The Chicago Fire Season 14 Finale Leaves Careers in Flux and Lives on the Line

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

While Chicago Fire Season 14 struggled with inconsistent storytelling and the need to write out characters almost every episode, the season ended on a high note.

We got a storyline told through two timelines: the fire Firehouse 51 attended and the lead-up to it.

With all the reminders of family and love, it was clear that lives would be put on the line in an episode that would remind many of finales past.

Haunting Reminders of the Dangers of Firefighting

Even without the constant reminders of the scary and dangerous call Firehouse 51 had been brought to, the Chicago Fire Season 14 Finale brought us multiple haunting reminders of how firefighters risk their lives every single shift.

There was a beautiful ceremony at Molly’s, with Cindy making it clear that she has to struggle with knowing that Herrmann risks his life every day.

The surprise return of Isaiah serves as a reminder that Severide constantly risks his life, and that OFI would be the safer job to take.

There’s even a hint of a reminder with Vasquez’s storyline, as he’s offered the chance to rejoin the Police Academy, although not quite as heavy as the other two.

Then the end brings us that eeriness of Engine and Squad walking through the burning building blind, while people back home are living their regular lives.

While they know at the back of their minds that they could get that phone call to say their loved one is in the hospital or has been killed on a call, they don’t live in constant fear of it. They have to get on with their lives.

Chloe — who finds out that she’s expecting twins — is unpacking groceries, and that moment of the leaking juice boxes added a bittersweet lightness, because we’ve all been there!

Cindy is looking through memories, while Trucy reads Mouch’s smutty firefighter romance of the past because that’s the book Atomic Publishing wants to publish — and I’m so grateful Herrmann wants Mouch to run with that and that we get that full callback to Chicago Fire Season 5.

The decision to constantly take us back to the call at strategic points in past scenes was expertly done, adding tension where it needed to be and those brief reminders that we’re building to this.

In fact, at one point, I forgot that there was this dual storyline going on. 

I was so engrossed in Cruz and Chloe learning they were having twins that I felt jolted out of it when I went to the fire.

If I were jolted by that, I wondered how Chloe would feel getting that call, as she’s jolted out of her day-to-day activities.

I want to see Chicago Fire Season 15 continue this intensity, because it felt, for an episode, like we were back to what made the show great.

Careers in Flux No Matter Who Lives or Dies

I said at the start of the Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 21 that we’d end on a cliffhanger.

The last couple of seasons haven’t ended with that level of intensity, and not every season does. In fact, it works better when we go a few years without a life-or-death cliffhanger.

With the budget cuts in recent years, the decision to end with this cliffhanger has me worried.

All it takes is the news of a character or two leaving, and we’ll be left wondering if they won’t make it out alive.

I hope that kind of cast change isn’t announced this summer.

I don’t want the same feeling I had all the way through the summer after Fire Country Season 3, because finding out that Billy Burke wasn’t going to return meant that I was already gearing up not to like Season 4.

Part of me hopes we get something more like the lead-up to Chicago Fire Season 8, when we believed all the major players would make it through the fire.

I want to feel the shock and the pain of the loved ones. Okay, maybe I’m a mashocist saying that, but I want to feel the story the writers are telling us, and keeping everything a surprise for the Chicago Fire Season 15 premiere is the way to do that.

Even if everyone makes it out alive, it doesn’t mean everything will be the same.

Severide still has a decision to make. Will he stick with Firehouse 51 — which suddenly is what the CFD wants him to do — or will he opt for the safer job of OFI?

What’s CFD’s decision about Pascal, since it looked like he was back as Chief during that call? I really wished the series had clarified that going in.

I called that Vasquez would likely get the offer to switch back to CPD after showing off his skills during Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 18, but I have to question whether that is where his heart lies now.

He’s also proved himself as a firefighter. Does he want to go back to the career that he was born to do, or does he want to continue with the career that he’s forging for himself?

Then there’s the hint that Herrmann may be getting ready to retire, which I still think she should do, and that getting out of this call could lead him to realize now is the time.

And why do I feel like there was a hint of this episode back on Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 19 with the mention of Otis?

The Chicago Fire Season 14 Finale was a powerful way to push us into the summer, because that cliffhanger mixed with the bittersweet memories (Hawkins! Boden!) and haunting thoughts is all I’m going to think about.

Want to get involved in the conversation? We’d love you to!
We love chatting with you about each Chicago Fire episode, and I feel like we’re all going to need to hold each other until Season 15 gets here. So, feel free to drop your comments, and let’s get each other through the summer!