TV REVIEW: Chicago Fire’s “A Heavy Weight” Lands with a Thud

The latest installment of Chicago Fire commits one of the seven deadly sins of television. It’s boring.  It’s a throwaway episode up until the last ten minutes.  Then the show goes for one of its biggest saves in its two season life.  So, the question is, do the last ten make up for the previous fifty?  They kind of do.  Let’s take a look.

The episode begins right where we left off in the wake of Rebecca Jones’ (Daisy Betts) suicide with Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) giving a sermon about being there for each other and how this can never happen again.  Wow, way to blame the team, boss.  There’s plenty of that to go around.

Severide (Taylor Kinney) is feeling his share of guilt telling BFF Shay (Lauren German) that his particular brand of tough love may not have been what Jones needed.  His way to make amends is to save wayward Colorado firefighter Bloom (guest star W. Earl Brown).  Kelly wrangles his crack team to pay his lost cause a visit in rehab. They arrive with Capp (Randy Flagler) deciding to greet him with a full moon over China moment because seeing a white ass is what we all want when battling a drug addiction. I’m thinking Jones will not be the last suicide.  One problem, when Bloom’s door opens a lady answers. Is there anyone out there who was not expecting that?  Bloom lasted twelve hours before checking out. Kelly, you may need a new lost soul to rescue.

Next up, Casey (Jesse Spencer) decides to take the plunge.  No, not the polar, but the marriage kind. He has Shay meet him at the jewellery store and everything about the scene says “Don’t do it.”  Shay’s face looks like she just ate a lemon, but instead of saying anything, she goes with that ‘never say die’ Casey enthusiasm and helps him pick out a ring.  So, the fact you’ve been fighting constantly, you don’t want “your girl” to even become a firefighter, and you keep calling her Hallie does not come into play?  Your over eagerness is wearing thin, my friend. I think I’d tell him to go adopt a baby instead.  Oooh, or maybe he can go sponsor a child and be just like Severide.

Pictured: (l-r) Melissa Ponzio as Donna Robbins, Eamonn Walker as Chief Wallace Boden — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)

The last thing on Dawson’s (Monica Raymund) mind is marriage.  Jones left her a note.  Shocking?  Not really.  The writers tried to establish a long lost sisterhood between the two last eppy when Gabby waxed philosophically about Rebecca to Shay during their fun, girls gone wild weekend.  This was the weekend of an arguing couple, a “bloody” save, and an overacting moment worthy of Under the Dome.  We see Dawson unravel a little as the hour creeps by, so confused at how a badass like Jones could kill herself and “just give up.”  Yeah, we’re with you, girl. We didn’t see any cracks in the veneer either, but don’t worry. The writers are going to add those after the fact, so all is well with the world. Dawson hints that the note is just an old grocery list, so no clues there either.

Back to the guilt.  Mills (Charlie Barnett) wants to play the blame game calling out the guys for caring more about their cable bill than candidate Jones.  He wants them to “own up” to how they treated Rebecca. Hermann (David Eigenberg) takes particular offense and wants to kick the young lad’s ass.  The boys kiss and make up by episode’s end when Christopher admits he was the last one to see the young woman alive, wondering what he could have said or done to prevent the tragedy. Oh, kick his ass Hermann.  Mills needs to stop acting like a little girl when he’s pouting.  “I didn’t make squad, so I’m joining CPD.”  Foot stomp.  “The guys are tough on candidates and hurt my feelings once.”  Foot stomp.

Meanwhile, Kelly continues his Bloom crusade even turning private investigator.  He digs deep, or as deep as he can get (remember, he’s pretty) and discovers that Bloom was injured fighting off his own men who wanted to go back into a burning building that was ready to collapse. He and his men had to listen to ten of their own die in that fire.  “That’s a heavy weight for a man to carry around.”

Severide wants to take another field trip. Mills is hoping for the zoo this time around. No such luck. They’re heading off to Bloom’s mansion on wheels.  The bucket of bolts trailer door is open, so Kelly goes in. The kettle’s on the stove. Darn, they just missed him.  A loud honk from squad’s horn goes off and Severide sees his problem child running off. “What the hell? You just sit there and watch him give me the slip?” he asks his men.  They gave you the honk, big guy, calm down. They haven’t seen you this committed in a relationship since you dated, uh, well, never mind.  He leaves a note on a dry erase board. “I got your wallet. You know where to find me.”

Donna (guest star Melissa Ponzio) is back for a little Boden sexy time. Or she’s back to talk about some past Boden sexy time.  Chief pays her a visit saying he’s dumb, he runs into burning buildings, but away from relationships, he’s dumb (did I already say that?).  She isn’t hearing it and sends him packing.  Later, she shows up at the firehouse and says she needs to explain.  She’s … wait for it…preggers!  Apparently, menopause not an issue in the land of ChiFi.  Or maybe Boden’s super manliness can overcome any age barrier.  Is this going to be Wally’s chance to redeem himself for being a crappy father first time around?  Let’s all say “Awww,” together.  Now, all we need is to find Benny a baby mama. Or not.

Pictured: (l-r) Jesse Spencer as Matthew Casey, Lauren German as Leslie Shay — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)

Finally, let’s get to the best ten, the super save, the thing that made us fall in love last season.  Kelly says, “Sorry chief. One more save.”  A drunk Bloom, out of beer money, shows up at the station to retrieve his wallet.  Severide has arranged for two guys to come in from Bloom’s old house and talk him off that ledge.

W. Earl Brown is amazing in this scene, and arguably the best guest star since Katie (Brittany Curran) entered 51 for a far too short stint.  His face, the slow build up of tears as he listens to his men say they were wrong, is one of the best scenes this season.  Bloom, I know you were a helluva a firefighter because the way you just pulled this episode up from the depths of a burning trash heap is miraculous. Thank you.

Of course, Peter Mills is bowling at the end of the episode. He wanted all the guys to join him in honor of Jones.  She was apparently the Earl Anthony (Google it) of female firefighters – another little tidbit we were privy to this eppy.  She even had a 300 ring in her locker for bowling the perfect game. I always thought she had a bowler’s body. Mills is bowling alone.  Hermann shows up and it’s genuinely sweet and touching and all the things we loved about season one.

At the very end, we finally get a glimpse of the suicide note.  Dawson puts it on her locker door and we see, “Don’t let anything stand in your way.”  Not a suicide note at all but an inspirational message. Jones, I miss you even more.  Daisy Betts, you deserved better.

This episode was a perfect microcosm of what’s been troubling Chicago Fire this season. We see flashes of brilliance mired down in a bog of mediocrity. This outing could have been fast forwarded to those last ten minutes.  Those were must see TV.  The rest was irrelevant and worse yet, a real snoozer.

As I watched this episode, my mind drifted to the season premiere of Mad Men on Sunday. I know, I know! How can I possibly compare the AMC series to this NBC soapy firefighter drama and more pressing, who even watches that show?  Bear with me. Mad Men has been criticized for being boring. It’s not. Huge things happen on the series, like death – there was even a big suicide (RIP Lane). The difference between its “big shockers” and ChiFi’s is that it is completely believable on the ad men drama.  They’re not believable on Chicago Fire. The build up is huge. There’s always an intricate set up on Mad Men.  We KNOW those things could happen to the characters on Men.  Not so much on Fire.  Also, repercussions.  We will go a whole season dealing with the aftermath on AMC, while a major plot point will go the way of story line heaven in Chicago (Casey’s mom and sister, Kelly’s drug addiction, Hadley, the Darden boys, are all never mentioned again).

A huge crossover event is coming in two weeks.  I’m holding out hope that Chicago Fire can pull out one more save and salvage this season.  We only have three episodes left, three episodes to bring us back to those emotional feels of season one, to stay true to the characters we adore, to give the actors something to chew on, and, if it’s going to end with a big cliffhanger, make it believable. We want to believe!  I believe it’s going to happen.  Let’s meet back here in a couple of weeks for a glowing review about how Chicago Fire is ending strong and returning to some of that old season one magic.

Random Notes

Jeff Clarke (Jeff Hephner) said farewell to 51.  In a throwaway scene befitting this throwaway episode, we learn that Clarke made lieutenant and will be heading up 29.  No big goodbye, no dramatic send off.  Hep, you also deserved better. Is it wrong to hope that Agent X will die so that Clarke may live?  Just kidding! Best of luck.

Gordon Clapp returns from the NYPD Blue graveyard as Chaplain Oflawskysaliski  (or something like that) in an excellent guest spot going toe to toe with Boden, and holding his own.  What an awesome scene near the end when Chief sheds a ginormous Boden tear while bearing that ginormous Boden soul to the chaplain.  Killed it, guys.

To make the suicide make sense, we learn that Jones was depressed since birth, tried to kill herself at sixteen, and her dad was a really good guy, not the jerk he’s been billed as since she first came on the scene.  Tie up all those loose ends, no matter how ridiculous the bow.

Dawson gets her firefighter re-do soon.  Perfect timing. Oh, and she’s shocked when Boden tells her she can’t serve at 51. “Is it because Casey and I are seeing each other?”  You think?

I think that husband from last week came back.  He fit in another ChiFi appearance between his lawyer commercial gigs.  He was reincarnated as the dad of a girl with nasty bumps all over her face.  The overacting was a little hilarious.  I guess they all can’t be W. Earl Brown.