Chicago Fire – Who Lives and Who Dies

By starrymag | January 31, 2017

By: MaryBeth McMahon

 

 

Gabby (Monica Raymund) is awakened by the sound of Matt (Jesse Spencer) packing away Louie’s (Aiden Cohen, Austin Cohen) old books and belongings. When Gabby asks him why he is doing this at 3am, he responds with an edge and says, “This is a guest room. It’s going back to being a guest room.” Gabby doesn’t push with any more questions, as she can see how closed off and agitated Matt has become since Louie’s departure.

 

It’s Severide’s (Taylor Kinney) first day back at Station 51 since his bone marrow transplant. After he and Stella (Miranda Rae Mayo) discuss how he is feeling, Herrmann (David Eigenberg) finds evidence of rats in the firehouse. With just as much of a cheery attitude as the prior night, Matt walks in and says, “Maybe if this place wasn’t such a dump!” Everyone is silent and stunned as they listen to Matt ordering them to clean the kitchen and common room from top to bottom. Gabby is handling the loss internally and keeps a stoic yet concerned expression in response to Matt’s rant.

 

Ambulance 61 responds to a call where a high school student, Darla (B.K. Cannon), is experiencing stomach pains on a field trip. Gabby tells the young girl that she is having contractions and is going into labor. Darla had no idea that she was pregnant before that moment. They have no choice but to deliver the breaching baby on the scene. Gabby provides words of encouragement while Brett handles the baby. Darla is overcome with emotion, but has a moment of clarity and peace when she holds her newborn baby girl.

 

Meanwhile, the cleaning is underway at Station 51 and even though the crew is working tirelessly, Matt finds fault in their quality of work. He demands that they move the appliances and go through second shift’s food locker to find any expired foods that may attract the rats. Before leaving, he declares, “Do it right or do it again.” Herrmann tries to ask Matt if there is anything he needs to talk about, but Matt is not in the right frame of mind to admit to or discuss anything that may be bothering him.

 

Gabby and Brett keep Darla company in her hospital room. Her worried father (Alexander Gemignani) barges in and is just as surprised as she was when he finds out she had a baby. He instantly begins to yell and tells his daughter that she can barely take care of herself and won’t be able to take care of a child. Gabby defends Darla and urges her father to show support during this sensitive time. He tells her she can take the baby and live with her aunt and not to “come crawling back to me when all the boys in school move on to the next easy girl. You have humiliated me enough!” He storms out and Gabby continues to show support for Darla in the wake of her father’s tirade.

 

Severide visits a now-recovering Anna (Charlotte Sullivan) in the hospital and is received with flirtatious banter. Since the procedure, Anna’s complexion has a bit more color and she is visibly less fatigued. It appears the bone marrow transplant is working well for her. She will be discharged as early as the end of the week since she is able to walk around on her own. Severide is happy for her, but a bit let down knowing that she will be leaving to go home and away from Chicago.

 

Matt asks Gabby if she is okay when she walks into the station with a somber look on her face. When she begins to tell him about the recent call, Matt interrupts and yells at Herrmann who is just simply following directions in putting rattraps out. Startled, Gabby loses the desire to talk about her day and walks away.

 

In the garage, Stella is practicing a “Stone Age technique” in opening jammed doors when Severide walks up to her. He says that Anna wanted to express gratitude towards Stella for taking care of him post-bone marrow extraction. Stella says, “I mean, I did that for you. Not for her.”

 

Station 51 responds to a structure fire in a neighborhood. Matt decides to check the basement with Stella, the location where the fire began. He sees a yellow “DON’T TREAD ON ME” Gadsen Flag on the basement wall and underneath is a man (Jamie Jackson) trapped in debris. Matt tries to lift the debris off the man, but because he is unable to do it right away he is met with blows to the torso from the anxious victim. Matt tries to lift from a different spot, but hears the structure coming apart above. Boden (Eamonn Walker) tells the team to “evacuate the building immediately.” The man grows desperate when Matt gets up to help Stella with a rescue. He pulls a gun on Matt and threatens to kill him if he doesn’t save him. Matt promises to come back for him after saving a young girl and leaves the man behind.

 

Boden gives Matt and Severide permission to go back inside, but explosions in the basement prevent them from doing so. Matt is riddled with guilt over not saving the man. Stella reinforces his actions by reminding him about the girl he did, in fact, save. Boden reprimands Matt for not telling him about the gun at first because he wouldn’t have let him go back in again if he had. After the fire is out, they all go back in and Matt is unable to find any remains or evidence of the man. He yells at Otis (Yuri Sardarov), explaining that he is searching in the right place; Boden intervenes and demands that Matt, extremely irritated, leave and bring Truck 81 back to the station.

 

While Truck 81 continues their cleaning duties, Severide delivers news to Matt that the Office of Fire Investigation (OFI) will search the seemingly clean home for any traces of the man, whom Matt claimed to see inside. With a snide tone, Matt says, “Well, I wasn’t hallucinating…” Herrmann steps up to the plate again and asks Matt if he wants to get breakfast and talk about Louie; again, Matt defers.

 

Surprisingly, Stella visits Anna in the hospital. She compliments Anna on her recovery. Anna thanks her for helping Severide throughout the entire ordeal to which Stella responds, “He’s kind of helpless so I figured he could use some backup.” Anna directly asks if he and Stella are together. While Anna shows a glimmer of happiness to the “no” Stella appears a bit let down in the exchange.

 

Matt is on another one of his paths where he has trouble letting go and let’s the missing man from the fire take over he and Gabby’s dinner conversation. She thinks the man was able to get free from the debris due to shifting pressure during the fire and then escape out of the house. While Matt considers the possibility, it’s obvious that Gabby is holding back in talking about her own stressful day. He is so far separated from reality because of Louie and missing man stress that he doesn’t think to ask Gabby how she is doing or even respond when she says she is going out of the house.

 

Inside his office, Boden informs Matt that although there were no remains found at the fire, a small hatch was discovered. This led out to the alley and could have been used as an escape for the unidentifiable victim. Even though Boden tells Matt that he doesn’t have to worry about this man who is obviously alive, Matt is unable to let go of the matter and stop worrying. He takes Truck 81 for a ride and questions the landlord about the missing victim. The landlord is clearly hiding something and says that he doesn’t know of any squatter living in the basement.

 

Gabby takes a ride of her own with Ambulance 61. After hearing the lifetime of struggles that Darla’s hardworking father has dealt with, especially the sacrifices he has made to raise his daughter alone, she pays him a visit. She apologizes to him and regrets the way she spoke to him in the hospital. He is a bit softer this time around and Gabby offers advice and support to this father who wants nothing more than to take care of his daughter in the best possible way. Using her own parenting experiences with Louie, Gabby says, “I’m lucky enough to know how it feels to hug my own child and tell him that everything’s going to be okay, and how I remember it…it’s the best feeling in the world. So do that, for your daughter, for your granddaughter, for yourself. Because these moments, you don’t get a whole lot of time before they’re over.”

 

Severide pays a visit to Anna and asks her not to leave for her home in Springfield. He says, “You feel it, too. There’s something here…Let’s figure it out.” She tells him that she is being discharged at 10am and he says he will be there. He kisses her, but after he leaves Anna has a melancholy and guilty look on her face.

 

Squad 3 is called to a scene where a man cut his leg and severed his femoral artery with a saw. The door is locked and windows are inaccessible. The squad’s Rabbit Tool breaks a hose while they attempt to forcibly open the door. Severide improvises and grabs two Halligan Bars to use the “Stone Age technique” he saw Stella practicing earlier. They pop the door open and the EMT and paramedic make their way in. The man miraculously has a pulse and Severide looks down at his tools, amazed.

 

When Squad 3 returns to the station, Severide tells Stella that he had to “marry Halligans to pop a door” and her technique saved the day. He strays from the topic and thanks Stella for helping him when he was recovering. In response, she continues to hide her feelings with friendly banter and sarcasm.

 

Herrmann has had enough with the cleaning and tells Matt, “You’re going to shut up and listen…Something bad happens and we try to exert control, but sometimes it is better to live with the pain for a little while, process it. Losing Louie was a real blow, there is no harm in admitting that to yourselves.” Gabby joins in the conversation and listens to everything Herrmann said. Herrmann’s intervention was a success and Matt tells him to put all of the cleaning supplies away and order the entire house BBQ, on him. Gabby and Matt take each other’s hands and have a peaceful, quiet moment together. The burden of their worries, stress and tension has been lifted.

 

For the first time this episode, Matt and Gabby have genuine, happy smiles on their faces. They deliver Louie’s old things to Darla’s home and find out that Darla named her baby girl “Gabby.” They are invited inside and spend time in the happy, three-generation Thompson household.

 

Severide returns to the hospital, but misses Anna, who discharged herself thirty minutes earlier. She left behind the photo of herself rock climbing with a Post-It that reads, “Someday…” There’s hope for Severide and Anna in that small message, but he still appears sad after missing his opportunity to say goodbye and share another moment with her.