Chicago Fire Season 14, Episode 12 ‘Coming In Hot‘ ends up being a kind of weird episode to go into a mini break, in that it’s an episode without Severide or Vasquez, so it feels like a lot of the storylines that involve them are just put on pause for a moment. And considering we’re returning to a crossover, they will presumably be on pause for a considerable amount of time.
It’s not a bad hour, in that this show these days rarely delivers the kinds of episode you can actually point to and say, “Well, that was horrible.” But it’s not a particularly memorable one, either. Instead, we get good moments from the women of Chicago Fire, a lot more of Pascal than we’ve gotten lately, and a nice focus on Herrmann and Cruz. It’s just that with the absences of Severide and Vasquez, plus the fact that at this point we’re not even sure if we’re keeping Pascal, makes it a weird episode.
The game of musical chairs might have a decent enough in-universe reason, but we’re not going to say it doesn’t hurt the show.
THIS SILLY LOVE TRIANGLE
This show lives and dies by the chemistry of its characters, so the fact that they now have one of the best partnerships in the ambo we’ve had in the history of this show, and they’re willing to squander it over Vasquez, is a bit baffling. There was no reason for the flirtation to start with Lizzie and Vasquez and shift to Violet and Vasquez. They could have just picked one lane and stuck to it. And preferably, it would have been Lizzie.
Look, we’ve gone through romance after romance with Violet. And we’ve supported her through it all. But with the way things ended with Carver last season, and his recent return leaving things even more open-ended, starting a new relationship is just asking for trouble. Violet can go a season without a love interest. That is a thing that can happen.
But even if the choice was to go for Vasquez and Violet, there was no reason to bring him in to flirt with Lizzie and then have that switch to Violet. It makes me dislike Vasquez a little, because what do you mean he didn’t know what he was doing? But overall, what I really don’t like is the storyline. And I’m not sure there’s much the show can do to change my mind.
NO CHIEF CAN HOLD THIS POST (OTHER THAN BODEN)
The Pascal thing felt like such an obvious way to write him out that I actually wanted to laugh at it, except the show spent so much time telling me I should care for this man, only to do this. And even if it ended up not being the reason we won’t see him after the crossover, it’s still kinda silly. Like, we had to put up with the whole storyline about his wife dying. And the time he and Severide kinda went rogue together. We even had a cigar chat! Plus, Dermot Mulroney. And now it’s like, okay, bye Pascal.
Honestly, this is less me caring about Pascal in general and more about me caring about how this show can go on when we never know who we could lose next. So far, the only thing that has saved us is that the show has understood that, as many big hits as we’ve taken, we can’t lose Severide or Kidd. And it doesn’t feel like they’re going anywhere anytime soon. But how long can Chicago Fire go on, chipping away at the cast around them?
Last week, there was a hilarious moment where Carver arrived in the firehouse, and there were only like four people around to greet him. Like no one else worked there! Like it actually makes any sense for there to only be a couple of people in the firehouse at any point in time. Budget cuts as an excuse only works up to a point. Right now, the show is asking us to suspend disbelief a lot. And it’s not actually delivering storytelling-wise in a way that makes us want to continue pretending.
Though hey, one look at that crossover trailer and perhaps we’ll be singing a different tune when the show returns from hiatus. We’ll see.
Things I think I think:
I’m actually so glad we’re seeing a little bit of how the fire affected the Herrmann family. Because it would.
KYLIEEEEEEE.
But an episode without Kelly is not my favorite thing.
Lizzie telling Violet she’s got a crush on Vasquez, RIGHT AFTER Violet was going to presumably tell her she slept with him, oh no.
Okay, at least Vasquez didn’t choose to disappear. I find the bureaucracy is a good excuse for everything, even if it annoys me.
At least they didn’t dare to hurt Stella. There is that.
But Tony better be okay.
I get Cruz feeling guilty, I do.
Happy to see Frost, but can this relationship really have a future beyond this episode? And, does Lizzie want it to? It’s clearly on her.
Look, I’m not the biggest Pascal defender, but how is this on him?
I liked Annabelle and Herrmann A LOT. But her wanting to be a firefighter? I’m not sure Herrmann can survive that.
The dude literally just… died?
I kinda think Lizzie wants Frost. I really think she does. Not that I thought this was going to last.
This friendship better not end up being ruined by Vasquez. I will get MAD.
So, Pascal isn’t being fired, then why is he leaving?
