S07.E07: What Will Define You

[Jaded]

Quote

Kidd and the team embark on a mission to help Severide as he struggles to process his father Benny's death; Brett suspects a teenage driver in a car accident is hiding something.

Kidd tries to help Severide, who faces some serious adversity; a car accident rescue, which involves a teenage girl and her young sister, leads Brett to become suspicious and have an uneasy feeling that there is more to the case.

[mxc90]

Shouldn't Sylvie have brought the texting issue to the police's attention from the start instead going to the chaplain or confronting the girl?

In pain that sister held on to that phone. I admire that.

Was Cruz in charge in Kelly's absence?

Benny really married Penelope? The writers were desperate for silly comedy tonight. Ex wives didn't seem shaken by his passing.

Wow. Did the man throw a rake or javelin? He had to have hacked him in rage? No way tossing a rake did that.

Nice sendoff for Benny.

Another mention of Chloe and she's not seen. The writers are putting two women in Otis' reach but he'll end up with not one of them.

No mention of Gabby tonight. Progress for the writers!

[SuzieQ]

I have to admit, I bawled at the end when those firetrucks showed up!  That was a nice touch although I would think those guys would have been there for the service too.

No mention of Gabby, but Sylvie was like Gabby Jr. with the girl who was texting.  Did she forget which show she was on and think she was a detective? 

What's the deal with Otis and Katie? Were they a thing?  They only one I remember him having a thing with is the bar owners daughter that I think is Molly's North now.  Is that the Lilly he was talking about?

[mxc90]

16 minutes ago, SuzieQ said:

What's the deal with Otis and Katie? Were they a thing?  They only one I remember him having a thing with is the bar owners daughter that I think is Molly's North now.  Is that the Lilly he was talking about?

Otis and Katie were a brief item a few seasons ago then she moved away. Yes! That Lilly is the bar owners's daughter but we haven't seen her since last season. At this time, it doesn't appear writers know where this is going.

Yes. Sylvie was Gabby lite tonight.

Edited November 8, 2018 by mxc90

[LittleIggy]

Yes, I teared up when the fire trucks showed up outside the church and they did the whole bell ringing thing.

[langford peel]

What a supremely boring episode.

The whole thing was like a funeral.

[Dowel Jones]

That funeral sequence was spot on.  The bell ringing is the traditional 3x3 rings, meaning end of duty, and is used for Line Of Duty Deaths.  That did get to me, having attended a few during my career.  The accompanying speech is searing if you knew the person.  I can also appreciate the absence of personnel during the service, as it would mean taking a lot of apparatus out of service, and, quite honestly, possibly paying a lot of overtime for coverage.  I know that sounds cheesy, but that sort of treatment is generally reserved for LODD services, and Benny was a retired BC.  There certainly would be some sort of commemoration from the department, at the request of the family.  All in all, I thought the show did that part up right.

Say, Brett, maybe you can put your investigative skills to work when Casey and Sexy Reporter Gal follow up their next big lead.  I'm sure they wouldn't mind you tagging along, as long as you paid for your own dinner. 

[Jpxfactor]

I would like to see more actual fires than all this brooding from grown men.  Silvie grow up and do your job omg who does she think she is.  Stop with the fireball romances soo stupid, date outside your house.

Sorry meant Brett to grow up.

[NJRadioGuy]

10 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

That funeral sequence was spot on.  The bell ringing is the traditional 3x3 rings, meaning end of duty, and is used for Line Of Duty Deaths.  That did get to me, having attended a few during my career. 

FDNY has signal 5-5-5-5 but yeah. Gets me every damned time. But the one that hits home the hardest is an End Of Watch/final response radio message. I think I heard a TV show do that once as well. Yeah. Right in the damned feels.

If Benny was that beloved in the department then he would have had an awful lot of guys from his command at the funeral and his colleagues as well as bosses.

Where the hell was Grissom? If Benny's plea before he snuffed it was moving enough to sway Grissom, you'd think he'd have been there with bells on.

Don't get the hesitation with Brett. Just tell the officer investigating the accident what you observed and that's that. He or she will dig around. No Big Wrenching Decision needed; it's done all the time. And it's not as if the penalties for texting-while-driving are life altering either. Yes, the BadThing happened (the accident). She'll get a ticket, pay the fine and (hopefully) be remorseful and never do it again. A quick Google search shows a cellphone ticket in IL is $75, but can be upgraded to a misdemeanor or felony if an accident that involves injury or death ensues. So probably at worst she'd get a slap on the wrist.

[iMonrey]

This episode should have been a nice character arc for Severide but it seemed like it was more about Kidd. I think the show spent more time following her around looking for that dumb medal than it did on Severide. And I really don't care anything at all about Kidd. I don't dislike her, necessarily, I just don't care about her one way or another. For that matter it's hard to muster up much emotion for old Bennie since he was featured so infrequently himself. For me, I think this kind of point to Taylor Kinney's weakness as an actor. He does the quiet, brooding thing really well but it's been a constant for him for seven seasons now. I didn't get that he was going through anything much bigger than anything else he's dealt with. 

The other problem is the dichotomy of Benny's exes versus his former co-workers. The former mostly seemed resentful towards him and, indeed, if he actually left a wife and two stepsons for some airhead bimbo it speaks poorly of his character. Certainly Kelly was never close to him for the same reason (abandonment) and didn't even know he had a sister. So why is this jerk held so high in esteem by his colleagues? They never game a damn what a scoundrel he was?

[Dowel Jones]

2 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Where the hell was Grissom?

No doubt his lackey Gorsch was tallying up the expenses to CFD for the funeral, and he'll crawl out one more time with  Station 51 in peril, again.

[Waterston Fan]

This was kind of a boring episode. The police would have more likely have gotten a hold of the phone anyways so they would see if she was calling or texting. That girl looked older than 4, looked more like 6 or 7. 

Funny that Otis was freaking out about Katie coming back but it worked out in the end as he was worried over nothing. 

April is..... Katie's mom or Kelly's mom? It would have been too easy to call the ex's and ask them for the medal but I would have thought Benny would have had the medal himself and not with his daughter Katie.  

Regarding the parade and procession, thank you for the explanation. That's interesting. 

I would assume the medal would have been put in the casket later cause I would think the flag would not be buried with the casket. 

I think maybe Kelly didn't expect many people there but you had to have realized how much of a jerk Benny was to where not many of the command showed up. 

[athelyna]

I feel for Severide, but I don't understand him getting so upset about Benny not getting the big firefighter funeral that was exclusively reserved for line of duty deaths.  I'm not a firefighter, so I'm not familiar with what all different levels of funerals they have, but being a firefighter for a long time and having a high rank is still not the same as dying in the line of duty.

I think it's always a bit of a problem when shows decide to kill a reccurring character off like this, because have to actually get all the random one off and recurring actors they interacted with- like Grissom and other CFD people- back for cameos, include clunky lines implying some of their supposed friends/family are just off screen, or leave the audience wondering why they didn't show up for the funeral.

I am glad they actually remembered Severide's sister existed.  I was wondering about her last week, and was hoping the show wouldn't just forget she existed or give some dumb excuse why she couldn't make it.

Weak episode for me though.  Like Treat Williams, but never really liked Benny.  Show seemed to have a hard time deciding if he were supposed to like him or not - he did stand up for Severide in the end, but he also abandoned multiple families, had a daughter Kelly didn't even know about, and even with the rest of the CFD they seem to alternate between everybody loved him and everybody hated him personally but admired that he was a good firefighter.  Meant I had a hard time caring about the funeral and finding his medal- as others have said it might have been interesting if they had done something more with Kelly, but it was just more of him being quiet and brooding and refusing to accept help.  Hated Brett pulling a page from Gabby's book, and  thought it was dumb she would confront the girl driving rather than just talking to the responding police who would surely show up for vehicle hitting a pedestrian.  She wouldn't even have had to tell the cops the girl was texting and driving, she could have told them exactly what she told the chaplain, that the little girl was holding the phone and she thought it was bit odd.

[mxc90]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

So why is this jerk held so high in esteem by his colleagues? They never game a damn what a scoundrel he was?

I couldn't believe that chief enjoyed telling the story of when Benny assaulted him and followed with he got punched for nothing (Benny got the wrong guy). I doubt Kelly was the motivation for his actions that night.

[Dowel Jones]

5 hours ago, athelyna said:

She wouldn't even have had to tell the cops the girl was texting and driving, she could have told them exactly what she told the chaplain, that the little girl was holding the phone and she thought it was bit odd.

That entire plotline, in my opinion, was simply a device to get Brett face to face with the cute chaplain, so hearts could go pitty patt and launch a new subplot.

[LittleIggy]

I knew something was up when the teenage driver said that old man ran out in front of her. Yeah, right! ?

[WinJet0819]

8 hours ago, athelyna said:

I feel for Severide, but I don't understand him getting so upset about Benny not getting the big firefighter funeral that was exclusively reserved for line of duty deaths.  I'm not a firefighter, so I'm not familiar with what all different levels of funerals they have, but being a firefighter for a long time and having a high rank is still not the same as dying in the line of duty.

I don't believe retired firefighters or cops get full detail procession funerals. As Boden said, though he discarded, that is reserved for line of duty deaths. The armed services is the only exception, where any vet who was discharged other than dishonorably, can get a full military funeral. 

[Dowel Jones]

That's probably correct for most departments in real life.  Mine, if I remember correctly (3 years retired), had four decreasing levels.  LODD, On Duty but not work related (heart attack at the station, for example), Off Duty, and Retired.

[Guildford]

Did they blow the budget on hiring that church and couldn't afford to pay for extra's to fill it? Did Benny not have one friend? 

In what could have been a good episode was just a funeral dirge from start to finish. I couldn't even muster enough energy to give two fucks about it.

I don't get this franchise's reliance on the same tired formula....loved one of our beloved characters show up one episode, they have an argument, next episode they die/get brutally assaulted, our beloved grieve/get revenge/demand full state funerals, and then next episode all is forgotten and we all move on and await the next family tragedy.

Who wants to make a list of who is next?

Casey's Mom/sister?

Brett's Mom/Dad/Sister/Brother

Cruz's barely seen & rarely mentioned girlfiriend

Boden's wife/son?

Mouch's random sperm donor child?

[MakeMeLaugh]

I love this show and its cast but omg was this episode awful. Having Severeid groveling with the brass for a hero's funeral was not only out of character for Severeid, it COMPLETELY dimished the effect of the last scene from his POV. Show should have had Boden alone unbeknownst to Severeid discuss it with the brass (or better, just kill that subplot) and then have the scene with Benny’s contemporaries planning something. And yes, fill that church if we are to believe Benny really was worth a hero’s send-off—why not have his colleagues make a big entrance as Kelly steps up to talk? And did I miss Mrs Boden and the other spouses at the church?

Brett deciding to deal with the cell phone: also stupid. That’s police work. Figure out a more elegant way to get her facetime with chaplain (hello, after-funeral party). Plus I so wanted the little sister to have been watching a video on the cell and Brett end up with egg on her face. 

Exwives as comic relief: seriously? Gah. Also not making us believe Benny was heroic enough for a big funeral.

Stella playing find the medal? Not sure why Benny, who “pre-planned” his own funeral, didn’t have it with the paperwork if it was that big of a deal. 

I wonder if the writers like Treat Williams....

[Ailianna]

On 11/8/2018 at 1:21 PM, iMonrey said:

The other problem is the dichotomy of Benny's exes versus his former co-workers. The former mostly seemed resentful towards him and, indeed, if he actually left a wife and two stepsons for some airhead bimbo it speaks poorly of his character. Certainly Kelly was never close to him for the same reason (abandonment) and didn't even know he had a sister. So why is this jerk held so high in esteem by his colleagues? They never game a damn what a scoundrel he was?

I dated a guy once, a first responder, and another friend of mine, who worked at the same agency, told me he knew the guy treated me horribly, but you know, he was a good guy.  There are a lot of people who make a huge distinction between work behavior and personal behavior.

8 hours ago, MakeMeLaugh said:

Brett deciding to deal with the cell phone: also stupid. That’s police work. Figure out a more elegant way to get her facetime with chaplain (hello, after-funeral party). Plus I so wanted the little sister to have been watching a video on the cell and Brett end up with egg on her face. 

I was really hoping this.  If I gave my phone to a small child to play with and entertain herself during the car ride, I'd tell her to hold on to it and not let go too.

[Waterston Fan]

34 minutes ago, Ailianna said:

I dated a guy once, a first responder, and another friend of mine, who worked at the same agency, told me he knew the guy treated me horribly, but you know, he was a good guy.  There are a lot of people who make a huge distinction between work behavior and personal behavior.

I was really hoping this.  If I gave my phone to a small child to play with and entertain herself during the car ride, I'd tell her to hold on to it and not let go too.

For the first part, I think that is the issue, some just combine the two things and depending on what the personal issues are, that's really not fair. But it does sound like Benny was a jerk while being a firefighter and off duty. 

[NJRadioGuy]

On 11/9/2018 at 8:39 PM, Waterston Fan said:

For the first part, I think that is the issue, some just combine the two things and depending on what the personal issues are, that's really not fair. But it does sound like Benny was a jerk while being a firefighter and off duty. 

Frankly I'd prefer a chief or boss who's a serious hardass, and who isn't afraid to push people to (and beyond) their limits, especially in training, because when the bells go off you gotta act on instinct and trust your training. Nice guy or jerk, I don't care, just so long as that person knows the job and can shove that knowledge into a young skull full of mush. I can't learn all that well from a touchie-feelie instructor whose head is buried up his butt in a book. In anything I do I always go straight for the old SOB who's seen and done it all. I figure if I learn half of what he's forgotten I'll beat out the whippersnappers.

[juliet73]

UGH!  This show! It's so stupid, yet I still watch it!!

I'm not an EMT so I don't know what all goes into their call reports, but why wouldn't Sylvie just mention "while I was tending to the younger sister, the child mentioned her older sister (the driver) told her to "hold her phone and don't let go."  I don't know if that meant the driver was texting at the time of the accident or if the driver wanted to make sure the child was able to have parent contact info, etc" and then let the cops handle it if needed.  

Kidd and Co trying to find the medal was ridiculous.  If it wasn't in Benny's personal belongings, the next logical step would be to ask his kids if they had it.  Kelly obviously didn't have it so then Stella should have called Katie.  Driving around the state asking all his exes if they had it was absurd! 

On 11/9/2018 at 6:10 AM, Guildford said:

Did they blow the budget on hiring that church and couldn't afford to pay for extra's to fill it? Did Benny not have one friend? 

This!  Even if they didn't like Benny, I would think they would show up for Kelly.  And where was the rest of 51?  I only saw the main characters...none of the background crew was shown.  Also, none of the spouses were there either?  No Trudy? No Donna? No Hermann's wife? And where was his BFF April from Chicago Med?  Come on show! You could have done so much better!

The ending was sad.  A funeral salute gets me every time - real life and fictional.

Edited November 14, 2018 by juliet73

[torqy]

On 11/8/2018 at 3:12 PM, athelyna said:

 

I think it's always a bit of a problem when shows decide to kill a reccurring character off like this, because have to actually get all the random one off and recurring actors they interacted with- like Grissom and other CFD people- back for cameos, include clunky lines implying some of their supposed friends/family are just off screen, or leave the audience wondering why they didn't show up for the funeral.

 

I'm curious why they killed off Benny. He only showed up infrequently. Was there bad blood between showrunners and Treat Williams? When ya kill the character, that means you're through with the actor (looking at you, NCIS)

[Guildford]

1 hour ago, torqy said:

I'm curious why they killed off Benny. He only showed up infrequently. Was there bad blood between showrunners and Treat Williams? When ya kill the character, that means you're through with the actor (looking at you, NCIS)

Because as per OneChicago guidelines a member of one of our characters families must die/be assaulted/tortured/raped/be under investigation for doing bad things every 4.5 episodes. It's in the writers KPI's I think.

[belletane]

15 hours ago, juliet73 said:

UGH!  This show! It's so stupid, yet I still watch it!!

I'm not an EMT so I don't know what all goes into their call reports, but why wouldn't Sylvie just mention "while I was tending to the younger sister, the child mentioned her older sister (the driver) told her to "hold her phone and don't let go."  I don't know if that meant the driver was texting at the time of the accident or if the driver wanted to make sure the child was able to have parent contact info, etc" and then let the cops handle it if needed.  

Kidd and Co trying to find the medal was ridiculous.  If it wasn't in Benny's personal belongings, the next logical step would be to ask his kids if they had it.  Kelly obviously didn't have it so then Stella should have called Katie.  Driving around the state asking all his exes if they had it was absurd! 

This!  Even if they didn't like Benny, I would think they would show up for Kelly.  And where was the rest of 51?  I only saw the main characters...none of the background crew was shown.  Also, none of the spouses were there either?  No Trudy? No Donna? No Hermann's wife? And where was his BFF April from Chicago Med?  Come on show! You could have done so much better!

The ending was sad.  A funeral salute gets me every time - real life and fictional.

l know a lot of this show's original viewers/fans feel the same way and just watch it now to support some of the cast members. The writing is fairly poor and the plots even poorer and NBC seem to be pulling the rug out from under its feet these days. The company is clearly reducing its budget down to the bone and that is a great shame. NBC seems to have more on its plate than it can handle show wise and so the older ones suffer for the new ones by the look of things. CF was amazing until they started PD then MED and the whole One Chicago thing blew up and boy could you see the difference in Fire then! 

[Spike]

16 hours ago, torqy said:

I'm curious why they killed off Benny. He only showed up infrequently. Was there bad blood between showrunners and Treat Williams? When ya kill the character, that means you're through with the actor (looking at you, NCIS)

They got rid of Gordon Clapp the same week.  Purge time.  They could have had the new love interest training as a chaplain under Orlovsky.  

[belletane]

22 hours ago, Spike said:

They got rid of Gordon Clapp the same week.  Purge time.  They could have had the new love interest training as a chaplain under Orlovsky.  

Such a shame they got rid of Chaplain Orlovsky because Gordon Clapp was brilliant in that role, and they could have had the love interest as his trainee except for the fact that would mean they would actually have had to PAY both actors and clearly their wage bill is too high already (witness lack of extras here there and everywhere they should be but aren't!). Sad for this show!

[NJRadioGuy]

Old shows are expensive and don't deliver the numbers of newer shows (i.e. they generate less revenue). CF is an expensive show to begin with, its numbers are well below its first two seasons, so NBC's choice becomes kill the show entirely or pare it back and get costs under control. I don't know when the main cast's contracts are up for renewal, but after 7 seasons I'd wager this is the final year for many of them (their contracts, not necessarily their characters). But I can see a few more cast changes happening if they're renewed for an 8th season. New actors cost less than veterans, and in an ensemble show we can learn to love new characters.

Personally I think the One Chicago night is a good thing. I generally like the universe they playin, despite it's often poor writing.

[SnarkySheep]

I don't claim to be at all knowledgeable about this sort of thing...but isn't it pretty standard these days for a driver's phone records to be obtained from the provider in the event of this kind of accident? So I'm not entirely sure why Brett was in such agony over it, as it would surely have come out with or without her.

[FnkyChkn34]

On 11/9/2018 at 7:58 PM, Ailianna said:

I dated a guy once, a first responder, and another friend of mine, who worked at the same agency, told me he knew the guy treated me horribly, but you know, he was a good guy.  There are a lot of people who make a huge distinction between work behavior and personal behavior.

 

On 11/9/2018 at 8:39 PM, Waterston Fan said:

For the first part, I think that is the issue, some just combine the two things and depending on what the personal issues are, that's really not fair. But it does sound like Benny was a jerk while being a firefighter and off duty. 

I started a new job over the summer.  I was dating a guy who referred me for it and convinced me to take it.  Then he dumped me the day before I started.  We weren't dating for that long, so I didn't know this, but turns out he's a deceitful, misogynistic, womanizing asshole.  I've since learned that many people also can't stand him personally - but they still show him respect professionally.  Why is that?  I don't get it; I can't separate the two and am very leery of his dishonesty, but maybe it's just personal for me.   

[belletane]

23 hours ago, SnarkySheep said:

I don't claim to be at all knowledgeable about this sort of thing...but isn't it pretty standard these days for a driver's phone records to be obtained from the provider in the event of this kind of accident? So I'm not entirely sure why Brett was in such agony over it, as it would surely have come out with or without her.

Oh but if the writers had made Brett do what any normal person would have done, then they wouldnt have had the opportunity of her meeting up with the new Chaplain. One has to suspend belief when watching this show!