S13.E20: Cut Me Open

[DanaK]

Quote

05/07/2025 (09:00PM - 10:00PM) (Wednesday) : With the crew stretched thin, a performance efficiency expert evaluates Firehouse 51. Kidd and Severide bond with the mother of the baby they hope to adopt.

 

[FnkyChkn34]

I'm actually very surprised that the show went this route. I'm not mad at Stellaride getting thrown some adversity and a dose of reality that not everything always goes perfectly so quickly. It made for an interesting show with decent drama.   

[Dowel Jones]

Nice, backhanded slap against the DOGE doggies there.  He wasn't wrong, though.  I have always wondered why it takes three pieces of apparatus to accomplish one task.  The showrunners, I think, were using this episode to set up any exits from the cast.

[FnkyChkn34]

3 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I have always wondered why it takes three pieces of apparatus to accomplish one task. 

When they went to fuel up and get the carseat? Or the rescue itself? If you mean the rescue itself, that's at dispatch and not each individual firehouse's fault... I don't think Squad got called, and if there was only going to be one to respond, it should have been them instead. 

[Dowel Jones]

Yeah, I was referring to the carseat caper.  Of course, dispatches are done according to what the 911 caller says, not necessarily what actually exists.

[jalady]

15 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I'm actually very surprised that the show went this route. I'm not mad at Stellaride getting thrown some adversity and a dose of reality that not everything always goes perfectly so quickly. It made for an interesting show with decent drama.   

This didn't surprise me at all because I'm positive they're going to adopt that teenage girl who Kidd saved back in the day (her name escapes me).  I thought that the minute she started hanging around the firehouse.  The real question is: what's going to happen to all that baby stuff?  LOLOL  

[FnkyChkn34]

1 hour ago, jalady said:

This didn't surprise me at all because I'm positive they're going to adopt that teenage girl who Kidd saved back in the day (her name escapes me).  I thought that the minute she started hanging around the firehouse.  The real question is: what's going to happen to all that baby stuff?  LOLOL  

I think they'll adopt her and then, oopsie, Stella is pregnant. I know she doesn't want to be and I agree with her reasons, but it's a fictional tv show after all... 

They can donate it back to someone else in need. I understand why they scrambled, as a nice gesture, but it's not like Severide and Kidd are poor. They can buy their own stuff. 

[iMonrey]

13 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Nice, backhanded slap against the DOGE doggies there. 

That's how I read it too. At first I wondered why they cast such a young actor to do this audit. Then when I heard that line about being an "efficiency expert" I realized what they were going for. It's absurd to think someone with zero experience as a first responder would be hired to evaluate a fire station, but alarmingly, maybe not out of the question.

This show is turning into pure soap opera. I feel like they threw that one rescue call in as an afterthought.

[cfinboston]

What does anyone think the point was in having the efficiency expert collapse? 

I understand artistic license, but the timing was just unbelievable. Within a day they go to the hospital, Cindy gets on Facebook and collects stacks of baby paraphernalia, the crew buys a car seat, Jade labors and delivers and reconnects with her estranged dad. In all this they get one dispatch.

I can't believe real fire departments drive their trucks around like that. They did the same when Chloe had Otis; they're driving him to the hospital using the trucks?

Jade's baby was ridiculous for an opioid addicted newborn. Again, I understand artistic license but the baby was huge and healthy looking. Maybe I'm a bad person but I thought it was darkly comedic that Stella wound up inspiring Jade to keep the baby by talking about her own past drug use.

[FnkyChkn34]

2 hours ago, cfinboston said:

Jade's baby was ridiculous for an opioid addicted newborn. Again, I understand artistic license but the baby was huge and healthy looking. 

I don't think that's artistic license, but more child labor laws.  The last I heard, babies on set must be 6 months or older; they can't use an actual newborn if they use a real child instead of a doll.

[anna0852]

13 minutes ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I don't think that's artistic license, but more child labor laws.  The last I heard, babies on set must be 6 months or older; they can't use an actual newborn if they use a real child instead of a doll.

Yeah, I’m always willing to hand wave the size of the supposed newborn simply because a film set is not a healthy place for newborns to hang out. The only exception might be Call the Midwife because the whole show is centered around delivering babies and they put the work in on the back end for those babies to be present. 

Edited May 9 by anna0852

[DianeM]

20 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I think they'll adopt her and then, oopsie, Stella is pregnant.

Or the teenager they adopt will get pregnant.

[FnkyChkn34]

14 minutes ago, DianeM said:

Or the teenager they adopt will get pregnant.

That would be interesting, but also a bit of a rip off from Grey's Anatomy...

[iMonrey]

13 hours ago, cfinboston said:

Jade's baby was ridiculous for an opioid addicted newborn. Again, I understand artistic license but the baby was huge and healthy looking.

Yeah I always laugh when TV shows delivery a baby that looks like it's about six months old. Ouch! That must have hurt.

11 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

I don't think that's artistic license, but more child labor laws.  The last I heard, babies on set must be 6 months or older; they can't use an actual newborn if they use a real child instead of a doll.

Then use a doll. This isn't rocket science. Anyone who's ever had a baby knows what a newborn looks like. They could use a rubber doll for the actual delivery and then maybe stock footage of a newborn in the crib.

I always wonder who the hell loans out their six-month old baby for these shows.

[FnkyChkn34]

13 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Yeah I always laugh when TV shows delivery a baby that looks like it's about six months old. Ouch! That must have hurt.

Then use a doll. This isn't rocket science. Anyone who's ever had a baby knows what a newborn looks like. They could use a rubber doll for the actual delivery and then maybe stock footage of a newborn in the crib.

I always wonder who the hell loans out their six-month old baby for these shows.

Honestly, I don't think any show who writes a newborn storyline can win.  They can't please everyone, and often please no one.

Use a doll?  People complain: "It's a doll! That's so fake! Why didn't they use a real baby?!" 

Use a baby?  People complain: "That baby is too big!  That's not a newborn!  Why didn't they use a doll?!" 

It's a no-win situation, always.  

[Dowel Jones]

13 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I always wonder who the hell loans out their six-month old baby for these shows.

Anyone who wants to make a bit of money off their little ankle biter, and who knows someone in the business.

[Swrwade]

On 5/9/2025 at 9:25 AM, cfinboston said:

What does anyone think the point was in having the efficiency expert collapse? 

I understand artistic license, but the timing was just unbelievable. Within a day they go to the hospital, Cindy gets on Facebook and collects stacks of baby paraphernalia, the crew buys a car seat, Jade labors and delivers and reconnects with her estranged dad. In all this they get one dispatch.

I can't believe real fire departments drive their trucks around like that. They did the same when Chloe had Otis; they're driving him to the hospital using the trucks?

Jade's baby was ridiculous for an opioid addicted newborn. Again, I understand artistic license but the baby was huge and healthy looking. Maybe I'm a bad person but I thought it was darkly comedic that Stella wound up inspiring Jade to keep the baby by talking about her own past drug use.

You aren't the only one who thought that about Stella. I did too. If she had kept her mouth shut she might have a baby but she had to be Stella and encourage someone that they could have a better life and then be disappointed when she didn't get the baby she wanted.