Photo Credit: Matt Dinerstein/NBC
Now into episode four, we continue our journey into the lives of the heroes of Chicago Firehouse 51. Lieutenant Casey (Jesse Spencer) continues to be threatened and harassed by the psycho-cop from hell, Detective Voight (Jason Beghe), we learn some of the backstory of Chief Boden (Jamann Walker), and Lieutenant Severide, well, he just continues being the all round great guy.
Of all of the main characters, Chief Boden is the one we know the least about. He’s just that big, overbearing, almost threatening, guy that you are probably better off leaving alone. We also should remember from the Pilot the burn scars on Boden’s back, and tonight we get an explanation about that as well. The main storyline is a fire at an abandoned warehouse occupied primarily by the homeless. They are able to get everyone out, except for one homeless man, who Peter Mills (Charlie Barnett) insists he can save if he goes back in. Chief Boden forbids it, is quite adamant, and the homeless man is killed after the warehouse explodes moments later. From where we sit, it seems obvious Boden made the right call, but Mills is quite upset, and the brother of the victim files a lawsuit against the city. Basically, it’s a pretty bad day for Boden and creates a lot of bad morale on the team. The lawsuit is eventually dropped, but with Mills still visibly quite distraught, Boden does offer a good explanation. Boden got the scars on his back because he “absolutely knew he had 1 more minute”, and due of his poor judgement, his best friend and the person he was trying to save died. Boden did what he had to do to minimize the loss of life, and I think Mills finally understood it. At least that story had a happy ending!
The day isn’t going quite as well for Lt. Casey. His troubles with Detective Voight continue, and they are escalating. His car is keyed, his tires slashed, and his windows are smashed. Voight even tries to bribe him with a big wad of cash, but Casey doesn’t budge. Kudos to Casey for standing his ground! I’m beginning to think this may be the first time Voight isn’t getting what he wants, and it is just hilarious. The only thing that Casey does that, in my opinion, is completely out of character is not telling Hallie (Teri Reeves). Hello! Yes, Casey, you say you are trying to protect Hallie, but dumbass, that is an incredibly stupid decision. It’s bribery and extortion 101 to know that success doesn’t lie in trying to hurt the target – you get better results when you try and hurt the people the target care about. In other words, to get to Casey, Voight shouldn’t try and hurt Casey – he has a much better chance with Hallie. It takes about 5 seconds for Voight to figure this out, and now, he’s gunning for Hallie. Again, I think this is lazy storytelling, because Casey is a smart dude, and I don’t think he would have done something so foolish.
Last, we have Lt. Severide, and he continues to win the Man of the Year awards, even though he’s still not dealing with his addiction very well. The way he handles himself with the victim in “Mon Amour” is utterly amazing, and he gets a repeat performance tonight. After multiple fires are set at an elderly lady’s home by some punk drug dealers, Severide decides to pay these guys a visit, and it’s not a social call. I nearly laughed my ass off when Severide told them straight up that he’ll kneecap them all, set them up for drug possession, and send them to prison without blinking an eye if they set one more fire. Honestly, Severide, is my hero. Oh, and my personal favorite is his sending Nikki on her way. We really don’t know what he said to her when she came over and tried to seduce him again, but I was very happy to see that bitch packing and moving on. Good riddance, slut. So, while this character may be a little frayed and flawed, in many ways he’s the best guy the squad has in terms of character.
So, just like last week’s episode, there’s not a lot of action, but plenty of character development, which I suspect may end up being the strength of this series. It’s no fun watching week after week one fire or accident after another. In fact, it can get pretty boring pretty fast. Instead, the focus is on the characters, their struggles, and how it impacts their lives. A few other series, like CBS’s powerhouse hit NCIS, has also made the characters and their interactions the focus and with huge success. While Chicago Fire may be no NCIS in terms of ratings, it still does quite nicely for NBC, and I see the character development ultimately being one of the secrets.
Some Interesting Tidbits
