S13.E08: Quicksand

[DanaK]

Quote

11/20/2024 (09:00PM - 10:00PM) (Wednesday) : Herrmann and Mouch prepare to take their officer exams. Cruz receives a chilling omen. Carver takes care of a dog after its owner is injured on a call.

Mid-season finale

Edited November 21 by DanaK
Corrected title

[anna0852]

Wow! They really did revisit that storyline with Cruz from season one. I’m impressed. The show does not usually harken back to its own memories unless Kelly is unconscious and hallucinating about Shea.

[MediaZone4K]

During that scene where *Cruz was searching through the locker room for who left the bullet urn, I didn't realize how many extra employees worked at Firehouse 51.

Edited November 21 by MediaZone4K

[FnkyChkn34]

29 minutes ago, MediaZone4K said:

During that scene where Cruise was searching through the locker room for who left the bullet urn, I didn't realize how many extra employees worked at Firehouse 51.

My take was that was a different shift. He knew a few by name but not all. I don't think they were extras for when our characters are there on their shift. 

Is the budget so bad that they can't have Severide and Herrmann in the same episode?  Overall though, not bad. I could see them dragging out Cruz's story for the rest of the season. 

[MediaZone4K]

3 minutes ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

My take was that was a different shift. He knew a few by name but not all. I don't think they were extras for when our characters are there on their shift. 

Is the budget so bad that they can't have Severide and Herrmann in the same episode?  Overall though, not bad. I could see them dragging out Cruz's story for the rest of the season. 

Interesting. I always assumed it was one set of firefighters, and it confuse me last week when I saw them fighting a fire at night.

[FnkyChkn34]

1 hour ago, MediaZone4K said:

Interesting. I always assumed it was one set of firefighters, and it confuse me last week when I saw them fighting a fire at night.

Our characters work "second shift."  Every shift is 24 hours on, 48 hours off.  So for example, they work 8am Monday to 8am Tuesday, then report again 8am Thursday, then Sunday, then Wednesday, etc.  The Chief appears to work a different schedule, seems like just daylight every day.  If you notice, he doesn't have a bunk to regularly work overnight. 

Edited November 21 by FnkyChkn34
fixed typo

[Dowel Jones]

The Chief probably works a similar schedule, and has a relief also, but oftentimes they are allowed to go home at night, provided they live within a reasonable distance of the fire station.  Obviously he would take the BC vehicle home with him.  

What I don't quite understand, and I'm sure it's just for plot development, is that Mouch and Hermann can take the Lieutenant's exam and be immediately available for a Captain position.  And suppose Pascal is happy to be a BC?  They're not going to move him out just for the intrepid Crew 51.

As soon as Cruz poured out the substance on his hand, I immediately thought of the anthrax poisoning some years back.  How did gangbanger manage to sneak into a house full of firefighters, pick the lock on Cruz's locker, and stash that bullet?

3 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

My take was that was a different shift.

Something else to make you go, "Hmmm".  One Engine with 4 on board.  One Truck with 4 on board.  One Squad with 4 on board. 2 medics.  That's 14 people parking around the fire station, which means 28 cars at shift change, since one shift can't leave before the other gets there.  Where are they parking?

Too bad the writers didn't go off the rails a bit with Carver's fence job.  Instead of shovels, I was hoping they would have had an auger in the back of his truck..  

[anna0852]

7 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

What I don't quite understand, and I'm sure it's just for plot development, is that Mouch and Hermann can take the Lieutenant's exam and be immediately available for a Captain position.  And suppose Pascal is happy to be a BC?  They're not going to move him out just for the intrepid Crew 51.

Something else to make you go, "Hmmm".  One Engine with 4 on board.  One Truck with 4 on board.  One Squad with 4 on board. 2 medics.  That's 14 people parking around the fire station, which means 28 cars at shift change, since one shift can't leave before the other gets there.  Where are they parking?

Herman is already a lieutenant and is taking the captain test. Mouch is taking the lieutenant test to get on the officer rung in the first place. So they’re not taking the same test and they’re not aiming for the same positions. There’s also been some discussion about how once you pass your officer test, you don’t necessarily get an assigned within your current firehouse. That came up when Stella became a lieutenant. There was not an officer slot available at 51 and she was going to be sent elsewhere. Of course, plot armor and the actresses contract kept her where she is, but they did acknowledge. They can’t just create a position. New officers are sent where they are needed, not necessarily where they want to stay.
 

Regarding the parking, over the years, we have seen that be a problem for the firehouse. Whatever parking lot they have seems to be very small and most of the firefighters and paramedics use the street parking around the station. we’ve seen them come in grumbling about needing to park blocks away or how they need to move a car before a meter runs out, etc.

Edited November 21 by anna0852

[Sandman]

Someone please make Pascal and his wife stop being so creepy. Something about their interactions is wrong, like “I’m taking up firearms so I can learn how to shoot you in the crotch” level of wrong. 

[iMonrey]

22 minutes ago, Sandman said:

Someone please make Pascal and his wife stop being so creepy. Something about their interactions is wrong, like “I’m taking up firearms so I can learn how to shoot you in the crotch” level of wrong. 

 I know right? It's like their kink is getting mad at each other. She got all hot and bothered after he beat up that guy he was jealous of. They have a really fucked up relationship. 

Wow, that first call was total ick. I knew he would have to lose the leg. And when they shoved the stretcher into the ambo you could see half his toes were gone too.

I can never remember Novak's name. I don't know if that's a bad sign for my memory or a bad sign for the show. Looks like we're going to get some backstory for her, maybe that'll help.

[preeya]

47 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

can never remember Novak's name. I don't know if that's a bad sign for my memory or a bad sign for the show. Looks like we're going to get some backstory for her, maybe that'll help.

If you noticed in the beginning of the episode she kissed someone in the family photo, then she reacted OTT when on the attempted suicide call. I suspect the girl in the picture is her sister who committed suicide.

[FnkyChkn34]

44 minutes ago, preeya said:

If you noticed in the beginning of the episode she kissed someone in the family photo, then she reacted OTT when on the attempted suicide call. I suspect the girl in the picture is her sister who committed suicide.

Is it Lizzie Novak? I think that's her name...  but I have the same exact prediction. 

[preeya]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I can never remember Novak's name.

Her name is Lyla but she is nicknamed Lizzie.

[Dowel Jones]

I did enjoy the weekly dose of humor around the Certs package.  They really did discontinue it in 2018 so Mouch, you got nothin' coming.

[iMonrey]

22 hours ago, anna0852 said:

Wow! They really did revisit that storyline with Cruz from season one. I’m impressed. The show does not usually harken back to its own memories unless Kelly is unconscious and hallucinating about Shea.

Can someone refresh my memory on this?

Cruz has a younger brother named Leon, right? Was that him who came to the station in this episode? Whatever happened to him? 

From what I vaguely remember, Leon was in a gang, or in danger of being in a gang. And Cruz deliberately let someone die because they were a threat/danger to Leon, right? And someone knows who just got out of jail and is after Cruz, but how does this guy know Cruz let this guy die?

Do I have this right?

[preeya]

23 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Can someone refresh my memory on this?

Cruz has a younger brother named Leon, right? Was that him who came to the station in this episode? Whatever happened to him? 

From what I vaguely remember, Leon was in a gang, or in danger of being in a gang. And Cruz deliberately let someone die because they were a threat/danger to Leon, right? And someone knows who just got out of jail and is after Cruz, but how does this guy know Cruz let this guy die?

Do I have this right?

Yes, you have it right.

I found this writeup that answers the questions regarding Cruz and his brother:

"The main story in "Quicksand" belongs to Joe Cruz, who finds a bullet-shaped pendant in his locker and another in his locker. He assumes that this is a morbid prank, but in fact it's an equally morbid callback to Chicago Fire Season 1. Joe's brother Leon was previously in a gang known as the Insane Kings, and Joe left the Kings' leader Flaco to die in a fire in Season 1, Episode 10, "Merry Christmas, Etc." Many years later Leon tells Cruz that Flaco's cousin Junior has earned an early release from prison -- so naturally he's coming after Cruz to get revenge. This plot is slow to develop, as audiences don't learn what's going on until a little later in the finale, but it is interesting to have the show pull a Season 13 storyline from something back in Season 1.

Joe Minoso does his best with this idea, and it's lovely to see Jeff Lima return as Leon Cruz, too. Yet this whole saga never quite feels dramatic enough for a fall finale, since nothing serious happens to Cruz until the very end of the episode, when Junior confronts him in church. He discovers that there are human ashes inside one of the pendants, and has a minor meltdown wondering who at the firehouse knew anything about it getting placed in his locker. But his standing in a lab is not as dynamic as Firehouse 51 racing into a giant fire, or one of the characters getting into a fight with the latest Chicago Fire villain, or even a stolen fire truck. Obviously, the storyline will continue into Episode 9, so perhaps that's when the real action will occur."

Edited November 23 by preeya

[NJRadioGuy]

I've never liked Cruz after he let the gang leader burn up in Season 1, and essentially got away with it. There's a debt that has to be paid, somehow, dramatically-speaking. I'm curious to see where that story goes after the break, but I honestly don't see any kind of a satisfactory resolution that could redeem him from that act but still keep him on the show.

[Dowel Jones]

For once the episode title is spot on.

[amarante]

On 11/21/2024 at 9:27 AM, Sandman said:

Someone please make Pascal and his wife stop being so creepy. Something about their interactions is wrong, like “I’m taking up firearms so I can learn how to shoot you in the crotch” level of wrong. 

Literally that is Chekhov's gun. :-)

[FnkyChkn34]

I'm actually shocked that the Leon storyline was from Season 1.  I know it was the introduction of Voight, but it doesn't seem that long ago.  I thought that he started to tell Severide about what he'd done to try to ease his guilty conscience, but back then, his lieutenant would have been Casey.  I can't see how there are repercussions for Casey now either.

[Sandman]

11 hours ago, amarante said:

Literally that is Chekhov's gun. :-)

Silly of him to leave it lying around Dom’s bedroom, then, innit. Who knows what could happen? 😃

(…in other words, yep.)

[KLovestoShop]

I will say without hesitation that Chicago fire has jumped the shark. I hate that all they seem to do is fire investigations. All of this investigating is just getting old and very boring and that’s all that Severide does and now he’s pulling in Stella.  They need to get back to their original formula where they go off and fight fires. I also hate Pascal. There’s something about him that creeps me out and I’ll be honest I never liked the actor who plays Pascal.  It also angers me that they have gotten rid of so many of my favorite characters. What I’d like to know is were these people fired or did they all just wanna leave Chicago fire? I miss Boden I hate that he either left the show on his own who was fired. It’s just not the same show that I fell in love with a long time ago.

[NJRadioGuy]

3 hours ago, KLovestoShop said:

They need to get back to their original formula where they go off and fight fires.

Big fire scenes for TV are crazy expensive to shoot. Network revenues are in rapid decline, actors salaries are high. So we get more character stories, bottle episodes, smaller sets, fewer name-brand cast members and so on. There are already fewer episodes per season than there used to be (18 instead of 22 this year, I believe), and they've cut cast salaries by writing characters out for 2 or 3 episodes. I just don't think those major events are affordable more than once or twice a season now.

[DanaK]

33 minutes ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Big fire scenes for TV are crazy expensive to shoot. Network revenues are in rapid decline, actors salaries are high. So we get more character stories, bottle episodes, smaller sets, fewer name-brand cast members and so on. There are already fewer episodes per season than there used to be (18 instead of 22 this year, I believe), and they've cut cast salaries by writing characters out for 2 or 3 episodes. I just don't think those major events are affordable more than once or twice a season now.

It’s also an older show now so cast salaries are more expensive for the long term cast members and the license fee, it there is one, gets more expensive

[FnkyChkn34]

On 11/29/2024 at 4:38 PM, KLovestoShop said:

I will say without hesitation that Chicago fire has jumped the shark. I hate that all they seem to do is fire investigations. All of this investigating is just getting old and very boring and that’s all that Severide does and now he’s pulling in Stella.  They need to get back to their original formula where they go off and fight fires. I also hate Pascal. There’s something about him that creeps me out and I’ll be honest I never liked the actor who plays Pascal.  It also angers me that they have gotten rid of so many of my favorite characters. What I’d like to know is were these people fired or did they all just wanna leave Chicago fire? I miss Boden I hate that he either left the show on his own who was fired. It’s just not the same show that I fell in love with a long time ago.

If you can believe what you read, it was a mix of people wanting to leave and people being asked to go.  Jesse Spencer wanted to leave.  I think (and I'll just use character names because that's easier) that Shay and Gabby also wanted to leave.  I don't think that Sylvie and Otis did.  I'm not sure about Boden, but I think that I read that he was asked to leave and agreed, so a mutual decision.

[DanaK]

On 11/29/2024 at 4:38 PM, KLovestoShop said:

I will say without hesitation that Chicago fire has jumped the shark. I hate that all they seem to do is fire investigations. All of this investigating is just getting old and very boring and that’s all that Severide does and now he’s pulling in Stella.  They need to get back to their original formula where they go off and fight fires. I also hate Pascal. There’s something about him that creeps me out and I’ll be honest I never liked the actor who plays Pascal.  It also angers me that they have gotten rid of so many of my favorite characters. What I’d like to know is were these people fired or did they all just wanna leave Chicago fire? I miss Boden I hate that he either left the show on his own who was fired. It’s just not the same show that I fell in love with a long time ago.

This is what happens with long running shows, people leave. And I’ve read that the cast has a hard time with the fire scenes, including injuries, so they do less of them. I think most scripted shows should only go 5-7 years so Fire has probably lasted longer than it should