Chicago Fire season 14 drops a major twist for Stella Kidd and Kelly Severide, and it is quite literally unforgivable after everything that they have gone through. With One Chicago back, Firehouse 51, Gaffney, and Intelligence are now ready with brand-new adventures for the new TV cycle. As exciting as it is to see the fan-favorite teams back, not everything is great for Chicago’s best first-responders.
Firehouse 51 ended Chicago Fire season 13 on a good note. Sam Carver and Violet Mikami finally reconciled, while Christopher Herrmann gave up his promotion for Mouch McHolland. Elsewhere, Chief Dom Pascal was finally worthy replacement for Wallace Boden’s. The show left its biggest news, however, in its very final moments.
Years after their wedding and an almost-separation on the heels of Severide ghosting his wife for no justified reason, the pair finally started moving forward towards the next step in their marriage in Chicago Fire season 13. The year ended with the revelation that they were expecting their first kid following an adoption attempt that didn’t go anywhere.
Chicago Fire Season 14 Takes Back Severide & Kidd’s Pregnancy
Knowing that Kelly and Severide were having their first kid, there was a lot of excitement coming into Chicago Fire season 14. Sadly, all that excitement dissipates in “Kicking Doors Down’s” first minute. It’s revealed that, apparently, Kidd has never been pregnant. The test she took was a false positive.
The conversation with the doctor is cut short, but Chicago Fire season 14, episode 1 stays a bit with the couple. Kidd is visibly distraught while Severide is more calm and accepting of the situation. This is interesting, considering that it was the Squad 3 Lieutenant who was keener on starting a family than his wife when the idea was first introduced in the first-responder procedural.
Regardless, however, the news is disappointing for both, but perhaps, more than anything, it’s a major let-down for those who have been rooting for the couple since they first started dating. The issue here is that there’s really no narrative need for this whole pregnancy bait and switch. It was totally unnecessary for Chicago Fire to drop that pregnancy news if they had no intention of following it through.
Ultimately, this whole pregnancy back and forth feels like it’s nothing more than an attempt to cover up the possibility that the writers have no idea about what else to do with Severide and Kidd. Their adoption storyline has been done in One Chicago before, and from the looks of it, that won’t deter NBC from recycling it yet again.
Why Chicago Fire Walks Back On Severide & Kidd’s Baby News (& Why That Doesn’t Make Sense)
Showrunner Andrea Newmann defends the baby twist (via TV Insider), explaining that they “wanted to keep it real in the sense that there’s no planning perfectly having a family, that there’s just so many things that can go wrong or go in different directions than you expect.” While it’s commendable that they want to keep Chicago Fire rooted in reality, but that doesn’t always mean bad things.
Since getting married at the end of Chicago Fire season 10, Severide and Kidd’s marriage has been plagued with so many challenges. They weren’t even able to have a proper honeymoon because goons attempted to kill them. At this point, there’s nothing wrong if the Chicago Fire gives Kidd and Severide something substantial to celebrate.
There are so many other ways to give the couple marital challenges without the show having to walk back on arguably the most exciting narrative set-up for them in years. Beyond that, other romances in Firehouse 51 are already in shambles. Pascal just lost his wife, while none of the new pairings of Carver and Violet, as well as Jack Damon and Lyla Novak materialized. It shouldn’t hurt to pay off its longest-running love line with some good news.
Oddly, Getting Pregnant Can Revitalize Kidd & Severide’s Chicago Fire Relationship
What makes this situation more infuriating is that going through with this pregnancy can make Kidd and Severide’s relationship in Chicago Fire more interesting again. While seeing them spend time together and being supportive, it feels like every single big storyline for the pair has been rooted in tragedy. Except for those incidents, their story has been stagnated for a while now.
In the final moments of Chicago Fire season 14, episode 1, Severide and Kidd’s adoption narrative is set to restart, as they are offered the chance to foster a kid. As previously mentioned, a variation of this plot has already been done, both in Chicago PD and Chicago Fire with Kim Burgess and Sylvie Brett. To some degree, Kidd and Severide have also tried it in season 13.
Seeing an active first-responder like Kidd, someone who has spent so much time and effort getting a leadership role in the CFD, is arguably a more unique and interesting path to take for her story moving forward. Her earlier hesitation is very much justified, and it would have been great to see more of that internal struggle for her.
From there, Chicago Fire can tackle how the pregnancy can take its physical and mental toll not just on her but also on Severide, whose work involves putting his life at risk every day. In the grand scheme of things, this also makes the narrative more universal and appealing, especially for career-oriented couples or those who are in a similar field.
