In some bad news, it looks like we won’t get to see Kelly Severide on Chicago Fire season 14 episode 12, and it’s the last episode before the Winter Olympic break. However, there is plenty going on, with Pascal facing questions when a firefighter of his own is injured.
To start the episode, we do head back to the Herrmanns, who are dealing with the house they’re currently staying in. When Herrmann’s daughter wakes her parents up to say there’s a fire, Herrmann quickly checks it out. Fortunately, there’s no fire, but it shows us the trauma they’ve all experienced.
Meanwhile, there’s a familiar face in the firehouse. Kylie is back to set up a new Girls on Fire session with Kidd, and it’s always nice to see her. There are now others joining the Girls of Fire crew to help plan sessions, showing just how much it’s grown.
Firehouse 51 gets a call they weren’t ready for on Chicago Fire season 14 episode 12
It turns out that Vasquez is out for now, sidelined from a shift. Violet is disappointed, but Novak mentions that she has a crush on him, and maybe he could be something casual. Maybe Violet should have told her about the kiss.
Herrmann decides to open up to Kidd about Annabel’s current situation, who is fighting against therapy. She needs it, but grieving and healing are not linear. The conversation is cut short when Pascal comes into the briefing room, and we find out that Severide is out of town — although we don’t get the explanation as to where that is or why.
The first call of the night is to a building fire where there are victims trapped inside. Immediately, it’s clear that there is more to this, and it could turn into a murder investigation.
Firehouse 51 put their lives on the line for the victims
As the victims inside the locked building fight to get out, Pascal radios in for an Engine company. Immediately, it’s clear that Firehouse 51 needs its Engine. Fortunately, Cruz and others are able to cut the lock to get the people out, and it turns out that maybe it’s not as malicious as it would initially seem.
The building is a market, with multiple kiosks. When one of them caught fire by the front, everyone fought to get to the back of the building, but the door was locked. Now it’s time for Firehouse 51 to head into the building to put the whole fire out and make sure there are no other victims inside.
It’s clear that this fire is going to turn into something much bigger, as Kidd points out that it’s a maze. There are also other victims trapped in various parts of the market, turning this into a rescue mission as well as a fire extinguishing mission. With all the budget cuts, it’s no wonder that this fire turns into the incident we see in the promo for Chicago Fire season 14 episode 12.
After getting various victims out, Cruz rushes back in to help more. As he crawls through the gaps created, he looks up and the ceiling comes crashing down. Was Cruz the one injured in the fire?
Chicago Fire reveals the firefighter injured in the fire
It wasn’t Cruz who was injured. Instead, we learn that Tony was the one caught under the ceiling as it collapsed. As Violet looks at the wound, she sees a piece of metal impaling him. Cruz goes with Ambo 61, with Capp and Pascal meeting them at the hospital.
Of course, Cruz blames himself, but Pascal makes it clear that this had nothing to do with him. It was the decommissioning of the Engine that did it. In some good news, Tony wasn’t injured too much, but he will get a CT scan to make sure. Let’s hope that it remains this way, and the drama is Pascal having to report on the incident.
While in the hospital, Frost sees Novak and pulls her into the stairwell. It’s clear that he is feeling more serious about this entire relationship than she is, and I do fear that he’s going to end up with his heart getting broken.
Back at the firehouse, Kidd catches Kylie and the other female firefighter up on the market, but Herrmann pulls her to one side. Annabel stayed home from school, but Cindy had to go to work. Of course, Annabel is always welcome to stay at the firehouse, and this could be a great way to help her deal with the trauma. After all, she’ll be around female firefighters who have seen the fires. Cindy and Herrmann do agree that they need to get Annabel in to seeing a professional, though.
As Pascal and Cruz head back to the firehouse, they see that the Deputy District Chief is there to do an investigation into the call. Pascal continues to defend Cruz, but it turns out that the CFD isn’t looking into Cruz. They’re looking into Pascal, and we all know who sent them to look into Pascal’s actions.
What’s with the bolts?
It turns out that the deputy chief has history with Pascal, but he promises that this isn’t going to get personal. He wants to get to the bottom of the problem, and while he admits that there may have been issues with the building, he also believes that Pascal could have misread the situation.
Herrmann turns to Violet for help, as it turns out that Annabel believes that ChatGPT is enough to help her through her trauma. Maybe she wants to talk to Nora from Brilliant Minds, because AI is not as good as talking to a professional. Violet does agree to talk with Annabel about it, and while Annabel agrees that she may talk to a professional, she wants to stop talking about the whole thing right now.
So, Violet decides to get relationship advice from Annabel. Out of everyone to talk to, a teenager girl is definitely the person to get relationship advice from. As Violet decides that she’s not going to step on Novak’s toes by going after Vasquez, Annabel says not to tell Novak anything. However, that’s probably going to completely backfire.
Meanwhile, Herrmann watches Kidd and her women go through some of the drill setup. It looks like he gets an idea on how to help Annabel.
Back at the market, Cruz and Pascal take a look at the fire. It’s amazing that both Capp and Tony walked away from the ceiling collapse, but now is not the time to think about that. Nor is it the time to talk about Pascal’s history with Cranston. Instead, the focus has to be on figuring out the reason for the ceiling collapse. The bolts popped right off, and it looks like they were cut. Did someone intentionally want that ceiling to fall?
Hargraves from OFI turns up, making it clear that Pascal shouldn’t be there, as he is part of the investigation. However, will she take a look at the bolts, because they do need to be looked into?
Back at the firehouse, Novak turns to Violet to figure out what to do with Frost. She’s worried that Frost is already assuming that they’re going to be hanging out, and is it all that surprising that he assumes that with how much they’ve been hanging out? They don’t get a chance to really discuss it, as they’re called out to a restaurant, where two people are coughing up blood!
Novak has to be honest with Frost on Chicago Fire
What exactly did soup and salad do to cause the problem? Well, it turns out that there was dry ice put on as a garnish, and the guests believed that it was supposed to be put in the soup. The chef immediately complains that the server was supposed to tell the guests that it was a garnish, but that doesn’t really matter at this point. Violet needs to look out for her patients.
Meanwhile, Cranston learns that Pascal was at the scene of the fire. We get to know the backstory, with Cranston angry that Pascal had cut ties after a disagreement on a call. Pascal still remembers a woman dying by her bed, praying for someone to find her, and Pascal partially blames himself for that. While Cranston outranked him, Pascal knows that he could have fought harder. This was the reason he first left Chicago.
Now, he needs Cranston to put it all in the past. He needs Cranston to take a look at the bolts.
Herrmann’s plan is to take Annabel to the Fire Academy. At first, she argues back about it, but this is possibly the best thing for her. She gets to see how the firefighters face their fears.
The great news about Tony is that he is getting released from the hospital, but it will take a few weeks for it to heal. Cruz turns to Capp and Tony to share his suspicions. He thinks that the brass has been looking for a way to fire a firefighter, and this is a great way to fire Pascal.
At the hospital, Novak realizes that she needs to talk to Frost about where she is with this relationship. It turns out that they’re not, with Frost noting that they’ve not really acted or talked as if they’re casual. That isn’t something Frost wants, and if Novak doesn’t see a future, then it’s best to end it. Can Novak take a risk on a relationship? Can she face that fear?
Just as Pascal’s hearing is about to take place, they get some terrible news about Cranston. He collapsed while on the scene of a fire, suffering from a heart attack. In a twist we didn’t see coming, he didn’t make it, and now Pascal has lost a former friend and someone who could vouch for him.
Was there something about the bolts on Chicago Fire?
Novak and Violet head to the fancy restaurant after being offered a free dinner for saving a couple of customers, which is where Novak shares about her breakup with Frost. Violet points out that Novak feared about committing to Firehouse 51 at first, but it turned out to be a great thing. Could that happen with Frost? Novak isn’t going to entertain that.
Meanwhile, at Molly’s, Kidd discusses Girls on Fire a little more. Kylie shares that there’s another application, which is when Kidd smiles. The application is for Annabel, which is probably not quite the outcome Herrmann wanted, but it is good for Annabel. Their conversation is cut short as Pascal calls Kidd, and it’s time for the firehouse to rally around him again.
There have been two chiefs suffering from heart attacks in the last six months, and it is another hint that there could be something going on with these budget cuts. However, there’s more going on at the memorial for Cranston. Hargraves turns up to share that the bolts weren’t up to code, but the city rushed the permits. Cranston was planning on telling the review board that Pascal couldn’t have done anything about the sudden collapse, but will the City accept this, considering the death happened because of them?
