S03.E03: Just Drive The Truck

[WendyCR72]

The members of Firehouse 51 and the Austin firehouse clash when trucks collide on the way to a call. Boden comes up with a plan to get Dawson her badge. Mills faces his past and future. The Molly's group hits a speed bump starting the food truck.

 

Some threads are suddenly not unlocking, so I am erring on the side of caution and will leave such threads unlocked for the future. But please discuss AFTER the episode airs. Thanks, all!

[Brattinella]

Any Chicago people here?  Is that a REAL bullshit law there, where a FIRE TRUCK has to obey a traffic light?  They were on the way to a fire, for God's sake!  Do you folks insist on the right of way when you have a green light and there is a lights-and-siren fire truck approaching at full speed?

[2KllMckngBrd]

Let me sum up my feelings on this ep quickly-as quickly as I am starting to hate watch this show. My son walked in from work at 10:00, and immediately said, "so who died tonight, and who's just messed up"? My answer, "the whole god damn thing was cleaned up, and they had delivery of a new fire truck by 2nd commercial". Son then said, "well then xbox1 and Madden it is".

Thank you and goodnight.

WTF?!?

Any Chicago people here? Is that a REAL bullshit law there, where a FIRE TRUCK has to obey a traffic light? They were on the way to a fire, for God's sake! Do you folks insist on the right of way when you have a green light and there is a lights-and-siren fire truck approaching at full speed?

You know, you took more time thinking about the episode, and writing your post, then any of those writers did, thinking that bait n switch, boatload of crap up, I just sat through.

Sorry. Didn't mean to ignore your post. And the answer to your question is... I have lived in 5 different states in my life. And in not 1 of those would a 2nd thought have been given, to mowing down an entire family, regardless of who in the hell had the green, if the lights and sirens were going.

Run-on sentences be damned.

Edited October 20, 2014 by maraleia

[Dowel Jones]

More on the red light question.  Most departments have a policy that says the engine will not enter the intersection faster than it can be stopped, even in Code 3 situations (the "controlled stop".  Having said that, I too can attest to the fact that engines routinely blow through red lights at speed.  My department basically says that any accident is the operator's fault until proven otherwise.  A slowed down playback of that accident indicates that T81 did indeed have the green, but, really, both drivers are equally at fault here.  And Chief was right:  "Shut up, don't say another word, get your representative here."

 

ETA:  PeterMills wants to be a medic now?  How convenient.  Do we have room enough at the firehouse for another drama-filled romance on the ambulance?

Edited October 8, 2014 by Dowel Jones

[Chas411]

I liked Mills as a firefighter. I Hate that his career is more or less over for the sake of plot contrivance.

[Aliconehead]

Mills has always been a medic. He filled in multiple times on the ambulance. I don't know if this is what he wants to do with his life or if it's for now so he has an income. I will wait and see

[Misslindsey]

 

I liked Mills as a firefighter. I Hate that his career is more or less over for the sake of plot contrivance.

I know. Didn't he have a whole storyline about not making/making Squad? It is like the are pulling a Gabby with him. She wanted to be a doctor, nope her real dream is  wanting to be a firefighter. I really hope it is the income thing with Mills.

[izabella]

I was glad to see Mills making the choice to be an EMT again.  I was afraid we would be forced to see depressed and suicidal Mills because he couldn't be a fire fighter anymore.  I'm much happier to see him pick himself up and dust himself off like that, and move forward.

 

Then I realized it's all a plot contrivance because of Gabby's desire to be a fire fighter.  I'm surprised the Chief is going along with looking the other way regarding her and Casey.  I'm sure there won't be ANY problems with Gabby working for her boyfriend.

 

I don't know what Chicago's laws are on fire trucks and red lights, but I do see them slow down at intersections, and even stopping until the intersection is clear enough before barreling through, especially the 6-way intersections.  There's usually too much traffic for them to be at full speed on most streets, especially certain times of day.  I honestly don't know how they manage to get through traffic some times; they're driving ninjas.

Edited October 8, 2014 by izabella

[miracole]

So Gabby gets to be a firefighter and Mills gets to be a medic...utter garbage, pretty much sums up my thoughts on that. 

[Chas411]

I loved Hermann and Casey in this episode for the main reason that they were so supportive of Cruz and openly defended him. I love the Chief but I've never seen him react so crappily to a situation. I feel if it were Mills, Dawson, Casey or Severide he'd have jumped to defend them. He just didn't have Cruz's back at all and it sucked.

 

Is that it with Welch now? I thought the end scene would have diffused the tension but the look between him and Casey tells me otherwise.

 

Mills storyline got wrapped up way to neatly. I'm disappointed that he's no longer a firefighter.

 

Yeah Casey and Dawson... working together isn't going to be a complete disaster. Sure. I'd say they'll be on a break by midseason.

 

Shay's replacement continues to just... be there.

 

Loved seeing Platt crossover. Her and Mouch are hilarious together. I love how everyone reacts to her as well. Also nice to Atwater there and having a bromance with Mills.

 

I was loving the slowburn of Severide's grief but next week looks absolutely ridiculous. I love me some Severide but the promo looks like a movie or something. Also, didn't he have an episode focused on him last season as well?

[Dowel Jones]

I also got a kick out of Otis's (aka Moustache) reaction to his driving assignment.  "Really? I'm the driver now? (big smile).  I mean, it's okay, Cruz, everything will turn out okay"

[iMonrey]

I actually thought this one was pretty darn good. I like the ones that are centered around one big accident event. Although, for impact, they could have killed someone off, I'm just not sure who. In any event the crash and the aftermath were particularly well done, I thought. 

 

I admit that I, too, was kind of scratching my head over the whole red light/green light thing, since surely fire trucks, ambulances and police cars run red lights all the time. Then again, they can't run through cross-traffic, so they must have to at least slow down. I mean, they can't just rely on cross-traffic to get out of their way. I knew a driver on a fire truck who said there are some people that will just not get out of the way, even with the sirens blaring and the lights going. But, if Cruz had been brought up on vehicular homicide or something, there's no way in hell a jury would ever convict him. I agree that both trucks were technically at fault.

[2KllMckngBrd]

Although, for impact, they could have killed someone off,.

For me, that was the problem. From all the hype, they made it seem like this was gonna be freaking huge. Someone was going to be dead. Someone we actually knew and cared about. Instead we got clean up on aisle 8.

[Brattinella]

Seeing Welch's attitude in the hospital and elsewhere, he should be fired.  That kind of raging hostility has no place in public service.

[dargosmydaddy]

The one thing I did like last night? That ABC and NBC were out of synch with commercials, so I got to see the majority of both Forever and Chicago Fire.

 

But of course Chicago Fire is the same old, same old. Big drama! Injuries! Emotional meltdowns! But oh wait, everything's OK by the end. Big shock. They continue to blow through plot lines at warp speed for no reason whatsoever. Someone needs to tell the writers that the pace doesn't improve the show, it just makes it more stupid.

 

And could they recycle their plots anymore? Season 1: Severide's injury and general craziness regarding said injury... except oh wait, miracle cure. Season 2: Casey's head trauma that's super serious and might end his career at any moment... except oh wait, it's gone (and he clearly hit his head in the accident last night with no ill effect). Season 3: Oh no, career ending condition for PeterMills... anyone really think he'll never be a firefighter again? You know he'll be back on squad by the end of the season, if not far sooner (the way this show goes, probably by the end of November sweeps).

[Brookside]

I am now watching for the ridiculousness factor.

 

That said, people on last week's thread kept talking about someone dying this week so I worried the entire episode that it was going to be Cruz. He's been my favourite character since the first time he appeared.

[redsox7819]

I don't know what Chicago's laws are on fire trucks and red lights, but I do see them slow down at intersections, and even stopping until the intersection is clear enough before barreling through, especially the 6-way intersections.  There's usually too much traffic for them to be at full speed on most streets, especially certain times of day.  I honestly don't know how they manage to get through traffic some times; they're driving ninjas.

 

They are so driving ninjas. I live by a major street and intersection right off LSD (Lake Shore Drive) and they never go full speed through them. They always slow down. There is way too much traffic not to. I also work off Michigan Ave by the hospitals and they barely can get by. The only time cars with sirens get by with ease are the motorcades of Obama or Biden.

Edited October 9, 2014 by redsox7819

[Jaundiced Eye]

No comment on Mills meeting his [formerly?] racist grandfather for the first time? I thought it was kind of sweet and wonder if they'll get together some more so that Peter can be emotionally distraught when the old guy kicks it.

 

As far as Molly's food truck is concerned, I don't remember ever even seeing any food at Molly's. What do they serve, who cooks it, and who will handle food preparation on the truck?

[Dowel Jones]

Why, PeterMIlls' family, of course!  What better way to bring in more relationship drama, and maybe even a very special episode involving the roach coach, the drug gangs, a Chicago PD crossover, or maybe even a fire or another accident? 

[iMonrey]

I think the point of the red light/green light issue is that, fire trucks cannot just plow through cross traffic when the light is red, and have to slow down enough to be able to stop in case the cross traffic is not clear. Since Welch's truck hit Casey's, it came down to which had the green light; if Cruz did, they had the right of way and Welch's truck was at fault. If Cruz had a red light he was at fault. So it wasn't just a matter of "can they run a red light."

[MaryHedwig]

Since Welch's truck hit Casey's, it came down to which had the green light; if Cruz did, they had the right of way and Welch's truck was at fault. If Cruz had a red light he was at fault. So it wasn't just a matter of "can they run a red light."

Above poster,  thanks for explaining this.  It did not make any sense to me.  Now I think I understand what a "controlled stop" means.  Do you understand why Casey could withstand a head injury to his previously damage head without any repercussions -- it looked like they didn't even bother to clean up his wounds when he was at the hospital let alone check him for head injury (I am being somewhat sarcastic here, I doubt there is a good answer, but if you have one or can make one up, I would love to read it.

 

A more serious question.  Why did Molina and Welch come clean?  I guess I could understand why Molina did because he probably had a come-to-Jesus moment being so close to death, but Welch?  Did Welch just back Molina because Molina confessed already, or did Welch confess because he has a iota of conscience tucked beneath his grimacing and posturing.

[Kel Varnsen]

And could they recycle their plots anymore? Season 1: Severide's injury and general craziness regarding said injury... except oh wait, miracle cure. Season 2: Casey's head trauma that's super serious and might end his career at any moment... except oh wait, it's gone (and he clearly hit his head in the accident last night with no ill effect). 

They really have forgotten about Casey's brain injury haven't they. I mean surely his head would have gotten bounced around inside the truck when it flipped, even if it didn't hit something. Not to mention in the explosion in the season premiere, even nothing hit him in the head the blast itself should have knocked his brain around a little. Last season basically getting bumped into a wall sent him to the hospital.

[Ailianna]

The other big problem for me is that there is no way Cruz could have been charged with Manslaughter for the crash. People unfortunately kill people in car crashes every day, and absent the use of alcohol/drugs or SERIOUS reckless/crazy driving, get their traffic infractions and move on, they don't get charged with Manslaughter.

Emergency vehicles do have th right of way, but they ahve to make sure that the way is clear. What bothered me about it was that I didn't hear anyone's sirens. Even if there were some reason not to go lights and sirens all the way (and it's a fire truck, so that would be unusual), intersections the horns get hit or the blurp on the siren goes, just to warn people the driver may not see coming. They were both wrong for that.

I didn't get the impression Welsh actually confessed, but when Malina woke, he told the truth, and that was enough. He was never in a "cover up" about it, and they aren't likely to go after him on it (in this show's universe at least) so he was just an honest guy. And him offering Cruz his hand just emphasises to me that he is the one nice guy at that house.

[Dowel Jones]

There are a few loopholes in the actual event, if one wished to pry deeply enough.  For instance, the other truck, initially even with T81 and one or two blocks over, somehow gains enough distance in the space of a few blocks to turn a corner, get back up to speed, and collide with T81.  The cabover design of both trucks would mean that Welsh, as well as Molina, should have suffered grievous injuries.  Most metro FDs now have vehicle locators on their equipment that will transmit location and speed back to the computer monitor, so the investigators would have a pretty good idea of what happened at the intersection.  No matter.  The episode was really about the aftermath of the accident and the repercussions.  Mostly I thought the did a fair job of addressing that.

[backformore]

Any Chicago people here? Is that a REAL bullshit law there, where a FIRE TRUCK has to obey a traffic light? They were on the way to a fire, for God's sake! Do you folks insist on the right of way when you have a green light and there is a lights-and-siren fire truck approaching at full speed?

The law is drivers have to pull over for emergency vehicles, but not everyone does so. A lot of traffic lights are equipped with the technology where a signal from emergency vehicles causes the traffic lights to change so the emergency vehicle can get through. But not every intersection is equipped for the system, I think it may be just major streets. Of course, when two fire trucks are approaching an intersection at once, they could each be changing the traffic light in opposite ways, so who knows what would happen?

Weird to me that the guys in the truck that was knocked on its side were not more seriously hurt.

Edited October 10, 2014 by backformore

[MaryHedwig]

Weird to me that the guys in the truck that was knocked on its side were not more seriously hurt.

They would have been it that had furthered the plot.

[dargosmydaddy]

 

I thought it was kind of sweet and wonder if they'll get together some more so that Peter can be emotionally distraught when the old guy kicks it.

Oh, you know it!

 

Before his vertigo was revealed, I thought the route they were taking with the family drama might be that PeterMills would need some kind of bone marrow donation or organ transplant that only the estranged family could provide. Glad they chose not to get quite so melodramatic. (When he was staring at that ginormous bruise after he fell, I was thinking maybe leukemia.)

[Amelie06]

It's strange how much I used to love PeterMills. I hate him so much now. What a whiny douche.  I don't know what is going on with this show. I feel like I missed a season. I didn't even know PeterMills was biracial! I am out of fucks to give with Casey and Dawson. I still like Casey's character, but I'm over it with Dawson.

 

This firehouse needs to be closed! The injury/death rate is too high. It must have been built on tribal burial grounds, cursing all who inhabit the station house.

 

I can't get over subbing a blonde for a blonde. That is just strange. NuShay is so bland.

 

Nothing good ever seems to come Cruz's way. He is the Lady Edith of Chicago Fire. I'm going to call it now: Cruz will snap and go on a shooting rampage at the station house in the fifth season finale.

[Mia Nina]

What a ridiculous episode.