Chicago Fire – Trading in Scuttlebutt

By starrymag | February 20, 2017

By: MaryBeth McMahon

 

A hooded man (Mike Jimerson) enters Molly’s and asks Herrmann (David Eigenberg) to borrow money. He intends to use the borrowed funds to purchase a suit for a job interview. Regardless of how sketchy the proposition sounds, Herrmann hears the struggling man out and lends him the money for a suit. The next day, Otis (Yuri Sardarov), Gabby (Monica Raymund), Cruz (Joe Minoso) and Mouch (Christian Stolte) give Herrmann a hard time and accuse him of being scammed. The group continues to make fun of and criticize him throughout the shift.

 

Severide (Taylor Kinney) tells Stella (Miranda Rae Mayo) about the job offer in Springfield for Battalion Chief. She is stunned and speechless. Gabby interrupts and shows Stella how fragile and out of character Brett (Kara Killmer) is behaving.

 

The house responds to a call at an intersection where another firehouse has already begun their rescue. Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) tells the other chief to stop lifting the concrete pipes off the car because at his vantage point he can see the strap about to rip. The other chief ignores his warning and the strap breaks. Boden and Station 51 jump into action and take over the rescue. Chief Anderson (Michael Hanrahan) is visibly agitated by Boden’s selfless actions, which he took quite personally.

 

Otis and some of the boys discuss the rescue with some visiting firefighters and comment how Boden saved Anderson in that call. In his office, Boden tells Herrmann and Mouch to “keep a lid” on the call because Anderson recently got a promotion and this type of gossip is sensitive. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Maggie (Marlyne Barrett) asks Gabby and Brett about the call and says, “I heard about this new, big shot chief who nearly got you all killed…it’s going around. CFD gossips more than nurses…” Boden’s warning to the men came a little too late.

 

Severide and Stella return to their conversation in his office. He spews off a couple of facts about Springfield and appears extremely positive about the potential move. Stella thinks he will return and continues to hide her true feelings under sarcasm.

 

Gabby and Brett respond to a call at a restaurant where a group of businessmen appear to have hired a stripper who is lying on the floor unconscious. The room is silent and negligent when Brett asks everyone if the woman took any drugs. She wakes up, complains of chest pains and then goes into cardiac arrhythmia. The waitress comments that a man gave her a speedball, which most likely caused the woman’s condition. As they cart her to the rig, one of the businessmen ignorantly tries to hand the woman money for her “troubles.” Brett, drowning in her post-Antonio (Jon Seda) breakup feelings, says, “Men suck.”

 

Inside Ambulance 61, Brett talks to Gabby about her stress regarding men. She envies what Gabby and Matt have together. Gabby reassures her that nothing is as it seems and she too has endured many bad breakups before she found Casey (Jesse Spencer). She urges Brett not to change who she is and to be patient because “her Casey” is out there.

 

Chief Anderson storms into Boden’s office, calling him a “wildcard” who does not have respect for the “chain of command.” He says that if Boden saw something on the scene that he disagreed with he should have reported it to the incident commander. Boden calmly replies that there was no time to follow that protocol. Chief Anderson takes the entire situation personally and thinks that Boden acted out of jealousy towards Anderson’s recent promotion. Boden, with respect and honor, explains that he saw something go wrong and he just acted, with no intention of causing issue. Regardless of how genuine Boden’s expression and reasoning is, Anderson doesn’t buy it and warns him not to make an enemy of him. So begins Chief Anderson’s journey of making a mountain out of a molehill.

 

The scene transitions from Severide observing the outside of the aging Station 51 building to him arriving at the new Springfield Fire Department. Severide’s visit to the station makes his decision to stay or leave that much harder, as he is surrounded by top of the line equipment and trucks. On top of that, the budget and pay available to him each year on the Springfield Fire Department blows Station 51 out of the water. He makes time to visit Anna (Charlotte Sullivan) while she is working in the local hospital. She appears both hesitant and happy to see him there. She doesn’t want him to give up Chicago for her and wants him to make the decision for himself. He explains that he will do it for the right reasons and is trying to figure out exactly what those reasons actually are.

 

At a fancy CFD gathering, Anderson takes another hit at Boden. He begins to make a scene and mock Boden in front of his Station 51 friends, Donna (Melissa Ponzio) and fellow CFD comrades. At first, Boden thinks Anderson is just using friendly banter, but soon realizes he is not when Anderson goes straight for the jugular. Anderson raises his voice and explains how offended he was when someone lower in command took over a call, especially when that man comes from the firehouse with “all of the problems.” He did his research and recites a list of all the problems Boden has been confronted with in the past year. Donna tells Boden they should leave and Anderson, uncalled for, takes a certain snarky tone with Donna. This prompts Boden to step closer to the man. Boden packs a punch with his words and tells Anderson that he would have been responsible for the death of many firefighters if Boden hadn’t stepped in. In a drop-the-mic fashion, Boden and Donna leave after that comment. However, Anderson still keeps that sly and determinedly agitated look on his face.

 

Herrmann heads home and realizes all of the things he is missing with his kids and takes it hard when he feels as though he is letting everyone down. His son is feeling dejected about the fact that Herrmann is unable to come into school and tell his classmates about his job.

 

Severide opens up to Stella and tells her how often he looks in the mirror and sees his father looking back at him. He doesn’t want the same future as his father and is looking to change the path that he is on. Stella briefly says that she will miss him when he is gone and that they are friends and are good together.

 

Herrmann has reached his boiling point with the criticism from the fire station. Casey allows Herrmann to bring Truck 81 to his son’s school where he shows off the equipment and teaches the class about firefighting. Herrmann responds to a student’s statement about false alarms being raised. He says that it can be difficult to tell whether alarms are false and it is there duty to assume that they are real and people are in need of help. He says, “We always help people, whether they deserve it or not.” Afterwards, he gives a look in Otis’ direction, implying that in the case of the man earlier on in the episode Herrmann doesn’t know if the situation was true or not. But it is in his nature to assume the man genuinely needed help and he wanted to do what he felt best to aid in that situation.

 

Anderson makes a surprise visit to Station 51 for a “routine inspection.” He criticizes Matt and Truck 81 for making an unscheduled visit to the school. This  promps Matt to file paperwork immediately. Anderson continues to “observe” the firehouse on their next call. He attempts to repay the favor Boden made by shouting some commands of his own at the Station 51 crew. Either he thinks his orders were helpful or he was just puffing his chest, so to speak, to establish authority. None the Station 51 crew follows through with this orders and they continue to proceed in the manner they see as fit. Anderson has taken it far enough and Boden intervenes. He tells him to back off since he is just observing and states no interest in assuming command of the call. The Department District Chief is thrown off a bit when Boden firmly tells him to back off. The frustrated man is speechless, yet again, on a call.

 

Station 51 unwinds at Molly’s after shift and Severide is looking for Stella to speak with again. He hits a roadblock when Casey informs him that Gabby and Stella took Brett out in the wake of her breakup with Antonio. Greg, the man who received the money loan from Herrmann, reenters the bar with a fresh haircut, new suit and news of getting the job. He pays Herrmann back and reaffirms Herrmann’s message that people should never be taken as face value; nothing is straightforward and faith is needed when it comes to helping others.

 

Boden receives another visit from his new “friend” and at first this encounter seems positive when Anderson says thank you. It takes a nasty turn when Anderson tells Boden that he’s been going about this situation wrong and can’t just get rid of Boden easily. He decides to “improve” the firehouse by keeping the officers in place and transferring the rest of the crew to a series of different firehouses for next shift. He is splitting the entire crew apart and next shift is going to look incredibly different, as this family is broken.