Stellaride Made a Life-Changing Decision On Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 12 That Could Dramatically Change Them as a Couple

Critic’s Rating: 3.25 / 5.0

3.25

It’s the episode after the epic crossover, so are there any dangling threads on Chicago Fire? Not really.

Did you notice how the “previously on” segment had no other purpose than to show why Mouch would be absent from Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 12?

Budgets are a bitch, but you don’t need every character for every episode, and “Relief Cut” worked out really well without Mouch.

Mouch and Herrmann are normally partners in crime, but as Herrmann continues thinking about his future after the promotion, he’s got to branch out a bit.

He’s has been doing this job for so long but it’s sometimes hard to remember how good he is at it since he’s so often used as comic relief on Chicago Fire.

He sprang into action after they were called to a vehicular accident and ran into some unexpected trouble.

Being trapped in a car is the scariest thing, but it would be even worse if it was on fire. Making the rescue even more difficult that the nearest hydrant was missing altogether, which is a real problem.

It’s among the many problems that California firefighters ran into when fighting the Palisades fire.

I think the criminality behind it is straight from the headlines. People who want to make a fast buck see the potential for making bank from the “scrap,” but if people stop paying for it, then they won’t have any way to sell it.

Thieves have been taking what doesn’t belong to them and selling it for scrap forever. I just watched The Wire and Bubbles made a career out of stealing from constructions sites and selling it to others so he could get another fix.

Sure, the price of construction goes up across the board (and plumbing and every other business that uses metals criminals can use as scrap), but when you’re job is saving lives, that can’t stand.

Hermann and Kylie decided they couldn’t do anything to stop people from stealing the hydrants — the job is just too big — but they could find out who was buying them and try to stem the flow. It worked brilliantly because the woman in the accident had dementia, and her son tracked her via air tag.

Yet as much as I enjoyed Herrmann and Kylie getting the bad guy, why on earth did Herrmann say, “You tell your guys we’re putting trackers in all the hydrants all over the city”? Why, so they can remove them and steal them anyway?

There’s a time to be proud and act big and there’s a time to be quiet. Herrmann needs to remember that sometimes, silence is your friend. Did the writers even realize what whey had written? It’s not like the trackers are fused into the metal.

And if the city couldn’t afford to replace the hydrants, who would have thought they could afford an air tag in every one? Overall, it was a silly resolution to a story that people need to know about.

Scrapping isn’t a victim free crime. Stop being idiots and find another way to make money. Please and thank you.

I’m also pretty impressed with how Pascal has taken Herrmann under his wing, introducing him to people who can help his career.

He likely never expected that Herrmann would use the opportunity to drag a firehose into the fundraiser and hand it to one of the White shirts as a demonstration of how difficult it could be to do his job if someone the fellow loved was in danger. But it was Herrmann, and it worked.

While Herrmann was solving crime in Chicago, Stella was reconnecting with family.

She was so excited to welcome her cousin Cole to town and introduce him to Severide, but you could tell she had misgivings. I’m not saying that everyone doesn’t clean before family visits, but even Severide could tell this was a big deal.

As happy as Severide was for Stella, it turned out that Cole was not happy to meet Severide. He was under the impression that Stella’s husband had been keeping her from her family. He couldn’t think of another explanation.

That was a super odd development given what we know of Stellaride and what little we know about her past. I mean, Cole, dude, blame the writers!

It was uncool of Cole because even though he later told Severide how much she shouldered when she was young, he decided that she must be controlled by a man because she couldn’t possibly make her own decisions regarding family.

The very least he or anyone else in her family owed her was to ask her outright rather than blaming her husband.

She went through some really dark times after high school, and it was so bad that she thought her family would rather let her go and than be reminded of it. Of course, that was uncool on her part, too.

Talk to each other. Don’t any of these people ever watch TV to see that the main reason for disagreements and unhappiness is their failure to communicate effectively?

Stella moved in with Cole’s family at age 12, right after her family died. She tried to be tough, but she was really hurt. She leaned on Cole’s mother, but when her aunt got postpartum depression, Stella had to step into her shoes.

That’s a lot for a young girl to take on, and then she went rogue after high school. After that, she decided she didn’t want to have children. But it turns out that it didn’t affect her desire to have a family, and she and Severide decided that adoption was in their future.

Their dedication to public service makes it a perfect fit, and they have both been incredibly welcoming to people of all walks of life in their respected life journeys. I wonder how it will happen. My bet is that they stumble upon a child that needs parents and they take on the job.

That would dramatically change how they live and work. Could they work the same shifts and battle the same blazes? Some parents take different flights to ensure that, should anything happen, their kids are protected.

Being a first responder sure puts a lot on the table to think about. We saw how being a parent changed Casey, and Stella and Kelly will surely change, too.

Speaking of change, Ritter and Dwayne broke up. He was having doubts about Dwayne and I think it spilled over a bit to the job.

He had trouble making a relief cut on the accident scene, and Stella pulled him away so that Carver could do it quickly. After all, a life was on the line.

Ritter first apologized to Kidd about it, and she did what any good manager does. She told him it alright, and even if he protests, he’ll probably do it again, but mistakes are how we learn.

Carver was equally as cool, having found his own way with Truck after he joined 51. Every house does things differently, and that’s where he had to find his footing. Promising to help Ritter learn was exactly what I’d expect from Carver.

But what I really enjoyed was Carver asking about Ritter’s dinner with Dwayne and giving him advice.

It shows what a good man he is, and he helped Ritter realize that his reaction — standing there gobsmacked while Dwayne walked away — was a good indication of how much it hurt.

I don’t think Ritter even realizes yet that he doesn’t want to let Dwayne go.

He explained that ending past relationships gave him a sense of relief. He doesn’t have that now. I think fear was driving him to keep Dwayne at arm’s length, and he’ll reconsider watching him walk away.

A few tidbits that don’t fit in elsewhere:

• What was the deal with the light bulb? Was there any point to that or was it just to show goofy camaraderie in the station house?
• Violet and Lizzie’s emergency in the bar was unbearable to watch. It made my sinuses ache. Was that enough to keep you from ever smashing anyone’s face in a cake or what?
• And about Lizzie’s awkward walk of shame after her one-night-stand with Cole? I’m not sure which was worse: Cole’s lack of respect for his cousin’s home or Novak going with him. They aren’t kids anymore.

And that’s about it for this episode. Are you ready for Stellaride to have a family? What about Herrmann to become chief? Drop me a comment below to let me know what piqued your interest!

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