Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 15 Pulled a Death Switcheroo That Effectively Sets Up Hermann to Become Chief

Critic’s Rating: 3.75 / 5.0

3.75

Well, Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 15 pulled the wool over my eyes with an unexpected death. I can admit that.

But although they did manage to give us a shocking death, once again, it’s not the kind of death that provokes a truly emotional response from the audience.

We barely knew the victim, and while their loved one will be affected and their actions will greatly affect the others at 51, it’s not the same. This death was a plot device, so it’s hard to be invested.

But first, we have more to explore.

In Stella and Kelly’s eyes, the adoption process is more stressful than fighting an inferno. I had to laugh when Stella said she might not approve them as parents either since they don’t know what the hell they’re doing.

It’s crazy to think about how parents are thrown into the fire of parenting without any training whatsoever. Sure, Stellaride are being examined in great detail as adoptive parents, but when it comes to birth parenting, nobody seems to care.

I really enjoyed the video interview they had with Terry, the adoption guy. That’s the kind of storytelling that makes shows click.

Neither Stella nor Kelly had a perfect childhood, but they fully intend to give their own child the best they can deliver.

I’m not always a fan of Chicago Fire’s sillier storylines, and when Herrmann thought Terry was still connected to the room via Zoom and overheard him and Cruz talking about two other irresponsible individuals, I groaned. 

Why on earth would someone just hang out in a dark room? Was he lying in wait to see if someone said something bad about the potential parents?

You could tell he didn’t hear a thing when Herrmann and Cruz bulldozed their way into Terry’s office and he just listened.

The poor guy had no idea what was going on, but this is the kind of show where hearing something like that could endear Stellaride to the agency — and it did.

Meanwhile, Stellaride were busy showing their excellent parenting skills as they counseled Damon, but Cruz was worried. 

He wondered whether bulldozing Terry could be problematic for Stella and Severide’s chances. He’s got experience with adoption, and he knows that being a first responder can sometimes negatively affect one’s chances of adopting.

This time, bulldozing actually worked. Terry saw that people at 51 would go to the mat for Stella and Severide, and that’s not something you see often. 

Their application for adoption has been approved. Now, we wait for the right child to come before them.

But there was still the promise of someone dying before the end of the episode, and if you’re like me, you wondered why we were suddenly checking in with Damon at Truck 68. 

Surely, he popped up on Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 14 and had his face plastered all over a trailer that touted impending doom for one reason: He was slated to die.

Could I have been more wrong?

Everything in the episode leaned in that direction, so the misdirection worked really well. 

We jumped straight into the fire with him, where another firefighter, who wasn’t worth the suit he was wearing, left him alone to rescue survivors.

Then, everyone talked about what a great firefighter he turned into, and, in another life, that would have been an indication Damon might not be long for this world.

Jenner even threatened Damon by using his relationship with Severide against him, prompting him to ask his brother for help. As it turned out, that was the story being told.

It was so nice that Severide and Damon were acting like true brothers. Hell, Novak even asked him to go to Molly’s, which opens up a potential new romance.

And if he hadn’t gone to Molly’s, there wouldn’t have been an audience showing how unhinged Jenner had become, and his response wouldn’t have shown Stella how much he’s changed.

That was his purpose in the story. They’re considering bringing him back to 51. No matter how badly things turned out before, Damon is different now. They’re different.

This time, it could work.

The character who was impacted forever was Chief Pascal, but it took a while to get there.

His anniversary was days away, and he was trying to determine the perfect gift. While talking with Mouch about possibilities, Pascal mentioned an officer position opening up elsewhere. 

Pascal doesn’t have the greatest people skills, and how he presented it made it seem like he was demanding Mouch leave the house by finding an officer position somewhere else.

But why would he want to get rid of Mouch?

Eventually, Mouch has to ask why Pascal was pushing him, reminding him of his plan and Herrmann’s to ride out their career at 51 together. 

Pascal countered that he wasn’t so sure that Herrmann even wanted to be chief, and he was skeptical of whether Herrmann would even sit for the exam. 

That annoyed Mouch, but it made sense from Pascal’s perspective. Herrmann has been somewhat reticent to the idea of becoming chief, questioning whether he’d be happy sitting behind a desk.

Mouch is facing a mandated retirement, and Pascal doesn’t want him to miss out on becoming an officer. His thought is that Mouch should look out for himself and not depend on Herrmann, who may not even become Chief.

But Monica’s death has longer-lasting ramifications than Damon’s probably wouldn’t have and leads right to Herrmann’s chief test. 

Monica Pascal lost her life in an auto accident on their anniversary, and Pascal is going to become a monster in the wake of it.

We met Pascal when he and Monica were separated. We know what he’s like without her. Now imagine dialing that up to 1000 because she was senselessly killed in an accident. 

Did I mention it was on their anniversary?

This storyline is such a bummer because I just love Kadee Strickland, and I really hoped she’d eventually become more integral to the Chicago Fire storyline.

However, now we know that Pascal was probably never meant to be more than an entity passing through 51 to cause a bit of a ruckus and get Herrmann promoted to Chief.

I love Herrmann, and God knows that David Eigneberg has earned this story arc. But like Pascal, I still can’t imagine a Chicago Fire with Herrmann in charge.

I think the remainder of this season will go to great lengths to show me how very wrong I am.

Were you surprised Damon didn’t die? Did Monica’s death shock you? What do you think we’re in for as the season continues?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

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