Chicago Fire - What Happened To Courtney - Review

We’re back from hiatus and right into the action this episode. Firehouse 51 responds to a carbon monoxide call, but when they arrive on scene, the house is empty. Severide and Cruz investigate the source of the carbon monoxide and find something a bit more than they bargained for: the body of a child in a chimney.

A detective, Bianca Holloway, arrives on scene and starts barking orders at Severide, who carries the body. Please tell me this detective is not the next in the rotation of Severide’s many women! I can’t take it anymore. I don’t think she will be; I have a feeling the writers have something brewing for Severide and Stella. More on that later…

Detective Holloway tells Severide the body was likely in the chimney for years. While looking at pictures of the scene, a necklace in the chimney catches Severide’s eye.

“I think I know who this is.”

A few years back, a little girl named Courtney Harris went missing and was never found. Her description included a St. Nicholas pendant, exactly like the one Severide noticed in the image. The case gets personal for Severide, as he knew the Harris family.

After Detective Holloway tells Severide the cause of death (a snapped neck), he takes it upon himself to connect with the Harris family. Severide meets with Courtney’s mom, Emma, and gives her Detective Holloway’s information. But when Emma misses a meeting with Detective Holloway, Severide returns to the house and finds himself in a tense situation.

Emma and her brother David argue, as he doesn’t want her to cooperate with the cops for fear that she may become a suspect.

“You know what they’ll say? They’ll say you went crazy ‘cause Eli was stepping out behind your back. They’ll know he didn’t want to have kids. They’ll say that you snapped Courtney’s neck because you couldn’t handle being a mother…”

Hold up. Severide heard it too. “How did you know Courtney’s neck was snapped?” he asks. Realizing he just revealed himself as the murder, David attacks Severide and the two fight/destroy the house until Severide finally knocks David out.

When the dust settles, Severide sits with Emma and gives her the St. Nicholas pendant. The poor woman has wondered for five years what happened to her daughter, only to find out her own brother killed her.

Elsewhere…

The race for alderman comes to an end, finally! But at the top of the hour, there’s six days until the election. If the whole firefighting thing doesn’t pan out, Gabby could have a great career as a campaign manager. She runs a tight ship, as she has the entire house on Casey-promoting duties until election day.

During an interview, Becks takes a shot at Casey’s firefighting career, insinuating not only that Casey’s commitment to the alderman job comes after being a firefighter, but that he’s also looking to “double dip” into taxpayer money (but of course, Casey’s plan is to defer the alderman salary if he wins). To make matters worse, Casey finds out about a last-minute debate that would require him to miss a shift…just after promising Chief Tiberg his alderman run would no longer affect his duties as a firefighter.

A writer for the Sun Times shadows Casey on the job (without permission) and gets the “money shot” of him saving a life. Oh by the way, this saving of the life happened while the debate was scheduled. At that point, I honestly didn’t know which way I wanted it to go. Becks is terrible, so I wanted him to lose. But, if Casey wins, I have a feeling it will complicate his firefighter duties more than he thinks. I also don’t know how I feel about Casey, the lead of the show, possibly not spending as much time as a firefighter.

The gang heads to Molly’s for the election results. I would have been surprised if he lost, as they’ve spent much of the season on this storyline. Sure enough, Casey gets the winning call! Though I’m skeptical of how this will now factor into his firefighting duties and the show itself, I couldn’t help but feel excited…Becks lost! There was also a “now what?” moment with Casey and Dawson just after the announcement…might we see a wedding for these two soon?

Herrmann has technically been a lieutenant for quite a while now. I’ve been waiting for that to develop more, and I’d be surprised if we don’t see him in that position soon. I have a feeling that Casey’s alderman duties will take up more of his time than he thinks, and may result in him stepping down as Lieutenant.

Speaking of Herrmann, his daughter Annabelle has an upcoming birthday. Stella talks Herrmann into letting her ex-husband perform at the party, which is a bad idea right from the start. Stella is so far out of Grant’s league, it’s crazy. She can do so much better! Grant commits to the birthday party, but no part of me believed he would actually show up. Lo and behold, he doesn’t, and Stella quickly improvises an adorable “Molly’s Jr.”

Not long after, Stella goes home and confronts Grant. She’s done with him, and good for her. I would be surprised if we didn’t see a push toward a Stella/Severide romance before the season’s end.

My favorite scene of the night was the three girls, Gabby, Sylvie, and Stella, hanging out off duty. It’s scenes like these that make me really miss Shay; one because duh, she was the best, but two because of the friendship between her and Gabby. I hope these three can develop a strong bond.


What did you think of the episode? How will Casey’s new Alderman position affect his firefighting job? Will we see Stella and Severide together in the near future? Share your thoughts below!

About the Author - Meghan Reynolds

A Colorado native, Meghan was born a raised a Denver Broncos fan. Aside from football, she loves television and some might say watches too much of it. Some of her favorite shows of the past and present include Galavant, The Blacklist, The Office, Veronica Mars, The 100, and Gilmore Girls. She reviews Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med for SpoilerTV.