I’m honestly not sure if this first episode of season 15 could have crammed more into it. In some cases, it worked incredibly well, although there are some moments where it just didn’t work for me.
I am really glad that we started the season right from the moment that we left last season. It means that we don’t feel like we have missed out on anything in the time that has passed.
I am also incredibly happy that none of our main cast died in that fire. Honestly, it’s very rare for a call like that to have everyone make it out alive on Chicago Fire.
I am so annoyed that we are losing Cruz this season. However, I do actually like his exit storyline. I think it would have felt a little bit cheap to just watch Cruz die in the first five minutes of this season. Not that I didn’t think he was dead when I first saw that wall collapse on him. I think a character who has been on a show for 15 seasons deserves a good send-off, and not only does this storyline represent what reality is like for firefighters, but it also allows us to get to see one final marvellous performance from Joe Miñoso.
If I’m honest, I wish that we hadn’t found out during the summer that Joe was leaving the show because I think it slightly ruined the moment when Cruz and Herrmann were arguing about who should stay. I just immediately knew it was going to be Cruz. The annoying thing is before that, they were doing quite a good job at making me think Hermann was going to be the one to have issues due to the two comments about his helmet not being okay after they were caught in the fireball on the ladder.
“New Blood ” – Chicago Fire. Pictured: Leroy Williams III as Ballard, David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann Photo: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC
The montage after the title card of everyone’s lives was so perfect. We got a fakeout of Vasquez being a cop, Violet’s family member ringing her, Mouch at the Neurospinal unit, Severide on a motorbike, the new probies and learning about Kidd’s training officer role. It gave us the perfect catch-up for every single one of our characters (apart from Cruz) after the fire without having it all said by the characters. I love when a tv show trusts the audience to know what’s going on.
The official answer on whether Severide is going to take the job at OFI or at 51 is revealed in that montage and I honestly breathed a sigh of relief. I know the episode essentially went down the OFI route anyways but I do prefer it when he does stuff off his own back because he genuinely cares about the cause. He’s also the one that lets us know that Isaiah is not going to be staying with him and Stella.
I’m not complaining because I wasn’t that much of a fan of the majority of last season but this episode seemed to eradicate everything that happened. It’s like this season is a new slate. There wasn’t even one single mention about budget cuts which I was very happy with. Stellaride are no longer (seemingly) going along the adoption route, which again I am pretty happy about.
The one biggest thing that I bumped on about this episode was Pascal’s exit. I understood what they were trying to do with him passing on the baton and giving Severide some sage advice; however, I just don’t think it worked. Had that sentiment come from Stella or quite literally any of the other people at 51 it would have made sense to me, but this just seemed to be a way to get Pascal in this episode and to be honest we kind of already said goodbye to him last season so there wasn’t really a need for him to be in this episode. It would have made perfect sense that after that call he just left and it could be mentioned as a one-liner and no one would bump on it.
I do understand that he is needed to keep Severide out of trouble; however, I actually think I would have preferred to watch him get in trouble for it and realise that he can’t just do what he used to when he wasn’t Captain. Which could have also led to a great conversation with the house about where he is learning to grow.
The new candidate's are an absolute mess and honestly they are lucky that Lizzie didn't end up getting killed by that car, I really like the way that Stella has gone about it by thinking outside the box and making sure that she keeps everyone safer and actually working well together.
“New Blood ” – Chicago Fire. Pictured: Da’Vinnchi as Marcus Burke Photo: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC
I am so invested in seeing where this storyline ends up for Cruz, as much as I would like him to have a miraculous recovery. Chicago Fire has always stayed true to what people experience in real life, and sometimes that miracle doesn’t happen.
I am also equally invested in seeing how this affects Herrmann. We saw survival guilt in Gabby back when Shay died, but this time Herrmann is going to have to watch Cruz go through this pain, and there is nothing he can do about it. And after last season, where Herrmann’s house burned down, we know he is not good with things he can’t help with.
As much as there were a few things that I wasn’t a fan of in this episode, I do think I am going to like this season a bit more than the last. So many things in this episode I didn’t like were wrapping up things from last season. The things that I loved in this episode, like Stella as a training officer, Severide as Captain, Burke and Lizzie, Violet and the journalist, are all things that are new.
I’m looking forward to seeing what is next for these characters!
