S13.E01: A Monster in the Field

[FnkyChkn34]

A new chief shakes things up at Firehouse 51; Violet and Novak work to uncover the truth behind a car crash; Cruz keeps a watchful eye on Severide and Damon's growing bond.

[FnkyChkn34]

The showrunner did an interview that said the episode would pick up right where it left off to see Severide's reaction to Damon's revelation.  Then it would skip ahead 6 weeks to join up with the timeline of the rest of One Chicago.

So what the hell was that??!?  This show must have the world's worst editors.  Three seconds of a clip of Kelly and Stella in the "previously on" montage when none of that was previously on the show??  What was the point of the showrunner giving out interviews if it wasn't even true?  I feel robbed of what could have been some decent scenes before actually doing the time jump...

[anna0852]

The showrunner needs to check the editors work before they declare the episode locked and ready. It was actually a pretty decent show but the “previously on“ was all all kinds of messed up.

[FnkyChkn34]

1 minute ago, anna0852 said:

The showrunner needs to check the editors work before they declare the episode locked and ready. It was actually a pretty decent show but the “previously on“ was all all kinds of messed up.

Yes, it turned into a decent episode, but we needed 3 minutes of a resolution to last season's cliffhanger, not 3 seconds (or less).  

[Dowel Jones]

Very curious that CFD's hiring practices avoid every Captain on the list for a guy that's been in Miami for the last 10 years.  Of course, nobody at 51 did a google search on Chief Pascal after he's hired, because we need an exposition from a potentially hostile Lieutenant that we haven't seen before.

The Texas girlfriend looks like somebody yanked her right off the Urban Cowboy set extras group.

Severide better watch out.  The medics are starting to encroach on his extracurricular investigation activity.

[cameron]

The show's editors seem to forget that Herman was named the new Chief in last seasons finale.

[FnkyChkn34]

3 hours ago, cameron said:

The show's editors seem to forget that Herman was named the new Chief in last seasons finale.

Boden even said that Herrmann couldn't just step right in, and that was all explained. The first step was for Herrmann to take the captain's test, and he missed it. So of course he can't be a Battalion Chief with only a Lieutenant rank. 

[Dowel Jones]

Not to mention serving some time in rank as Captain.

[iMonrey]

The new chief just seems like a hardass micromanager just for the sake of being a hardass micromanager. And I don't know what's going on with his wife or whoever. Does he really need to have some cryptic mystery backstory? I'm guessing his kid died or something.

[FnkyChkn34]

6 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

The new chief just seems like a hardass micromanager just for the sake of being a hardass micromanager. And I don't know what's going on with his wife or whoever. Does he really need to have some cryptic mystery backstory? I'm guessing his kid died or something.

I definitely could have done without those scenes this week so that we could have seen Severide and Stella's reactions to Damon's news. A new story with the chief can wait until next week. 

[cameron]

3 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Boden even said that Herrmann couldn't just step right in, and that was all explained. The first step was for Herrmann to take the captain's test, and he missed it. So of course he can't be a Battalion Chief with only a Lieutenant rank. 

 

3 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Boden even said that Herrmann couldn't just step right in, and that was all explained. The first step was for Herrmann to take the captain's test, and he missed it. So of course he can't be a Battalion Chief with only a Lieutenant rank. 

Guess I missed that.  Thanks for the info.  Why did Herman miss the test?

[FnkyChkn34]

1 hour ago, cameron said:

 

Guess I missed that.  Thanks for the info.  Why did Herman miss the test?

He told the new chief that he was sick, and he'll take it next time. Mouch questioned him later if he was really sick or did he just chicken out. Herrmann seemed offended, but my guess is it'll come up again later. 

[mommalib]

First off I miss Boden already, this new guy is annoying with tough action guy taskmaster shtick. But I guess the plan is for Herman to be the chief eventually so this dude might only be around for this season. 

[Sandman]

Michael Bradway (playing Damon) bears a fair resemblance to a young Treat Williams. Nice work by the casting director there.

Pascal's dynamic with his wife was weird. And kind of icky.

That's ... pretty much all I got.

[NJRadioGuy]

I wanted to hate it but I didn't. Did the show get new writers this year? It seemed tighter. I will say Pascal's incident command style was a lot more direct than Boden's, and I like that he runs a tight ship, but long term? 12 seasons of Boden being the father-like figure to the team (and probably about the same time in Story Years), with a proven dynamic that works, even in real life that sudden of a change will go over like a turd in the punchbowl.

I thought Boden was only back at 51 since that's where the new Deputy District Chief's quarters would be. Pascal isn't a DDC as far as we saw, unless I missed something. He's a regular-ol' Battalion Chief. So what happened to the last chief of the 25 Battalion, who would have been one of Boden's men when Boden was DDC? And since Pascal is a BC, I hope he's spending time with all the rest of the crews within his jurisdiction from that fire and debriefing all their apparatus' officers too. I've said it before and I'll say it again here, they really don't know how to portray the role of a chief on the show, and after Eamon left, they should have not filled his position, since IRL most houses don't have a similar position.

We need backstory on the new truck. We saw the old one get destroyed last season, then they had a temp, if memory serves. When do we get formally introduced to the new rig?

Kudos to the show for finally showing that deck guns work, but why on earth was their stream shooting into the sky on that job? If they're going defensive you'd like to think just maybe they'd be hitting the fire shooting out the front of the building with it? Maybe that's why Hermann isn't ready for command yet <snerk>?

Never trust an officer who doesn't eat with his team. He wants everybody getting to know their brothers and sisters in the house? How bout we get to know you, chief. We gotta trust you on the fireground.

[FnkyChkn34]

7 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

I wanted to hate it but I didn't. Did the show get new writers this year? It seemed tighter. I will say Pascal's incident command style was a lot more direct than Boden's, and I like that he runs a tight ship, but long term? 12 seasons of Boden being the father-like figure to the team (and probably about the same time in Story Years), with a proven dynamic that works, even in real life that sudden of a change will go over like a turd in the punchbowl.

I thought Boden was only back at 51 since that's where the new Deputy District Chief's quarters would be. Pascal isn't a DDC as far as we saw, unless I missed something. He's a regular-ol' Battalion Chief. So what happened to the last chief of the 25 Battalion, who would have been one of Boden's men when Boden was DDC? And since Pascal is a BC, I hope he's spending time with all the rest of the crews within his jurisdiction from that fire and debriefing all their apparatus' officers too. I've said it before and I'll say it again here, they really don't know how to portray the role of a chief on the show, and after Eamon left, they should have not filled his position, since IRL most houses don't have a similar position.

We need backstory on the new truck. We saw the old one get destroyed last season, then they had a temp, if memory serves. When do we get formally introduced to the new rig?

Kudos to the show for finally showing that deck guns work, but why on earth was their stream shooting into the sky on that job? If they're going defensive you'd like to think just maybe they'd be hitting the fire shooting out the front of the building with it? Maybe that's why Hermann isn't ready for command yet <snerk>?

Never trust an officer who doesn't eat with his team. He wants everybody getting to know their brothers and sisters in the house? How bout we get to know you, chief. We gotta trust you on the fireground.

Are there new writers?  Then they clearly didn't care about wrapping up the cliffhanger from last season.  The showrunner did interviews that said we'd pick up immediately with Severide's reaction to Damon's news.  We saw none of that.  It makes no sense!  Why is Severide perfectly fine with a kid who lied to him about who he is?  How does he feel about his father being accused of being abusive?  What kind of abuse?  Severide has said his father was a jerk, but never actually abusive.  I think it's all swept under the rug and we're supposed to forget about it?!

The new rig was explained last season.  Stella got it used from the Oakland Fire Department, where she apparently talked to Former DC Hill and that's why Hill came back to campaign for Boden.  Mouch even hated driving it, so they talked to the driver of the "old" 81 who said he made modifications to the old one that would be illegal today.  Now, they also seem to have forgotten that Gorsch got them a "new" 81 sometime in the middle of the show, a used truck from Cleveland, so unless Mouch found the driver from Ohio, that storyline made no sense too!!

There is no continuity on this show, it seems.  Fans should not remember more history than the writers and showrunner.  

[KLovestoShop]

I think Herrmann would make a terrible Chief.  He’s a whiner, acts like a petulant 12 year old and just doesn't have the chops to be in that position.  I’m really going to miss Boden as to me he’s the quintessential Chief.  

[NJRadioGuy]

17 hours ago, KLovestoShop said:

I think Herrmann would make a terrible Chief.  He’s a whiner, acts like a petulant 12 year old and just doesn't have the chops to be in that position.  I’m really going to miss Boden as to me he’s the quintessential Chief.  

He's the quintessential TV chief, absolutely. IRL? Pascal is closer to it. An unquestionably competent officer, who, at least in the 40 minutes we've seen him so far, wants to know everything about his team and breakdowns of incidents to determine how to do a task better in future calls. This is absolutely how a senior officer would be in real life. The question will become is he a good leader of men and women.

There's a fire chief in Newark, Ohio who records his incidents and puts them up on Youtube, unedited, to show his departmet's response and invite suggestions on what went right and what didn't. That's the mark of a good officer. Here's a good example. 

 

[TAG42481]

I thought that since the show has been around for so long that they were trying to reduce salaries, not increase them by adding a known actor like Dermot Mulroney as the chief.  I actually wondered if they were going to have a piece of shrapnel come and take him out on the first scene just to jar the characters and the audience!

I had also assumed that one of the reasons that they were talking about making Hermann the station chief at the end of last season was to ease off on the physical demands on David Eigenberg considering he's 60 years old.

[FnkyChkn34]

54 minutes ago, TAG42481 said:

I had also assumed that one of the reasons that they were talking about making Hermann the station chief at the end of last season was to ease off on the physical demands on David Eigenberg considering he's 60 years old.

I also saw a recent behind the scenes photo where his foot is in a walking boot.  So he's not doing any of his own stunts right now, that's for sure!  

[jabRI]

I didn't get the mom's defense of her husband. if she knew he needed help the best place to get that is the hospital, not getting him released to endanger her kids again. 

 

[Sake614]

So glad I’m not the only one thoroughly confused by this episode. Didn’t last season end with Kelly finding out Damon is Benny’s kid? And now all of a sudden they’ve been working together for a while with no follow up to the big reveal?

stella, sweetie, I’m so sorry that your buddy Boden is gone and you now have to actually answer to a superior. Suck it up Buttercup. Wonder if she’s going to whine to DC Boden that Pascal is a big old meanie for making her review her actions after each call? 🙄

[SilverLake0315]

On 10/5/2024 at 4:30 PM, Sake614 said:

stella, sweetie, I’m so sorry that your buddy Boden is gone and you now have to actually answer to a superior. Suck it up Buttercup. Wonder if she’s going to whine to DC Boden that Pascal is a big old meanie for making her review her actions after each call? 🙄

If they wanted me to dislike Pascal, they should've made STELLA love him. Then I would've been suspicious. As it is, if she doesn't like him, I think he must be fantastic 😂

I have to admit I wasn't at all surprised they blew past the Severide/Damon reveal fallout. I'm of the opinion that Taylor wouldn't be able to do that scene justice.

[Sake614]

21 minutes ago, SilverLake0315 said:

they wanted me to dislike Pascal, they should've made STELLA love him. Then I would've been suspicious. As it is, if she doesn't like him, I think he must be fantastic 😂

Seriously, him not liking her makes me like him even more! Too bad Mouch had to spoil it by showing up at pascal’s house with a monster file of all the good deeds Stella has done 🙄

[FnkyChkn34]

9 hours ago, Sake614 said:

Seriously, him not liking her makes me like him even more! Too bad Mouch had to spoil it by showing up at pascal’s house with a monster file of all the good deeds Stella has done 🙄

That wasn't this episode. If anyone is behind, that's a spoiler...