Chicago Fire – The People We Meet

By starrymag | January 23, 2017

By: MaryBeth McMahon

 

 

 

Clarke (Jeff Hephner) checks in on Severide (Taylor Kinney) at Station 51 and delivers good news. He says that Anna’s (Charlotte Sullivan) white blood cell count is up and they already started her on chemo. Clarke says that they can move forward with the bone marrow transplant and begin the procedure in as little as twenty-four hours. Severide is ecstatic over the news.

 

A call comes in for a house fire where a woman is trapped on the top level. Severide and squad go up the ladder to rescue the woman. Severide enters the building through the window and sends the woman down the ladder. Before Casey can successfully create a vent in the roof to release pressure and smoke, a back draft explosion sends him out the window, plummeting to the ground nearly three stories below. Gabby (Monica Raymund) and Brett (Kara Killmer) take the unconscious and stable Severide to Chicago Med. After the Station 51 leaves the hospital to get back to work, Stella (Miranda Rae Mayo) offers to stay behind so someone is there when Severide wakes up.

 

Ambulance 61 pulls into the station and Gabby angrily gets out to confront Andre (Charles Brice), who is walking towards her. He tells Gabby and an equally frustrated Casey that he is being deployed back to Afghanistan; he got his orders the day he was supposed to meet Louie (Aiden Cohen, Austin Cohen), which is why he was a no-show. Andre “signed away” his parental rights, aware of how long his deployment will be and knows Gabby and Casey will be good parents.

 

“What took you so long” is the statement Severide woke up with from Stella. She tells him that he only has a concussion and sarcastically says that he could have used a ladder and “saved us all a bunch of stress.” He thanks her for being there. Clarke comes in and tells Severide that he is no longer cleared to do the bone marrow procedure due to the trauma from the fall.

 

Gabby is riddled with doubt over keeping Andre away from Louie. She feels guilty at the grave possibility of him not returning from Afghanistan and never meeting his son. She isn’t sure she could live with that decision and outcome.

 

At Molly’s Bar, Otis (Yuri Sardarov) shows Herrmann (David Eigenberg) and Cruz (Joe Minoso) a GoPro that he borrowed from his cousin. He wants to film rescues that Station 51 does for the purpose of winning the Department’s competition of submitting videos to help with recruitment.

 

Severide limps down the hallway to visit Anna in her hospital room. She is visibly tired from the chemo and does her best to conceal any disappointment she may have about Severide’s bone marrow ineligibility. After sharing a few laughs with Anna, Severide apologizes to her and says that he should have taken that shift off so nothing would have happened to affect the procedure. She puts on a front and tries to reassure him that they are looking for another match, even though the doubt is visible in her eyes. She tells him that it took fourteen months to find him and tries to convince him, and herself it seems, that she is at peace with her “story” most likely coming to an end. For having saved the woman in the fire, she tells him that “you’ve already saved a life this week” and doesn’t want him to feel guilty that he can’t save hers, too.

 

In his hospital room, Severide talks with Gabby and Casey about not being able to do the procedure. Gabby tells him that they probably called the procedure off because any trauma to the spine results in the hospital being unable to administer an epidural. A bit of hope returns to Severide, as he expresses an unfaltering determination to fight back on the doctors’ decision to cancel his procedure on the basis of the epidural. He is willing to do the donation with the pain and without the anesthesia. He states, “If I don’t do this, she’ll die. I won’t let that happen.”

 

Gabby and Casey bring Louie to a restaurant to meet Andre and his parents (Larry Yelder, Marvette Knight). Casey and Andre both work together to get Louie settled in his seat while Gabby orders some food. Mary, Andre’s mother, walks up to Gabby to commend her on her bravery and thanks her for keeping Louie happy and safe. While hugging Mary, Gabby’s face shows that she is flattered by Mary’s remarks, but more importantly that she is torn between decision, especially when she sees Louie at the table with everyone else.

 

Good news comes in for Severide and he finds out that Clarke has convinced his doctors to move forward with the donation, without the epidural. Severide is ecstatic over the opportunity to move forward with the procedure and begins signing the immense stack of papers that Clarke jokingly says a tree had to pay its life for.

 

Boden informs 51 that Severide has been cleared for the procedure. Everyone in the station is in awe and chilled at the thought of Severide’s bone being drilled into without any sort of pain relief. Stella receives support from Brett, who tells her to visit Severide in the hospital and ignore his “lone wolf act” that results in him pushing her away.

 

Andre makes another visit to 51 and receives a warmer welcome from Casey and Gabby this time around. He tells them, “It’s like my whole life changed over night” and “…a son needs his father and I need him.” Andre is going back on his decision to sign Louie over to the two of them and wants to fight for full custody; he will take him with him to his post at Rock Island. He tells them how sorry he is and that he is not trying to hurt them. Andre’s genuine statements are apologetic and remorseful. Another call comes in and Casey shouts at Andre to leave.

 

Truck 81, Squad 3, and Ambulance 61 respond to a car accident where a young girl is stuck inside the car. Stella and Boden tend to the father, whose leg is severely broken. The father, whose bone is protruding from his leg, walked back and forth from the wreck and the road to get his two other children out to safety. The third child gets out of the car safely and begs to stay with her father. Gabby and Casey make eye contact, obvious that they find similarities in the girls plead with the reality of the situation between Louie and his own father.

 

Severide’s heroic procedure begins and he passes at the final opportunity to back out. He barely winces at the initial incision. Clarke twists the manual drill into Severide’s hipbone; Severide is instantly overcome with searing pain. Clarke begins to remove bone marrow with a large needle, creating more immeasurable pain that makes Severide yell out.

 

Brett thanks Cruz for the advice that he gave her earlier in shift when she was anxiously trying to find an activity to bond with Antonio’s (Jon Seda) son over. The chess game went over smoothly and although she lost, she was able to have a real conversation with the boy. She thanks Cruz, who now appears to be redeveloping feelings for the now-unavailable Brett, as he watches her walk away.

 

Gabby and Casey meet with their lawyer, who wants to paint a picture of Andre as being an “unreliable and unstable parent.” The incident of him missing the meet-and-greet, organized by DCFS, as the lead piece of evidence. Gabby seems a bit skeptical as she fights back with the truth, saying that Andre couldn’t attend due to getting redeployed. The lawyer wants to hire a private investigator to dig into his entire family and past. She is confident in the upcoming hearing, but Casey doesn’t want this to be a long and uphill battle for Louie.

 

Severide’s pain meds are wearing off and even though it is the strongest medicine Clarke can give him, it is barely concealing the pain. The recovery is proving to be extremely painful and difficult for the struggling Severide.

 

Gabby and Casey attend their hearing with Andre and his large family in tow. He tells the couple that he sees how much they love Louie and tearfully promises that he and his entire family will love him, too. As much as Gabby and Matt want to fight and keep Louie, they realize that “this isn’t about us” and they don’t want to “deny Louie all of this.”

 

Anna and Severide are watching the Chicago Blackhawks game in his hospital room. He says, “All this and a Hawks fan, too?” Severide says that he has had better days, doing his best to conceal the actual pain that he is in. Anna takes satisfaction out of not being the sickest person in the room anymore. Clarke comes to retrieve Anna and prepare her for the bone marrow that Severide courageously donated. She promises to take “really good care” of his bone marrow. After Anna leaves the room, Clarke tells Severide that he doesn’t have to pretend for him, knowing the amount of pain that his entire body is in. He tells Severide that what he did was the bravest thing he has ever seen. Severide has been pushing back tears the entire episode, trying to hide his emotions and pain. The moment Clarke leaves the room, Severide’s walls go down and he lets out a relieving breath and two tears. Concealing his pain for the sake of everyone else was emotionally and physically draining.

 

Gabby helps Louie pack up all of his toys and belongings. She tells him that if he is “really brave and strong today” his new home is going to turn out even better. With tears in her eyes and her voice breaking, Gabby says, “I’m not going anywhere. I will always be here for you. Any time you want. For the rest of your life. I love you. I will always love you, you hear me?” Casey hugs a distraught Gabby while they watch Louie pack up his things. He tells her that nothing will ever take away what they did for Louie when he needed them most.

 

Otis and the boys review some of the GoPro footage from the day and find out that they missed all of the good moments and have nothing. Boden (Eammon Walker) gives an inspirational speech that Otis catches on film and submits before the deadline. Boden tells the team that Severide, Casey and Gabby are some of the strongest people he knows. He emphasizes that all of this shows what it means to be a firefighter: “…to change the fate of the people we meet. That means when we turn up to a call, we don’t see strangers. We see mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. It means that when we see others running out of that fire, we run in. The job that we’ve taken on is to make a difference.” He commends members of the team for sacrificing their happiness (Casey and Gabby) and health (Severide) for the sake of other people.

 

At the end of the episode, Stella visits Severide in the hospital with some food, but leaves when she sees him happily spending time with Anna in his room. Meanwhile, Gabby and Casey hand Louie off to Andre. Louie looks back over his shoulder and looks at his foster parents one, last time.