S11.E11: A Guy I Used to Know

[jewel21]

Quote

Firehouse 51 prepares for their semi-annual firehouse inspection. Brett fights to save her paramedicine program. Commander Martin Pearce asks Severide for a favor.

Airdate: 01/11/2023

[Dowel Jones]

Sylvie:  Pro tip.  If you are managing a program for the city, it behooves you to actually manage it on a monthly, if not biweekly basis.  Set up a spreadsheet or some other system to track your expenses so that at any point you can come up with answers after only an hour's worth of work or so.  Don't wait for the end of the year with the receipts in a shoe box.  This ain't tax time.  

I loved Hermann's reaction to the news that Stella had a box of liquor from Molly's in her car.  On the other hand, I deeply feel for him and Cindy, having had some of that experience in my family.

Cameo appearance from the Slammigan during the auto extrication!  By the way, did they all forget about the fire in the stairwell?

Bye bye Emma.  Maybe.  I was thinking that Violet would open up the photos and find Hawkins and Emma smiling together from some past time.

That insurance investigator was large and in charge, wasn't she?  If I was Van Meter, her employer would get a phone call about her conduct that led to the investigation, not to mention the 'You got lucky this time' remark.

[DanaK]

Sad that Cindy has lung cancer. I was surprised she didn’t grill the doctor about what stage it was or how serious it probably was given her disdain for doctors. It will be interesting to see where they take this

@Dowel JonesI didn’t catch during the intros that the lady working with Severide was an insurance investigator so thanks for mentioning it

Emma got taken down with post death assist from Hawkins. This is either her swan song or she’ll find another way to mess with Violet

Edited January 12, 2023 by DanaK

[anna0852]

4 hours ago, DanaK said:

Sad that Cindy has lung cancer. I was surprised she didn’t grill the doctor about what stage it was or how serious it probably was given her disdain for doctors. It will be interesting to see where they take this

@Dowel Jones

I think Cindy was in shock, hence lack of questions. And a lot of the questions can’t be answered til after surgery and a pathology report anyway. 

[iMonrey]

I knew as soon as the cousin showed up offering to let Violet pick through Evan's things she'd find the evidence she needed to take Emma down. Convenient! They never explained how Emma wound up in that position in the first place though. In what universe do you get fired from your job then get promoted to a higher position? Maybe she threatened a lawsuit, or something? None of it made sense. 

Should they just go ahead and change the name of this show to Severide Investigates? Or should they spin him off into his own show?

Since Cindy didn't have Covid I figured it would turn out to be something more serious. They wouldn't have her at the doctor's for just a cold. I hope the plan here isn't to kill her off so Herrmann has to become a single dad.

[DanaK]

6 hours ago, anna0852 said:

I think Cindy was in shock, hence lack of questions. And a lot of the questions can’t be answered til after surgery and a pathology report anyway. 

I do appreciate that she at least questioned how she could have lung cancer since she had never smoked and the doctor indicated that's not always how it goes

[NJRadioGuy]

20 hours ago, DanaK said:

Emma got taken down with post death assist from Hawkins. This is either her swan song or she’ll find another way to mess with Violet

I suspect we'll see her again, only this time probably trying to kill Violet or Gallo. Maybe in the season finale.

14 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I hope the plan here isn't to kill her off so Herrmann has to become a single dad.

Agreed. That outcome was strongly hinted at when Hermann came home and the kids and basically gone feral inside the house.

[DonnaMae]

On 1/11/2023 at 11:43 PM, Dowel Jones said:

Bye bye Emma. 

Maybe not. I don't believe she's just going to walk away from her dismissal without seeking revenge on Violet.

[Dowel Jones]

Maybe she'll get promoted into the vacant BC spot at 51.  Then she'll bump up against Boden and get demoted down to Casey's old Captain position. 

[DanaK]

13 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Maybe she'll get promoted into the vacant BC spot at 51.  Then she'll bump up against Boden and get demoted down to Casey's old Captain position. 

The above and the possibility of Hermann taking leave to help Cindy raises the question who is in charge of the station below Boden and who replaced Casey as captain?

[NJRadioGuy]

13 hours ago, DanaK said:

raises the question who is in charge of the station below Boden and who replaced Casey as captain?

It really doesn't work like that. Not all houses have a chief stationed on the premises, and the chief is not really the "boss of the house" in the same way a police precinct would have a commander. Each piece of apparatus has an officer assigned on each shift and they are responsible for the actions of the firefighters assigned to that company. For the sake of the TV show it makes sense to have a chief appear to be the boss of that particular house, but in reality, the battalion chiefs, deputy district chiefs, and district chiefs are the command hierarchy for firefighting operations. They are the scene bosses at major incidents. A DC will have a couple of DDCs under him (or her) with each Division responsible for several battalions, whose chiefs will direct their companies' officers to perform different duties, and those officers will coordinate with their firefighters. In the absence of a chief, the apparatus officer would likely be in charge of the house. Obviously different departments do things differently, but that's the general gist.

In the case of 51, there would actually be three bosses (Severide, Hermann, and Kidd); not sure how the medic side is structured--they didn't hint at that, but since Hawkins was Violet's supervisor, there did not appear to be an EMS chief officer stationed at 51.

[FnkyChkn34]

The house didn't have a captain for many years until Casey went for it and was promoted.  Now that he's gone, I don't think they need to replace him.  As said above, the Lieutenants are in charge of their own trucks and teams. 

What confuses me though is that we still see Boden doing practically the same job he did before he was promoted to district chief.  (I don't capitalize that because I'm not sure if that's the exact title...)  But remember he was their house chief (Battalion Chief?), and then he got promoted to oversee more firehouses and he was supposed to move his office to a central location, but he only did that very briefly and then came back.  But it's like he still does the same exact job and we don't hear about the other houses he's supposed to oversee...

While it was nice to see Cindy, it was very upsetting that this is the story she's given.  Can't anyone just have a happy relationship without the extra drama?  I guess that's Boden and Donna, and Cruz and... what's her name, with their two kids.

I also appreciate the preview for next week, that Kidd finally realizes that yes, maybe they shouldn't work together!  But we know how that one will end without even needing to watch it...

[NJRadioGuy]

3 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

What confuses me though is that we still see Boden doing practically the same job he did before he was promoted to district chief.  (I don't capitalize that because I'm not sure if that's the exact title...)  But remember he was their house chief (Battalion Chief?), and then he got promoted to oversee more firehouses and he was supposed to move his office to a central location, but he only did that very briefly and then came back.  But it's like he still does the same exact job and we don't hear about the other houses he's supposed to oversee.

Well they're not really germane to the plot—and that would take time away from the relationship dramas and Severide's personal OFI jobs. Yes, Boden should be out visiting the houses in his jurisdiction and taking in a lot more runs, even when 51 is not assigned. That's the nature of a Chief's duties, whether it's a Battalion Chief (his old job) or a Deputy District Chief (his new position). When he was still a BC he wasn't just 51's chief, but he probably had a half-dozen companies to look after within his battalion. In his new role he's higher up the food chain and oversees a number of other battalion chiefs' actions and stations. I'm not sure how the department as portrayed in the show handles chief officers across different shifts (first watch, second watch, etc) or for that matter IRL.

[KeithJ]

On 1/12/2023 at 10:09 AM, iMonrey said:

Since Cindy didn't have Covid I figured it would turn out to be something more serious. They wouldn't have her at the doctor's for just a cold. I hope the plan here isn't to kill her off so Herrmann has to become a single dad.

They probably will.  Stella is the only person on the show that is allowed to be happy.

[KeithJ]

Why does everyone need to be in their dress uniforms for a house inspection?

[ajsnaves]

23 minutes ago, KeithJ said:

Why does everyone need to be in their dress uniforms for a house inspection?

Why is this just Second Shift's responsibility?

[Sandman]

On 1/12/2023 at 2:43 AM, Dowel Jones said:

That insurance investigator was large and in charge, wasn't she?  If I was Van Meter, her employer would get a phone call about her conduct that led to the investigation, not to mention the 'You got lucky this time' remark.

This whole plot seemed kind of broken to me: surely Van Meter’s reports routinely include itemized reference to pieces of physical evidence that are the basis for his conclusions? “See Electrical Whozywhatsit, Exhibit 32A,” or whatever. This was clearly a filing error, not a “Tom Van Meter is a corrupt monster!” problem. The official Severide owed a favour to (I’m not even sure what his role is, except maybe Chief Pearl-Clutcher in Charge) seems to have a knack for jumping to the most alarming conclusion possible. 

Poor Cindy. I knew it was going to be lung cancer by the fourth time the script had her cough.