We’re used to seeing Severide take on the OFI cases on Chicago Fire, but it’s Kidd who steps into the role during the new episode.
This is supposed to be a chance for Kidd to sweeten the new Battalion Chief, Andre Hopkins, but it seems to do the exact opposite.
At least the build-up to the trivia night at Molly’s breaks up the drama.
When Useless Knowledge Becomes Useful
There tends to be a lighter, more humorous storyline during Chicago Fire episodes, and “Sway” was no different.
I get that he needs the bar to thrive, and he’s fortunate that the entire firehouse is by his side for this. I just wish that he would tell everyone how grateful he is for their help every once in a while!
Instead, this week, he turns the whole thing into a competition. To help combat half-priced drinks on Fridays at another bar, he decides a trivia night could be a good idea.
Sure enough, it turns out that it is — and if you’ve ever been to a local trivia night, you’ll know that they tend to be pretty packed, so that wasn’t surprising — but the lead-up to the actual event wasn’t as funny as it probably could have been.
There was just too much going on at the firehouse, and this involved too many characters from other storylines to really track that well.
What I will say is that I’m glad we got to see that Tony actually has some smarts.
Capp and Tony are always treated as the dumb ones at the firehouse, but I’ve always said that they should have something going on in their brains. They’re part of an elite squad, and that requires more than brawn.
Well, Tony has a lot of “useless” knowledge. And I put that in quotes because it’s only useless when it doesn’t help a situation. In this case, it helped his team win the quiz, and he could have done it all himself!
I would love to see more of Capp and Tony doing something good in episodes, rather than being used as running jokes. Just for a change.
Novak May Not Be a Girl’s Girl
Chicago Fire Season 14 seems to be taking a route that I absolutely hate when it comes to women.
Violet finally tells Novak about sleeping with Vasquez, making it clear that she feels bad about it. If she’d known Novak was interested still, she wouldn’t have gone after him.
While Novak seems fine with it, there’s clear tension. Violet has a habit of making things worse, but in this case, my attention moves to her paramedic partner.
I couldn’t have read between the lines wrong at the end of the episode.
She spends the episode openly flirting with Vasquez, and then she mentions something about spending the night with her.
This isn’t her putting him off; it’s pulling him in, making it clear that she doesn’t respect the fact that Violet was interested in him and may still be!
Love triangles can be fun, but not when they’re putting two friends against each other, and Chicago Fire does not need to go down this route.
The one time it did a real love triangle was during Chicago Fire Season 1, when Casey was stuck between Hallie and Gabby. Even that wasn’t a real love triangle in the way of YA dramas.
The only way a love triangle with both Novak and Violet can work out is if one of them is going to be leaving at the end of the season.
There is no coming back from that due to the trust they need to have in each other.
Kidd Steps Into Severide’s Shoes — And It May Not Help Her Husband
With Squad 3 out for the episode (Capp and Tony were around for other needs), it meant that when an arson case came in, someone else had to handle it.
This was an excellent opportunity to let Kidd shine. She’s certainly listened when Severide has worked through his cases, and it shows as she examines the scene and goes to Hopkins with her suspicions.
Putting Kidd with Hargreaves also offered a change of pace.
We see Severide and Van Meter work OFI cases together all the time, bouncing ideas off each other. With Hargreaves and Kidd, there were teaching moments.
If Hargreaves is going to become a more permanent guest star on Chicago Fire, this was definitely a good move. We got to see her as a supportive team member, sharing her findings, working with Kidd and her ideas, and not backing down when she was initially told no.
For Kidd, it was a chance to follow and not always lead. She took in everything Hargreaves explained about liquid accelerants and the need for control in arson cases.
Kidd has had negative experiences with women in OFI before, but she doesn’t paint all the women there with the same brush, showing her maturity and comfort.
I would love to see more of this as episodes continue, but that may not be possible. Hopkins has his own plans.
I have to question just how much Hopkins knew before going into Firehouse 51. It seemed like Kidd sharing that Severide takes on OFI cases was the only reason he considered looking into it.
It’s never been a secret that Severide has helped with OFI. In fact, he was once put on OFI duty due to a staffing issue. This has always been cleared by the chiefs before.
Of course, Hopkins wants to take Severide down, and for completely unfair reasons.
I get the need for getting rid of nepotism, but this isn’t the way to do it. Hopkins is so blinded by his hate for a dead man that he’s willing to destroy that man’s son’s career.
A child should not have to pay for his father’s sins.
I didn’t expect to see Brooke Smith in the episode, but I could tell the minute she walked in that she wasn’t going to be much help to those at Firehouse 51.
She tends to play the morally grey or harsh characters.
She has to understand that Hopkins is going about eliminating nepotism the wrong way. She pointed out that the grudge against Benny Severide should be dead and buried by now.
My hope is that if it comes to it, she decides that she can’t stand by Hopkins’ actions, but we don’t know her enough to tell if she will.
The only person Severide could really rely on is Lucy, who took a sneak peek at the Internal Affairs paperwork she was handed.
The problem is that Hopkins has something to hold over Lucy, and she’s desperate to keep this job.
In the end, it all connects back to the arson case. Kidd had to sit with the idea that some people have morals and others don’t, and we now need to see where Lucy sits in all of this.