Beyond the Flames: Inside the Lives of Chicago’s Bravest – A Chicago Fire Deep Dive Season 12

The Chicago Fire cast is fairly sizeable, and many of those actors have been with the NBC show for a long time. However, because of the size of the ensemble, there have become two groups: the star characters and the supporting players, who get their featured episodes but aren’t the ones consistently driving the plot. Chicago Fire Season 12, Episode 2, “Call Me McHolland,” shines a spotlight on the entire supporting cast — while calling attention to just how long they’ve been around.

“Call Me McHolland” takes its title from Randall “Mouch” McHolland wanting to change his image after his latest near-death experience. It also has significant storylines for Joe Cruz and Christopher Herrmann, and some solid screen time for Tony, too. The episode feels like a wonderful acknowledgement of the fact that success comes from the entire Chicago Fire group of actors — not just the best-known ones — but it also uses that to tell a cohesive story.

Chicago Fire Continues to Utilize Taylor Kinney’s Absence

Season 12, Episode 2 Builds Upon the Off-Screen Twist

“Call Me McHolland” picks up one important aspect of the Chicago Fire Season 12 premiere and then makes it better: Kelly Severide having gone MIA has an even bigger ripple effect than he or anyone else realized. Audiences are aware that this is the series having to write around the fact that Severide’s actor Taylor Kinney took a leave of absence during Season 11 — a strong example of how off-screen developments can drastically affect a TV show’s storylines. But whereas the initial focus was on how Severide’s departure affected his relationship with Stella Kidd, this episode focuses on how it changed his team.

After Severide rescues a young man who’d fallen out of a window trying to retrieve his father’s drone, Cruz takes it upon himself to likewise go out the window to get the device, and has a brief scare in which he slips. Severide angrily chastizes Cruz back at Firehouse 51 and Cruz takes that as a massive insult; he was leading Squad not so long ago, and is seemingly expected to just fall back in line. This dynamic wouldn’t exist if not for Kinney’s off-screen situation — but Chicago Fire has found a way to make that curveball a natural part of its story.

It would have been a cheat if Severide returned and everything just reverted back to normal. At the same time, fans have called Chicago Fire out on bad story ideas before without hesitation. The show had to come up with something that actually served its characters, and it makes all the sense in the world for Cruz to be deeply affected by both Severide’s absence and his subsequent behavior. The two are close friends and Cruz is absolutely right in thinking he’s been around Firehouse 51 long enough to become a Lieutenant himself. He, and the other supporting characters, have to move forward too or they just become props in other people’s stories.

Has Chicago Fire Finally Addressed Mouch’s Painful History?

One Subplot Calls Out His Near-Death Experiences

It’s almost a running joke that Chicago Fire keeps putting Mouch through the wringer. The character has been nearly killed off multiple times and had the retirement conversation multiple times, but nothing ever happens — so when he was imperiled at the end of Season 11, it didn’t seem that scary. “Call Me McHolland” addresses the back-and-forth with Mouch in a meaningful way. He’s not dead or retiring, but he’s begun worrying that he’s not going to be remembered for anything important.

Christian Stolte has the requisite rant as Mouch declares that he no longer has a spot on the firehouse couch, and Mouch subsequently goes so far as to dispose of the “Mouch’s Spot” throw pillow he was gifted by Cruz years earlier. There are bits that are meant to be funny because of how worked up Mouch is on the topic, but they’re not that funny because the audience understands the serious place they come from. He really is down on himself, and it’s strange to see Mouch like that when people are so used to him being the comic character.

The subplot comes to an efficient end when future Deputy Commissioner Wallace Boden finds out about Mouch’s desire to use his last name on his turnout coat, and sits the other man down to point out how many good things he’s done while being called “Mouch.” One of Boden’s major functions is dispensing life advice to everyone else, and that scene also highlights Eamonn Walker’s importance to the show. Hearing Boden list off all that Mouch has accomplished is a reminder not just for Mouch, but for the viewers, because one of the topics that comes up here and in the storyline with Christopher Herrmann is that these characters are closing in on the end of their careers. It seems like they’ve been around the firehouse forever, but eventually they’re going to have to say goodbye