Last night was an endearing season finale of CHICAGO FIRE, complete with heartbreak (as Jimmy deals with the loss of his brother) and love (as Gabby brings her new foster son, Louie, home).
The episode focused on Jimmy’s days following the tragedy of his brother’s death on the job last week. On his first call back he becomes very aggressive in his resuscitation of the victim and it isn’t until Brett calls him off and initiates defibrillator techniques that they are able to save the man. This behavior forces Boyden to call Jimmy into his office, where Jimmy takes out some of his frustrations about the role Boyden played in his brother’s death. The Chief is the one who made the call to send Jimmy’s brother back in, and though it was the right call, it did carry deep consequences. In the end, however, even after visiting his brother’s firehouse and seeing his wife saying that Boyden made the right call and his brother died a hero, Jimmy doesn’t show up to receive his brother’s badge and, in turn, may go after Boyden’s job for his mistake.
Back at the firehouse, Gabby is searching for an apartment in the two days she has before the window to foster Louie closes. When the apartment she was bidding on falls through, Gabby declines Casey’s offer to move back in with him (because she knows he doesn’t want a kid right now) and accepts Herman’s offer to move into the extra apartment above his garage. In four hours, Gabby and Herman (with help from a lot of the squad) manage to make the cluttered, dirty space beautiful and home-y. But unfortunately, the inspection doesn’t go well, and Gabby is forced to make a heartfelt speech about how much love was put into the apartment and how much love she would have for the young boy.
In the end it worked out, because after a near-fatal accident on the job where she was left dangling on the side of the building, she got to bring Louie home with her. This heartfelt reunion was complete with the reading of her letter — one Chief Boyden made everyone write in case any of them died in the line of duty. They were meant to be written to loved ones and Gabby’s was addressed to Louie, explaining how much she loves him and how the sacrifice of the job is important and worth it to save those they love.
In a scary turn of events, we also see Stella’s ex found overdosed and lying face-down in a public square. When she visits him in the hospital after the fact — imploring him to seek help — he screams in her face to get out. One of the doctors informs her that rock bottom looks bad, but you can only go up from there. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there, because when Stella and Severide get hot and heavy in her apartment, viewers can see her ex waiting in the shadows (unbeknownst to the couple) with a knife.
Finally, Casey spent the episode on Alderman duty, as he took a weekend retreat that was full of politicians to canoodle and schmooze. He was a charmer as usual and instigated a new 9-1-1 operating system that is apparently going to help the system become more efficient. But that wasn’t all he did on the trip, because when his political adviser kissed him over dinner and left her room number. But, this was a moment of realization for Casey and, when he knocks on a door that night, it is not his advisor’s door, it’s Dawson’s. In the “will they, won’t they?” of this season, it looks like they have settled on the happy family model for these two.
CHICAGO FIRE has already been renewed for another season and will return in the fall.