Season 12 Changes Might Lead to Bigger Ones Ahead
Darren Ritter (actor Daniel Kyri) stands with hands on hips in CFD jacket on Chicago Fire
Chief Wallace Boden, Stella Kidd and Christopher Herrmann stand in front of Chicago Fire cast
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Lizzie Novak: Everyone is acting flippin’ bonkers.
Although Chicago Fire Season 12, Episode 11 is written very clearly as a standalone installment, the announcement of Eamonn Walker no longer being a series regular adds another element to it. Walker’s character Wallace Boden misses his second straight episode, and that’s fine because there’s no clear path for Boden during “Inside Man.” If he were present, then Stella wouldn’t have to be nervously trying to handle the situation at the firehouse. While Walker is still expected to play Boden on a recurring basis, this makes Severide acting as interim boss in “The Wrong Guy” seem like foreshadowing. Will Chicago Fire have to push Severide into Boden’s role more often — and thus take the character out of where he works best? Or will Firehouse 51 just not have an on-screen boss anymore, with Boden running the operations in the background until Walker pops up for a specific reason?
“Inside Man” illustrates that Kelly Severide absolutely is not management material. He is most effective — both within the team and in the TV show as a whole — when he’s in the heart of the action. With Casey and Sylvie Brett now married and back in Oregon, the organic progression of Severide’s character is that he’s got to fill that white-shirt void, but no one actually wants to see that.Chicago Fire could give those kinds of duties to Stella, who’s a better fit personality-wise and whom Boden saw leadership potential in, but then how does that affect what stories she gets going into Season 13? The answer that makes the most sense from an entertainment standpoint is to just say Boden is doing all the work off-screen, and eliminate the bureaucratic headaches that Firehouse 51 always deals with. Yet that also has a drawback in that it’s not realistic for a workplace where people have to handle a lot — and sometimes get in trouble for it, too.
That’s a problem for the remaining two episodes of Season 12, but it’s “Inside Man” that quite firmly throws that gauntlet down. Severide isn’t an office type and Kinney isn’t at his best in those scenes, either. He provides the inciting energy that drives Chicago Fire forward, whether it’s how Kelly Severide is always getting into trouble, or because Severide’s marriage to Stella has become the heart of the show, or because all of the other characters have such respect for Severide. “Inside Man” confirms, without a doubt, that Chicago Fire isn’t the same series without Taylor Kinney.
