Chicago Fire – Babies and Fools

By starrymag | April 5, 2017

By: MaryBeth McMahon

 

 

Herrmann (David Eigenberg) enters the station kitchen and tries to convince Otis (Yuri Sardarov) to enter Molly’s in a “Drunken Mile” pub crawl; Otis shows no interest in rowdy drunks most likely throwing up in their bar for this event. They are interrupted by a seemingly angry man, Max Schlottman (Lew Temple), who storms into the station looking for “Alderman” Casey (Jesse Spencer). With a big smile on his face, Casey greets the agitated man and does his best to calm him down and convince him to send a letter instead of bringing any issues to the station. Later on, Boden (Eammon Walker) orders Casey to keep the man away from the firehouse.

 

Station 51 responds to a car accident involving two victims. A motorcyclist approaches the firefighters and leads them over to the totaled car, which contained a mother, her son and an empty baby seat; however, the young boy reports that his baby sister is missing from the car. Witnesses and responders search the nearby area for any signs of the child. They hear the crying child from beneath a storm drain and are able to rescue the unscathed baby. Gabby glances over at the scene of where the car accident occurred and appears to be suspicious of the entire incident.

 

Squad 3 and Ambulance 61 fill the rest of the crew in on the accident when they return to the station. The children are doing well but the mother is in critical condition with her head trauma. No one seems to believe that the baby girl could be ejected from the rolling car, fall into a storm drain and leave the scene of the accident without any injury. Gabby begins inquiring if the police have any word on how the accident occurred, as her suspicion of the entire event grows. She finds out that the officer on scene ended up putting the accident at the bottom of his pile of paperwork, as no witnesses at the scene saw anything out of the ordinary. This news prompts Gabby to drag Brett (Kara Killmer) back to the scene so they can take a closer look at the area. Gabby believes the concrete that shot through the windshield and struck the woman in the head either fell from the bridge above or was deliberately thrown by someone. They walk away from the bridge and on the roadway, they see dust and fragments from thrown cement, confirming the likelihood that someone dropped multiple pieces of concrete over the top.

 

Gabby and Brett test their theory at the station. From the station roof, Gabby tosses a piece of concrete down onto the ground, imitating the scene of the crash. Gabby is confident that this was the cause of the accident, but Officer Luke Rosin (Sean Ramey) is skeptical and not focused enough on the case to make any clear judgments.

 

While Ambulance 61 responds to a routine call for Gerald (Jonathan Isaac Frank), Casey is approached by Tamara Jones (Holly Robinson Peete) in his office. She informs him that Max Schlottman keeps visiting the community center in an effort to get his voice heard by Casey. She encourages Casey to listen to the man; he reluctantly agrees.

 

Herrmann, Stella and Otis meet with an organizer from the “Drunken Mile.” The entire event seems incredibly sketchy and the only person who seems to realize that this is most likely a scam just to get their entry money is Otis. He has no choice, but to agree to the entire thing as his two colleagues pressure him.

 

While Brett brings Gerald into a hospital room, Gabby discovers that another near-fatal car accident occurred. Paramedic O’Reilly (Zach Kenney) points out the “good Samaritan” (Christian Litke) who saved the woman and called 911. Gabby looks over at the man and sees that he is the same exact man who helped Ambulance 61 and Squad 3 at the earlier accident. She gets his attention and beings to approach him, but he flees from the hospital.  Dr. Charles (Oliver Platt) chimes in during the conversation amongst Gabby, Brett, Officer Rosin, and O’Reilly. He says it sounds like the man has “Hero Syndrome,” which consists of people who create situations that they can fix. They are disturbed by the fact that the man created that first accident, picked up the baby and deliberately placed her in the sewer; they can barely process the idea that had she endured any sort of spinal injury, his “demented” and “heroic” actions could have killed her.

 

Casey makes a visit to Schlottman’s home where this constituent is forced to listen to constant sounds of construction across the street. He has difficulty trying to help the man since the construction crew is doing nothing illegal, but speaks to the men on behalf of him. The construction men are incredibly rude to Matt and make it difficult for him to provide any sort of help to Schlottman, whom he discovers is an ex-Marine.

 

Surprisingly, the “Drunken Mile” proves to be a success, as the bar becomes flooded with people. Otis has difficult accepting this because he has had several ideas to bring in more revenue for Molly’s, but each time he had a new idea Herrmann shot them down without trying. He feels dejected that the partnership seems one-sided and Herrmann doesn’t listen to the ideas of his business partner and friend, but instead listens to Stella’s.

 

Severide pays a visit to the young boy, Zach (Joey Bosco), who is under Anna’s (Charlotte Sullivan) care. He is excited to see Severide, but soon begins to cough and complain of chest pain. They manage to stabilize him and drain the blood that filled his lungs. Anna shares with Severide that she loves working at Chicago Med and being with Severide, but misses her home and people and doesn’t want to rely on him for “everything.”

 

Casey researches the apartment complex being built near Schlottman’s home and discovers that it never got the proper zoning approval. He refuses to let them get away with it and vows to shut the project down and help Schlottman. Gabby tells him that Rosin is swamped with work and will soon check out the motorcycle shop where she believes the suspect has ties to. When Gabby leaves to run an errand, it becomes evident that she plans on visiting the shop because she refuses to wait any longer to bring this man in. She shows a photograph of the suspect to the man running the shop; after getting an I.D. on the man, she brings a customer order form to Rosin, who still doesn’t show any sense of urgency on this case. He agrees to bring Gabby along to the house visit, knowing she won’t take no for an answer. As the to leave the man’s apartment, he pokes out from behind a vehicle and watches Gabby get in her car.

 

Station 51 responds to another car accident; however, as Ambulance 61 approaches they see no evidence of an accident and pull over to the side of the road after the suspect throws a piece of concrete through their windshield. Truck 81 pursues the man on the motorcycle and blocks him from driving onto the highway. They all jump from the truck and hold him down until the police arrive. Mouch (Christian Stolte) has to hold Gabby back from attacking the man.

 

Casey returns to Schlottman’s home and tells him that he can’t stop the construction as fast as they wish. He is determined to keep fighting and doing everything that he can to help him. Schlottman tries to make amends with the situation and Casey realizes that it isn’t the construction sound that’s truly bothering the man, but it’s the porta potty they have sitting outside of his house. Casey sacrifices some cash to get the men to move the bathroom away from the building.

 

Gabby and Casey share how well their day went and commend one another for everything they did for local citizens. Things turn a bit somber when she asks Matt if they will ever be a family, focusing on it since Louie left; he emphasizes, “We are a family.”