[NJRadioGuy]

2 hours ago, dovegrey said:

The show doesn’t depict this well (anymore) but the different companies have different functions and specialties. Engine does different stuff than Truck, and Squad are elite specialists for particularly difficult and dangerous rescues. They’re not the same, but the show is terrible at depicting it (like Severide sending Gallo up in this episode….NOPE). It would be like eliminating different departments in a regular company and saying everyone has the same job because they work in the same building, from HR to developers to marketing to retail to custodial, etc (maybe a bad analogy but hopefully it helps). 

They do it better than 9-1-1 (which is utterly awful in that regard). I think after 9 seasons that viewers can somewhat differentiate between the Truck (thing with the big stick on the back) and the Rescue, versus the Engine (the useless apparatus that is seemingly incapable of putting wet stuff on red stuff and is staffed by a mostly-invisible crew).

The company number doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, and if a company has existed for 80, 100, or 150 years, changing its company number on a bureaucrat's whim would be taken as bad ju-ju. Try doing that in New York and there would be a complete revolt.

[dovegrey]

35 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

They do it better than 9-1-1 (which is utterly awful in that regard). I think after 9 seasons that viewers can somewhat differentiate between the Truck (thing with the big stick on the back) and the Rescue, versus the Engine (the useless apparatus that is seemingly incapable of putting wet stuff on red stuff and is staffed by a mostly-invisible crew).

I dunno, I see a lot of people around different forums (not necessarily here) who have no idea what Squad, Engine, and Truck means, often think they're all just Firehouse 51, didn't understand why Kidd couldn't just become a lieutenant of Something at 51 last season, and still don't know that Herrmann is the Lieutenant of Engine 51. Even here last season, someone was mad at Casey for yelling at Gallo, because they thought Gallo was on Squad and Casey was overstepping Severide. I'm even thinking of season 7, when Squad went to put out a basic car fire by themselves (would have been an Engine call and Squad got it only because it served Severide's arson investigation plot), and season 8, when Truck went to rescue a person who was climbing a skyscraper (should have been a Squad call, but Truck got it only because it was the only call the writers could think of to get Casey away from Gabby for 30 minutes). In the earlier seasons, the separation between Truck and Squad was definitely more clear (and Engine wasn't a visible part of the show), and the tension between them was part of the show's overall tone. Now they're One Big Happy Family, and the lines are more than blurred, so it doesn't really make sense when Kidd is suddenly lighting up Severide about crossing into her rig's territory.

Your last sentence there illustrates how the confusion happens, IMO. Engine doesn't do anything they're supposed to be doing, if they're doing anything at all. Squad usually goes on the same calls as everyone else, despite being one of four elite Squad companies serving the entire Chicago area. Truck rarely ever uses the aerial the big stick on the back (🤣). And the emphasis of the show is on the soap opera and silly plots at 51 versus fires, accidents, overdoses, etc. I can see how viewers who don't necessarily have a lot of interest in CFD organization don't pick up on the details and kind of go, "Huh. Nothing makes sense."

[NJRadioGuy]

Well compare that to the nightmare of "the 118" on 9-1-1, where they respond in either a truck or an engine, whichever they feel like, it seems. Now they have a nice tiller truck, but nobody is driving the tiller. I think the (rat-infested) Station 19 is the same, but I gave up on that show three years ago.

Just as a medical procedural should (at least in theory) get the basics of certain procedures correct, getting the basics of the fire service right goes a long way in the audience suspending their disbelief. Of the FD-themed shows, CF is the only one that even pays lip service to that—barely. Truth be told, the only recent FD-themed show that even begins to get it right is the comedy show "Tacoma FD." 

[FnkyChkn34]

On 5/14/2022 at 3:55 PM, dovegrey said:

... Even here last season, someone was mad at Casey for yelling at Gallo, because they thought Gallo was on Squad and Casey was overstepping Severide. ... In the earlier seasons, the separation between Truck and Squad was definitely more clear (and Engine wasn't a visible part of the show), and the tension between them was part of the show's overall tone. ...

I think Casey is allowed to overstep Severide, even if it were one of Severide's own Squad guys - Casey is/was a Captain and Severide is a Lieutenant.  Casey outranks him at the house in general.

Also, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but not every house has a Squad.  In fact, I think that they are supposed to be so elite that there are very few Squads.  Not every fire call needs Squad, nor would every Squad call need Truck or Engine.  Squad should be covering more area and getting different calls where they'd overlap with other houses' Trucks and Engines, but this isn't really shown either.  

[magicdog]

3 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Also, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but not every house has a Squad.  In fact, I think that they are supposed to be so elite that there are very few Squads.  Not every fire call needs Squad, nor would every Squad call need Truck or Engine.  Squad should be covering more area and getting different calls where they'd overlap with other houses' Trucks and Engines, but this isn't really shown either.  

You see a lot of this in Chicago Fire's spiritual ancestor, "Emergency!"  There were times squad went out alone and other times with the engine, depending on the call.

[NJRadioGuy]

4 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I think Casey is allowed to overstep Severide, even if it were one of Severide's own Squad guys - Casey is/was a Captain and Severide is a Lieutenant.  Casey outranks him at the house in general.

Also, someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but not every house has a Squad.  In fact, I think that they are supposed to be so elite that there are very few Squads.  Not every fire call needs Squad, nor would every Squad call need Truck or Engine.  Squad should be covering more area and getting different calls where they'd overlap with other houses' Trucks and Engines, but this isn't really shown either.  

That is correct. In real-life Chicago I believe there are only 4 Squads, and one of them is dedicated to O'Hare.

1 hour ago, magicdog said:

You see a lot of this in Chicago Fire's spiritual ancestor, "Emergency!"  There were times squad went out alone and other times with the engine, depending on the call.

Squad in Emergency! was a different piece of apparatus with a very different mission. Squad 51 was specifically a paramedic unit that also did things like high-angle rescues, etc. Squad 3 on this show is a dedicated heavy rescue that, in reality, would only be toned out for major incidents such as multiple alarm fires, building collapses, technical rescues, train wrecks, water rescues, multi-vehicle MVAs and the like. I don't know if LACoFD had dedicated technical rescue companies at the time (it's been a few years since I did a series re-watch), but I doubt they'd feature any unit that would detract from Johnny and Roy's heroics.

[Dowel Jones]

48 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Squad 3 on this show is a dedicated heavy rescue that, in reality, would only be toned out for major incidents such as multiple alarm fires, building collapses, technical rescues, train wrecks, water rescues, multi-vehicle MVAs and the like.

Wait, what?  They don't do fire investigations, visit the hospital, do PR around the city, retrieve stolen gear, or any of that really important stuff?

[NJRadioGuy]

2 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Wait, what?  They don't do fire investigations, visit the hospital, do PR around the city, retrieve stolen gear, or any of that really important stuff?

Well, the PR around the city part, probably, and likely visit hospitals once in a while if it's one of their own or a kid they pulled out.

[jcbrown]

Thanks to everyone for explaining the whole Squad, Truck, Engine distinction. I wish the show made that a little more clear. Granted, I often have this show on as background and don't pay a tremendous amount of attention to it but I have wondered about the distinctions between the roles.

[SnarkySheep]

On 5/12/2022 at 12:22 AM, LittleIggy said:

I would like to see an accountancy themed bar. 😆

This reminded me of that episode of Frasier, where Martin talked about a coroner he'd had a crush on during his cop days, and how he'd see her at the corner bar - which Frasier misunderstood as "coroner bar".

"They have their own bars?!"

[WinJet0819]

Oh man. This episode was full of such contrived BS. St. Stella can't handle that Gallo might go to Squad, and accuses Severide of actually trying to poach him when that could not be further from the truth. As Kelly said, Gallo had his eye on Squad long before Stella was in charge. There's no crime in him helping when Gallo asked him for it. And after Severide sets her straight, St. Stella just needs to take it upon herself to let Gallo know she's OK if he chooses to go to Squad. "Follow your heart." Last I checked, Gallo wasn't even considering what she thought, and was under no obligation to. But because she just HAD to let Gallo know how she feels, of course he chooses to turn it down, re-quoting her "Follow my heart." What a bunch of crap. The writing on this show has become so damn forced. Everybody has to bend a knee to the almighty Stella Kidd. This is why I think her character is an insult to all female first responders. She can't be taken seriously.

Furthermore, Kelly actually needing to think about wanting to help Gallo because he's worried about upsetting his fiancée is the exact reason why they should not be in the same house. Stella's feelings can not come into play. Gallos's career aspirations, after asking you to mentor him, should take priority over Stella's feelings. I will say it's good on Kelly for calling it like he sees it with St. Stella again getting exactly what she wanted.

And it really seems like the writers were just trying to stir up more drama for the sake of drama by again bringing up Gallo's interest in Squad. All the training with Kelly and the vertical rope rescue classes at the academy just to give Stella the same answer he gave Matt early in the season. So forced. And is Squad 3 the only Squad company in Chicago. Guys that want to go out for Squad at House 51 can only go to Squad 3? Mills, Cruz, and now possibly Gallo? That just further makes this storyline stupid.

Emma is definitely a rat, but at the same time, I don't feel bad for Violet and Hawkins. This is the risk they opened themselves up to when they got together, and then continued to do so after his reprimand. There needs to be professionalism in this type of workplace, especially with him being her boss. And because he's sleeping with her, he can't be impartial, which screws over all the other paramedics. Another forced storyline.  

Man, I really do wish this show was more like 9-1-1, where all the relationship drama for the characters was outside of the house with people they don't work with. And the drama in the house was related to work and stories are crafted organically out of that.

[MsJamieDornan]

On 11/18/2022 at 10:09 PM, WinJet0819 said:

Everybody has to bend a knee to the almighty Stella Kidd. This is why I think her character is an insult to all female first responders.

She's an insult to humanity