This is the kind of storyline that can resolve in one of four ways — either Stella ends up miscarrying or they run into fertility issues, they find a child of adoptable age and run into some kind of trouble adding them to the family, Stella decides she doesn’t want to have a kid and lies to Kelly about being off birth control or — the most impossible option of all, because this is “Chicago Fire” and drama rules the roost — she has a drama-free birth and delivery.
The first two options are just retreads of previous storylines. And as for the notion of Stella lying to Kelly … do these two really need more relationship troubles on top of everything they’ve been going through lately? The clear answer is that originality needs to enter the picture here, by hook or by crook.
How do you freshen up a story that might be past its prime? Do something entirely different with it. Why not have Stella cope poorly with being out of control of her body and her circumstances? Why not have her hate her physical limitations? Why not have her be an unnatural mother — bad at being a parent, to her horror? Maybe she never settles into the role, to her surprise, even if Kelly’s a natural dad. Sometimes even the most heroic among us can be bad parents, after all. It would, at least, be a different idea — and would add some shades of grey to Stella’s do-no-wrong character.
Another way to make this story interesting? Involve any fatherly feelings Kelly might be developing toward his newly-found half brother, Jack Damon (Michael Bradway), a bombshell twist that happened during the Season 12 finale. Maybe he’s transferring his desire to be a dad to his brother, and helping out Jack teaches him he needs to wait a little longer to be someone’s father. In any event, the show’s producers need to do something — anything — new to make this time on the baby-go-round feel like a unique journey. We’ll see which route the show takes when Season 13 of “Chicago Fire” makes its debut on September 25.
