S07.E21: The White Whale

[mxc90]

Quote

A serial arsonist cold case is reopened when Lt. Severide finds a connection to a recent salon fire. Firehouse 51 celebrates a retirement party.

[mxc90]

I wouldn't be surprised if Benny hooked up with Carol a few times and that tryst blinded him from solving the case. He had to "interview" her a dozen times!

Where was the police to roll with the fire trucks to the church?

Casey and Herrmann are lucky they didn't get blown up!

Was that Kara Kilmer's attempt to "act" like she is coughing? Terrible! Maybe she was having a bad day on set.

I disagree with Foster! Put the Dawson stuff away forever not a minute!

This show is going way too hard to ramp up the Casey/Sylvie romance.

Matt is way too nice! He should have tracked down that kid and beat him with the other kid's finger.

Severide! Hubble doesn't need a lecture, maybe something else. Take the hint!

Finally a decent B/C story. I felt bad for LaPointe and it was nice they gave Miller some meaningful lines.

The actress playing Kidd must be pissed that all her lines are revolved around "what is Severide up to at this minute".

When's Detective Kelly going to apologize to Harkey?

Now that we know Harkey isn't the arsonist and didn't have any damage to apartment. Why did he ask who to sue? I guess it's bad writing.

Edited May 16, 2019 by mxc90

[rhys]

I haven't seen Jerry much since his ER days. Was he that enormous or was it just camera angles tonight? Funny he hasn't moved out of Chicago.

[Kleav]

4 minutes ago, rhys said:

Jerry

That's who that was. Thank you!

[rhys]

4 minutes ago, Kleav said:

That's who that was. Thank you!

Avec plaisir, mon amie!

[LittleIggy]

It was great to see Abraham Benrubi again. That was one horrific story his character related. Poor man. I liked everyone helping him, especially Tuesday’s dad (can’t remember his name) seeing the warning signs.

[Dowel Jones]

I liked that Capt. Hubble initially stepped on Severide's increasing Gabby-itis.  Present your evidence, let the investigators handle it.  Contrary to how they're usually portrayed, LE is quite competent at their jobs.  But Severide is convinced that he's the only one who can see the truth.  I think he hit it on the head when he mentioned that all his career he was trying to outdo Benny.

5 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Casey and Herrmann are lucky they didn't get blown up!

That was so cringeworthy, I got up and walked out of the room for a moment.  By the way, Casey, using the screwdriver for a lever works better if you use the point instead of the handle - more torque applied to the lock.

5 hours ago, mxc90 said:

Why did he ask who to sue?

It was just a plot device to introduce the fact that the power was off, so they could go look at the circuit box and notice that the lock had been tampered with, and from there put Severide on the trail.  Because he's the investigatingest investigator that's ever investigated.

4 hours ago, rhys said:

Was he that enormous or was it just camera angles tonight?

I noticed that too.  I don't remember him being that tall or big in Open Range, but then again he didn't have a lot of scenes. After his introduction to the candidate firefighter at the station, I would have put money on a suicide at the end of the episode.  I'm glad they gave it a good ending, though.  I'm surprised his own BC never noticed any change in behavior and steered him toward an employee assistance program. 

By the way, Mouch, if, maybe, you put a few hours into physical fitness, you might have been more competitive.  Asking someone to throw an event for you is low, man. 

[StevedeMena]

4 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

It was great to see Abraham Benrubi again. That was one horrific story his character related. Poor man. I liked everyone helping him, especially Tuesday’s dad (can’t remember his name) seeing the warning signs.

Tuesday’s dad? Who is Tuesday?

[ybrik]

Glad I wasn't the only one getting really annoyed with Severide's attitude this whole episode. You know Severide maybe the Investigator could have been able to move faster on your information if you hadn't held onto it so that you could make copies of it and go over it with your buddy Casey and Chief Boden. 

Yes, it is sad that Kidd is basically regulated to Severide sympathizer each week.

I have watched the show off and on but man it really does seem to force pairings and Casey/Sylvie is no different. 

Good to see Jerry from ER. And to those who wonder, he has always been that big. Having seen him in other shows like Married With Children and Wings where they highlighted what a big man he is as opposed to ER, it wasn't as glaring. Plus I also think Hermann and the rookie are pretty short. 

[Guildford]

One of the many things I find frustrating about this show is they bring in these characters that we are supposed to feel sorry for or care about what happens but we have never seen them before or they have never been mentioned before. Surely they could have dug up a firefighter from somewhere that we had seen before even briefly or set this up with this guy dropping in on and off over the last few episodes. 

While it was nice to see 'Jerry' again....I can't say I cared .

They really just can't get these C plots right can they....they are either painfully stupid or overwrought.

As for the way they are writing the females in this show....just stop. 

[Waterston Fan]

5 hours ago, StevedeMena said:

Tuesday’s dad? Who is Tuesday?

Its Ritter they are talking about, the guy who talked about his uncle who committed suicide. Tuesday is the fire house dog. 

I admit, only on TV will a person who needs help will go get help when they see someone cares. 

[preeya]

18 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

By the way, Casey, using the screwdriver for a lever works better if you use the point instead of the handle - more torque applied to the lock.

Why didn't he just call for that thing that Cruz invented when he called for the extinguisher or a pair of bolt cutters?

Edited May 17, 2019 by preeya

[Dowel Jones]

That's right!  The Slammigan!  Maybe the 27 house stole it in retaliation for 51's 'theft' of the attic nozzle.

[langford peel]

Is it me or is Tacoma FD more realistic?

[jewel21]

On ‎5‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 11:57 PM, rhys said:

I haven't seen Jerry much since his ER days. Was he that enormous or was it just camera angles tonight? Funny he hasn't moved out of Chicago.

Jerry got old. The white hair and beard threw me off. It was nice to see the actor again, though. I loved him on ER and on Buffy when he would make an appearance. I would love to see more of him. 

[Ailianna]

I like when they use someone like Abraham Benrubi for a one-off role.  Even though this particular character we only saw for one episode, all the good feelings I have for the actor bleed into the character, making me feel more for the character than I would if he were played by an unknown actor.

[Reality police]

On 5/16/2019 at 5:38 AM, ybrik said:

Glad I wasn't the only one getting really annoyed with Severide's attitude this whole episode. You know Severide maybe the Investigator could have been able to move faster on your information if you hadn't held onto it so that you could make copies of it and go over it with your buddy Casey and Chief Boden. 

Yes, it is sad that Kidd is basically regulated to Severide sympathizer each week.

I have watched the show off and on but man it really does seem to force pairings and Casey/Sylvie is no different. 

Good to see Jerry from ER. And to those who wonder, he has always been that big. Having seen him in other shows like Married With Children and Wings where they highlighted what a big man he is as opposed to ER, it wasn't as glaring. Plus I also think Hermann and the rookie are pretty short. 

I loved him on Wings. 

[WinJet0819]

On 5/16/2019 at 4:38 AM, ybrik said:

Glad I wasn't the only one getting really annoyed with Severide's attitude this whole episode. You know Severide maybe the Investigator could have been able to move faster on your information if you hadn't held onto it so that you could make copies of it and go over it with your buddy Casey and Chief Boden. 

Yes, it is sad that Kidd is basically regulated to Severide sympathizer each week.

I have watched the show off and on but man it really does seem to force pairings and Casey/Sylvie is no different. 

Good to see Jerry from ER. And to those who wonder, he has always been that big. Having seen him in other shows like Married With Children and Wings where they highlighted what a big man he is as opposed to ER, it wasn't as glaring. Plus I also think Hermann and the rookie are pretty short. 

The show seems to act like the the members of 51 can do everything. Run their own arson investigations, and find the bad guys. It makes it seem like OFI can't do their job. And the real life Chicago OFI had Don Rimgale, whom was portrayed by Robert De Niro in Backdraft, so I think the OFI deserves a bit more credit Chicago Fire producers.

And how I miss when Kidd was just one of the guys when she first arrived on the show. No relationship drama, and we got to focus on her character being a firefighter. Now, all she's good for is backing up Kelly and having awkward moments with him. It's pathetic.

The LaPointe storyline was the best part of the episode because it was actually based in fact. It's nice they did recognize the struggle some firefighters go through over their career. Glad Ritter did a good job at catching the signs to help LaPointe before he went over the edge with suicide.

[WinJet0819]

Is anybody else wondering why Truck 81 is still only rolling with 4 members? That might be the norm in small town. But in a big city like Chicago, you expect them to have more riding the truck. They used to have as many as 6. Now, they never filled the sixth slot when Cruz went to Squad. And they never filled Herrmann's spot after he got promoted. Maybe they will add another character or two to join truck next season to fill it out. Who knows.

[Dowel Jones]

Abraham Benrubi had an even earlier role than Wings, I think.  I remember him from a high school sitcom called Parker Lewis Can't Lose.  His was a one-note role of a large kid who did nothing but eat.  They did give him a moment that still sticks in my mind, though.  The class had to take one of those standardized tests and he bubbled in all the blanks in a pattern to form the words "Eat Now."  And scored 98%.

[tinderbox]

I thought “Jerry” was going to end up being the arsonist.  The (fake) sketch, from years prior, looked very much like him.  So happy when it turned out not to be him.

[JenLily]

23 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

I remember him from a high school sitcom called Parker Lewis Can't Lose.

Kubiac!! I still call him that, this many years later. I loved that show. 😊

[Kel Varnsen]

On 5/20/2019 at 10:59 AM, JenLily said:

Kubiac!! I still call him that, this many years later. I loved that show. 😊

That made me feel super old. I remember watching that show as a kid (maybe grade 7) and he was playing a high school student. Now he is playing someone old enough to retire. That said this was probably the best Hermann/Mouch and their people B plot this show has done in a long time.

[NJRadioGuy]

On 5/19/2019 at 6:16 AM, WinJet0819 said:

The show seems to act like the the members of 51 can do everything. Run their own arson investigations, and find the bad guys. It makes it seem like OFI can't do their job.

They've been making Severide into an ace investigator for a while now, and maybe that's a direction they could take his character. Except he would no longer be the star, and would only be needed in a handful of episodes every season. But the way they've been writing him, it's a plausible path, and if he's getting expensive as a regular, that could be something.

Quote

The LaPointe storyline was the best part of the episode because it was actually based in fact. It's nice they did recognize the struggle some firefighters go through over their career. Glad Ritter did a good job at catching the signs to help LaPointe before he went over the edge with suicide.

That was very, very much appreciated. I,too, was afraid they'd break down his door and find his body at the end and then use that as a springboard for a Ritter story. Glad they took it the way they did, and gave Ritter some lines.

No jet engine story to relate here, but let's just say an energized 14,000 Volt primary line leaves a lasting impression, too. Thank you, showrunners.

On 5/19/2019 at 6:21 AM, WinJet0819 said:

Is anybody else wondering why Truck 81 is still only rolling with 4 members? That might be the norm in small town. But in a big city like Chicago, you expect them to have more riding the truck. 

FDNY is mostly 4-member crews now, as far as I know. At least on Engine; not sure about truck, and not sure about Chicago.

It could be worse, though. It could be (rat-infested) Station 19 in Seattle that has a tiller truck, but no tillerman.

Edited May 24, 2019 by NJRadioGuy

[Dowel Jones]

They took the tiller out of Truck 19 so they could have one more inappropriate place in which to have sex.