As Chicago Fire season 14, episode 9 came to an end, we had a bad feeling things were about to get rough for Severide and Kidd. Kidd spent most of the episode grappling with the reality that Isaiah could be leaving them, while Severide remained fixated on finding the person responsible for starting the fire that left Van Meter in the hospital fighting for his life.
While Severide brought the arsonist to justice, it nearly cost him the chance to say goodbye to Isaiah before he left town to live with an old family friend at his mom’s request. Our fears about Kidd and Severide hitting a rough patch were sadly confirmed as the episode opened.
Severide’s alarm goes off, and he wakes up alone in bed as Kidd prepares to leave for the day. She tells him she’s heading into 51 to take care of some Girls on Fire stuff and that she was leaving as she assumed he’d go by the hospital to see Van Meter before coming in for shift. He mentions Van Meter’s daughter has been with her dad, and he doesn’t want to impose as Kidd heads out to the firehouse without him.
Things continue to feel off at the firehouse when Kidd tells Severide she’d like to go check on a patient from their last call. He seems to be about to shut down the request as Violet and Novak arrive and are able to give Kidd an update on the woman.
Later in the shift, Van Meter’s daughter comes to see Severide. She says she noticed he hadn’t been by the hospital the last couple of days and hopes it’s not because of her that he hasn’t come around as much. He admits he wanted to make sure she had alone time with her dad, and she admits she likes the company. They talk about Van Meter’s marriage failing due to him never being home, and it’s a conversation that seems to hit home for Severide, as we see him pondering the conversation as he looks at a photo of his and Kidd’s wedding on his desk.
He’s not the only one doing reflecting. When Violet gives her an update on the patient and her baby, Kidd opens up to Violet and notes that it seems lately she and Severide are on different planets. She mentioned that they’ve had rough patches before, but this time feels different. It’s like she had no fight left in her.
As the shift ends, Kidd leaves to check on the patient before saying goodbye to Severide. When she gets to the hospital, she sees the woman with her husband and baby but before she goes in, she leaves quickly.
Later, Severide goes to the hospital and Van Meter’s daughter tells him stories growing up. She goes to leave and Severide pulls out his phone and begins to text Stella as Van Meter begins coming to and pulling out his tube. The word reaches Violet, who tells Stella and the gang at Molly’s the good news.
Upon learning that Van Meter is going to be okay, Kidd races out to go check on Severide only to be surprised to find him outside on his way into Molly’s. He tells her how seeing Van Meter and his daughter together reminded him he wanted to be with his family which is Kidd. She tells him about going to see the woman at the hospital and not being able to go into the room when she saw her with her baby so happy. Severide lets her know that’s okay not to be okay as she notes maybe she rushed into fostering so fast because she thought it would help the feelings of losing the baby go away but it only hurt more watching Isaiah go. Severide admits he’s not okay either, and she reminds him he can show her that as she says the only way they’ll be okay is if they can be not okay together.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the pair work to overcome this hurdle in front of them, but we’re optimistic that this rough patch will only make them stronger in the end!
Elsewhere in the episode…
Mouch officially leaves 51 and Herrmann struggles with the loss of his friend
After learning Mouch would be able to keep his job but was being transferred to Firehouse 40, Engine 51 is officially decommissioned and Mouch is no longer working at 51. As the episode opens, Herrmann seems optimistic that this is all just a temporary thing and that the CFD will realize they made a mistake and Mouch will be back in a couple of shifts.
Later, Cruz finds Herrmann working in the office he had been sharing with Mouch since his promotion to lieutenant. It quickly becomes clear that Herrmann is throwing himself into the project to distract himself from the reality that Mouch might not be coming back to 51.
As the episode comes to an end, Cruz extends an olive branch of support to Herrmann, letting him know that he’s there if he needs anything while Mouch is away. He doesn’t have any intentions of trying to replace Mouch, but he wants Herrmann to know he’s got other friends at 51 should he need support while Mouch is tied up with his new responsibilities elsewhere.
Vasquez opens up to Violet as he comes to his dad’s rescue
As Vasquez prepares for a training course for Violet and Novak’s paramedic program, his dad’s parole officer shows up at the firehouse to ask if he’s heard from his dad. The parole officer reveals that Vasquez’s dad had missed his last check-in, and he asks Vasquez to call him if he hears from his dad.
Vasquez’s dad returns his call and says he has things handled; however, Vasquez hears a struggle occur from the other line of the call before it drops. He tries to call his dad back, but there’s no answer, which makes him understandably fear the worst.
Violet asks Vasquez what is going on and he says he has some personal stuff going on. She tells him they’ll have more training classes and that she hopes all is okay. As if perfectly on cue, Vasquez’s dad shows up at the firehouse. Vasquez goes out to speak with him and notices he’s been beaten up. His dad notifies him that he spoke with his parole officer and told him not to bother Vasquez at work. He tells Vasquez he came by to let him know he’s okay and not to worry about him. Before leaving, he hints that there are people after him, but he fails to elaborate further.
Later, Violet asks Vasquez about his dad and he tells her everything. He says he needs to find a way to get to the bottom of things, and thanks her for checking on him. She reminds him that she’ll be at Molly’s later if he’d like to talk it out and he agrees to see her there.
Those plans go out the window when Vasquez gets home and finds his apartment has been trashed. He calls up his dad, who comes over and explains the truth about how he made parole. It turns out that he made a deal to get a confession from his cellmate in exchange for a recommendation for parole. The good news is that he was successful, but the bad news is that the cellmate is now seeking revenge.
He tries to keep Vasquez out of it, but Vasquez reminds him that they’re in this together now as they came for him by trashing his apartment. We see the pair head out to confront the cellmate’s crew and they stumble into their drug operation, as the cops burst in and arrest the crew. We learn that Vasquez called in a tip with his pal in the force which to helped get the crew off the street and protect his dad.
Things heat up between Novak and Frost
Picking up where Chicago Med left off, Frost and Novak hook up after taking their date back to his apartment. The date goes well, and Novak is pleasantly surprised when Frost shows up to help lead their training course after Frost’s colleague called in sick.
Later, Novak fills Violet in on her hook-up with Frost and admits that she’s into him. The only problem is she worries he’s a player, but she sees this as a fun challenge in noting she’s a player too. She tries to play hard to get, but she really likes Frost and doesn’t keep the game up too long. By the episode’s end, she’s heading out to meet up with him again, hinting that things are just beginning to heat up for this new couple!
