S13.E22: It Had To End This Way

[DanaK]

Quote

05/21/2025 (09:00PM - 10:00PM) (Wednesday) : Severide puts his job on the line to help out one of their own. Kidd navigates Natalie's complicated relationship with her sister. Herrmann prepares to take the Chief test.  **Season finale

 

[anna0852]

That ended exactly how I thought it was going to end. The second they started talking about adoption, there was gonna be a birth control failure!

[FnkyChkn34]

So Carver gets a quick exit with a fresh start in Denver, but Ritter is also leaving and not one peep? They'll show up to next shift and he just won't be there? Or will he come back for one episode at least to wrap up? Weird that they just ignored him...

I'm glad that Stella was able to help the sisters and not adopt them. They don't need a mouthy teenager, they can have a baby that they just drop off at daycare or with a nanny and forget about for most episodes, like Brett did with Julia. 

Not sure how I felt about the finale overall. I guess it was decent enough. 

[CoyoteBlue]

Anyone else expected someone to get killed by the ammo exploding? They're just getting rid of people left and right, so....

Jesus, Mouch, you act like Hermann's trapped in a fire saying goodbye. He's right; Hermann was not captain material. Cindy might have something to say about Hermann sabotaging his Lt's pension though.

Wasn't the initial reason for adoption because she didn't want to be out of commission / riding a desk for a year? Is this a way to get Kidd's character out of the episode lineups for a season? I'd really hope they aren't going for a dramatic miscarriage.

[FnkyChkn34]

2 hours ago, CoyoteBlue said:

Anyone else expected someone to get killed by the ammo exploding? They're just getting rid of people left and right, so....

I was, and I was afraid that it was going to be another rehash of an already used storyline.  Even though no one was injured, I guess it was still the reuse of an old story...

[TAG42481]

So Hermann will now have the highest rank of anybody at the station ... and will be an ordinary guy on one of the apparatus?  I can only imagine when he went downtown to talk to the higher up, the other guy was just shaking his head, wondering why somebody would get a higher rank and then not want to run the firehouse.  He was probably EXCITED Hermann didn't want to run the firehouse!

[FnkyChkn34]

Did Herrmann even go in and take the test?  I don't think that he did.  I'm not sure he'll keep his current rank, either - I think he's giving up everything and voluntarily taking a demotion.

The head guy is still Grissom though, so he knows Firehouse 51 all too well.  He may not have been that surprised.

[anna0852]

27 minutes ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Did Herrmann even go in and take the test?  I don't think that he did.  I'm not sure he'll keep his current rank, either - I think he's giving up everything and voluntarily taking a demotion.

The head guy is still Grissom though, so he knows Firehouse 51 all too well.  He may not have been that surprised.

Herman definitely gave up his rank. He’s back to being just a regular old firefighter on engine. I think he was OK as a lieutenant, but captain was more desk time and paperwork than he wanted. And battalion chief would be even worse.

I hope he talked it through with Cindy first though, that’s going to be a pay cut.

given the departure of Carver and Ritter plus the promotion of Mouch, I wonder what’s going to happen with the ladder truck? That Stella’s entire team. I’m hoping they elect to lose the actual engine. Because other than Herman, those crew members are just extras. Have Herman and Mouch go back to truck plus maybe bring Kylie as the fourth and Mouch is at least acting lieutenant while Stella is on pregnancy restriction/leave.

Edited May 22 by anna0852

[Dowel Jones]

One thing that always rather irritates me in cop shows (and this one did involve cop work, obviously), is when the detainee asks, "Do I need a lawyer?"  If you have to ask, the answer is always yes, especially when you are a high-ranking individual with some knowledge of investigation protocols.  Severide did more than put his job on the line.  He actively interfered with an investigation by going to Pascal and telling him that he was the target.  If the outcome had been different, he would be in court for obstruction.  Given the episode title, I really thought that Pascal would go down with a gunshot wound (highly unlikely in real life) after inexplicably donning an SCBA and leading the charge into the building.  Who is running the fire now?

[cfinboston]

The whole plot of Stella being pregnant was predictable and stupid.

First she says she wants to adopt. If you ask anyone who's pursued adoption, it's expensive and incredibly stressful. Did Stella go off birth control while simultaneously pursuing adoption? That makes no sense unless she in fact wanted to get pregnant, which she says she did not. I don't recall her ever giving a reason for not pursuing pregnancy; I feel like the fan base just assumed it was to not interrupt her career but did she ever say that?

I got the feeling she genuinely felt called to adopt as many people do, even if they have or can have biological children.

How the heck was she Natalie's "guardian" when Natalie was still in touch with her mother? Isn't guardianship a legal entity? It's not just something you call yourself.

 

 

 

 

[Sake614]

9 minutes ago, cfinboston said:

stressful. Did Stella go off birth control while simultaneously pursuing adoption? That makes no sense unless she in fact wanted to get pregnant, which she says she did not. I don't recall her ever giving a reason for not pursuing pregnancy

She did say she doesn’t want to have a baby because it would mean stepping away from her career. But yeah for someone who didn’t want to be pregnant, you’d think she would take MORE precautions, not less.

[anna0852]

31 minutes ago, cfinboston said:

How the heck was she Natalie's "guardian" when Natalie was still in touch with her mother? Isn't guardianship a legal entity? It's not just something you call yourself.

 

Natalie’s mom could signed have over guardianship to the older sister. It’s not uncommon when you’re dealing with less-than-stellar parents. 

[cfinboston]

28 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

Natalie’s mom could signed have over guardianship to the older sister. It’s not uncommon when you’re dealing with less-than-stellar parents. 

I meant Stella was called Natalie's guardian by the school employee.

[preeya]

All three Chicago finales were underwhelming.

[FnkyChkn34]

51 minutes ago, cfinboston said:

I meant Stella was called Natalie's guardian by the school employee.

Natalie called Stella that to the school, and the woman at the school was very confused.  I think she was asking Stella to clarify?

[anna0852]

1 hour ago, cfinboston said:

I meant Stella was called Natalie's guardian by the school employee.

Natalie lied to the school about who her guardian was. 

[MediaZone4K]

Violet gave up her perfectly decent lawyer boyfriend to chase after an emotionally complicated alcoholic. SMH. Reeks of Carrie choosing Big over Aiden.

Edited May 23 by MediaZone4K

[DianeM]

Why did the actor playing Carver have to go?  I really liked him.  

[Artsda]

That wasn't a good ending to send off 2 characters. Hopefully they can still pop in and out. 

Do they go Denver together? Lol

Stella pregnant so predictable. Hope it reduces her airtime and this way to do it. Or will she running into fires 4 months pregnant. 

[iMonrey]

On 5/21/2025 at 9:02 PM, anna0852 said:

That ended exactly how I thought it was going to end. The second they started talking about adoption, there was gonna be a birth control failure!

TV would have us believe birth control only works 50% of the time. It's even worse over on Grey's Anatomy - those women are doctors and you wouldn't believe how many of them have unplanned pregnancies.

On 5/22/2025 at 5:25 AM, CoyoteBlue said:

Is this a way to get Kidd's character out of the episode lineups for a season?

That's what I'm thinking. Convenient excuse for her not to be in several episodes next season.

This really makes no sense. If paying the actors is such a problem the logical storyline would have been to write off Pascal, make Herrmann chief and Mouch Lieutenant. Does the show think they need a "big" name like Dermot Mulroney? Because I don't imagine he works cheap. Granted, Randall McHolland and David Eigenberg have been there since the beginning so they probably make a lot too but I can't imagine they make more than Mulroney.

I'm assuming the show hadn't decided to drop Carver and Ritter when this episode was written, hence Carver's turnaround at the end. 

I was never able to follow Pascal's backstory so the whole framing arc just wasn't interesting to me. That's the character I wish they'd drop.

[FnkyChkn34]

1 hour ago, Artsda said:

Stella pregnant so predictable. Hope it reduces her airtime and this way to do it. Or will she running into fires 4 months pregnant. 

I was thinking it might be a way to keep Herrmann as a Lieutenant while still promoting Mouch to run a rig.  Stella will have to be on desk duty, or more likely will move to OFI like Gabby did, so Mouch takes her spot.  By the time she comes back in like a year, maybe Herrmann and Mouch are ready for retirement.  All the actors seem to be playing characters that are approximately their real-life ages, and Christian Stolte is 62, so retirement could be looming quickly.  

Who knows how they'll handle it, but they can't realistically have a pregnant woman still doing Kidd's regular job.  

[cameron]

Is the actress that portrays Natalie on this show any relation to the actress that is Stella.  The resemblance and mannerisms are so similar.

[NJRadioGuy]

So tell me you know nothing about shooting ranges without saying you know nothing about shooting ranges.

Every gun store and range I've ever shot at has been basically all concrete and cinder block construction, with fire safety precautions up the wazoo. This would have been a perfect job for the Joe Rockhead Fire Department.

Ammunition will explode but it won't "fire" as if it was in a gun since it needs a rifled barrel to direct the charge and focus the projectile's energy. But yes, it would go 'bang' rather loudly and impressively. Also the other shooters in the range could easily just escape downrange since there is always isolation between the range lanes and the retail premises and classrooms, and alternate means of egress are mandatory pretty well everywhere, plus the ventilation would extract the smoke fairly easily, or at least mitigate it to some degree.

And for heaven's sake they had a charged 1-3/4" line. Open it up and cool down the ammo shelves. It'd take 30 seconds. Hell, a hand can would have probably done it. And defensive for that? A couple of deuce-and-a-halfs and they've had that knocked down in a few minutes. No need for a deck gun either. 

Glad to see Mulroney's coming back. Loving him as Chief. And obviously glad they wrapped up that storyline and didn't drag it out as a cliffhanger.

Baaaaaybeeeeeeeee! Ugh. Just...no. Please, no.

Good wrap-up with the girls' story.

Hermann's actions made no sense to me, but whatever. Now there are two name-brand actors on Engine, the one piece of apparatus that's not featured on the show, vacancies on truck, and a need for fewer actors due to salary limits. I guess they know what they want to do but it still makes no sense.

See you in October.