One Chicago: Every Chicago PD/Chicago Fire crossover, ranked
By Deb Foster
Ahead of the latest One Chicago crossover event, join us as we look back at and rank each of NBC’s previous Chicago Fire and Chicago PD crossovers!
If there is one thing fans of NBC’s One Chicago fans have become accustomed to, it is crossovers between the franchise’s various series. Through smart writing, Dick Wolf and the creative team have created a universe which allows characters from its various shows to effortlessly crossover into one another be it for a brief cameo or full-fledged crossover event.
With yet another two-night One Chicago crossover event between Chicago PD and Chicago Fire upon us, One Chicago Center is taking a look back at the five previous crossover events between the two shows to rank them from best to worst based on their importance to the One Chicago franchise and the overall impact they had as stand-alone crossovers.
5. “Deathtrap” (Chicago Fire) and “Emotional Proximity” (Chicago PD)
More from One Chicago Center
- One Chicago stars tease new seasons on IG: ‘Here we come’
- NCIS characters who left the show unexpectedly
- Station 19 characters who left the show unexpectedly
- One Chicago star eager to resume production: ‘I’ve missed it!’
- One Chicago: Are shows getting closer to resuming production?
Technically this doesn’t fit our criteria of being a pure Fire and PD crossover but it was just too powerful of an event to leave off the list. (Plus, we never miss an opportunity to reminisce about Chicago Justice so we’re breaking our own rules and including it as our No. 5 crossover event.) The epic three-show event took place on March 1, 2017 and featured cast member from all four One Chicago shows within the three-show crossover.
The common denominator between the three episodes was a massive warehouse fire that killed 38 people including Detective Alvin Olinsky’s (Elias Koteas) daughter Lexi. What at first appeared to be a tragic accidental fire in a building with multiple fire code and safety violations, was eventually determined to be arson when Firehouse 51 personnel discovered that the doors had all been blocked.
With grief hanging heavily over the whole unit, Intelligence went to work to identify the arsonist responsible for 38 murders. Through painstaking interviews with the survivors, a key suspect was identified based upon a description provided by a now blind survivor of the tragedy.
The case was turned over to the State Attorney’s Office for prosecution but with little to connect the suspect outside of the testimony of the blind witness, hopes for a conviction were slim. Slim until investigators in the SAO were able to link the suspect’s social media accounts directly to the social media accounts of the blind witness and the true motivation for the crime was revealed: revenge.
Through a forceful closing statement, Assistant State Attorney Peter Stone (Philip Winchester) was able to trick the defendant into a rage filled confession leading to his conviction, bringing the three show crossover event to a very satisfying conclusion and launching the new, although short-lived, series Chicago Justice.