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)
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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.
4. “Some Make It, Some Don’t” (Chicago Fire) and “Don’t Bury This Case” (Chicago PD)
Our No. 4 crossover occurred just a year ago on January 3, 2017 and found Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) in a world of hurt spiraling deeper as Dawson (Monica Raymund) and Casey (Jesse Spencer) are confronted by Louie’s biological father.
Just when we thought Kelly Severide was about to get his personal life on the straight and narrow by agreeing to donate blood to cancer patient Anna (Charlotte Sullivan), it all went awry in typical Severide fashion. It was quite clear that Severide wasn’t only interested in doing something noble through the donation, but that he was just plain interested in Anna. When the marrow donation could not take place because Anna had suddenly taken a turn for the worse, Severide wasted no time in reaching out to his usual coping mechanism: the bottle.
This time, he woke up the next morning to the Chicago PD arresting him as the prime suspect in a fatal DUI. Having no memory of the incident, Severide is unable to prove his innocence but former love interest Detective Erin Lindsay (Sophia Bush) was determined to do so in Part-2 of the crossover on Chicago PD.
While Lindsay spent the episode defensively claiming that she was no longer interested in Severide, the Chicago PD proved Severide’s innocence fairly quickly in the second part of the crossover when they linked the accident to a gang of carjackers targeting high value rare vehicles.
The real action of the episode came in the form of vintage Voight (Jason Beghe) crossing line, going as fas as putting the key suspect’s mother in a car trunk as a mock hostage to lure the suspect out of hiding. This was also Kim Burgess’ (Marina Squerciati) first day with the Intelligence Unit and her enthusiasm was a bit much for everyone including a suddenly, somewhat sexist Detective Olinsky.
Our No. 4 crossover provided some intense moments, but in the end proved less satisfying than the others as it relied on old themes and strained credibility at times. Still, it was a crossover and anytime our One Chicago cast mates get to play in each other’s yards it’s always just a little more fun.
3. “A Dark Day” (Chicago Fire) and “8:30pm” (Chicago PD)
The No. 3 three crossover on our list took place four years ago on April 29 and April 30, 2014 and it was all hands on deck when a mass casualty incident rocked the city.
While off-duty, Casey and Dawson were volunteering at a charity run outside of Chicago Med (well, not quite the Chicago Med we know today as this was a different location) when a massive car bomb explosion rocked the building, trapping an untold number of people inside including Dawson.
Firehouse 51 responded immediately rescuing the victims with several heart-pounding scenarios that kept us glued to the television. Dawson was alive, but trapped in debris. She ultimately was able to make enough noise by banging on some pipes which allowed Severide and Casey to locate her and dig her out. Peter Mills (Charlie Barnett) saved the day from further disaster when he diffused a second bomb.
Chicago PD picked up the investigation on the second night by establishing a makeshift command center outside the hospital. The first real lead comes as they pull a print from the bomb that Mills diffused as it ultimately led to an anti-government fringe group who, through their website, warned that their war against the fire and police departments had only just started.
Evidence of a third car bomb sent the unit on a mad hunt for the white van housing the bomb. When they finally found the van, they also spotted the group leader on a nearby rooftop leading to a massive gun fight that Voight ended when he burst onto the roof and shot the suspect. Remarkably, Voight only wounded the man which gave Voight the chance to be Voight and get in a good knockout punch before slapping the cuffs on.
In between the main action, Chicago PD officer Kim Burgess faced the prospect of losing her niece to a liver injury sustained as they were watching the race near the site of the explosion. Fortunately Burgess’ niece survived, but only because they she was able to receive the liver of another young girl who suffered irreversible brain damage as the result of the explosion.
Our No. 3 crossover was a great example of how to pack in as many high-risk, exciting action and rescue sequences as possible into two hours while allowing our series regulars to show us why they are heroes.
2. “Three Bells” (Chicago Fire) and “A Little Devil Complex” (Chicago PD)
The crossover that takes our second spot also happens to be the second crossover for the franchise and the first two-night event which aired on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4, 2015. It consisted of the Chicago Fire episode “Three Bells” and the Chicago PD episode “A Little Devil Complex” with the story all centered on the death of paramedic Leslie Shay (Lauren German), which still ranks as one of the most shocking and impactful events in Chicago Fire’s tenure.
When Kelly Severide uncovered suspicious clues involving the fire that claimed Shay’s life, he reaches the conclusion that arson was the cause of the fire. Following his discovery, Firehouse 51 worked with Intelligence to apprehend the arsonist suspected of killing her.
The event sends Severide to prison where he visits former 51 firefighter turned arsonist Kevin Hadley (William Smillie), horribly disfigured from burn scars, who claimed to have evidence related to the case. That evidence proved fruitful in leading them to the real arsonist who they linked to several other fatal arson fires in the past; however, the CFD Fire Investigation yielded too little evidence to pursue the case.
Fortunately, Dawson went straight to her brother Detective Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda) and Chicago PD picked up the case in Part 2, ” A Little Devil Complex” which presented One Chicago fans with one of the most sinister bad guys the franchise ever saw: arsonist and murderer Adrian Gish (played with ice-cold precision by guest star Robert Knepper).
We would find out that his name wasn’t actually Gish, but that he was Ross McGowan. After this discovery, McGowan planted a bomb in Burgess and Sean Roman’s (Brian Geraghty) squad car right under their noses and blew it up as they spoke with him. However, there was still one more major plot twist in McGowan’s identity. As it turned out McGowan wasn’t his true identity either. He was really Trent Lamont, who had survived a fire started by his father which killed everyone else in the family causing him to become an arsonist.
The crossover came to a terrifying conclusion when Gish/McGowan/LaMont trapped Dawson in an elevator, doused her in gasoline and was about to set her on fire when Antonio shot and killed him.
The crossover served as a final goodbye to Leslie Shay who had been the heartbeat of Firehouse 51, showed us once again how tight Gabby and Antonio are and served as an example of how thrilling a crossover event could be.
1. “Let Her Go” (Chicago Fire)
The very first Chicago crossover event in history occurred on May 15, 2013 in the Season 1 Chicago Fire episode, “Let Her Go.” “Crossover events” were so new to the television landscape that the second part of the event didn’t even warrant its own title at the time.
Series spin-offs are nothing new, but they usually simply “begin to exist” on their own with characters from an already existing or previous series simply showing up in the new show; however, the creative teams of the Dick Wolf universe took a different approach by having the episode serve as the backdoor pilot to the new series Chicago PD . Chicago Fire set the plot up and helped introduce the characters of the Chicago PD for the second half of the crossover.
Chicago Fire viewers had already been introduced to Detective Hank Voight when he waged a war of intimidation and harassment against Lt. Matt Casey and his then fiancé Hallie Thomas (Teri Reeves). As we soon found out, though, Voight had been released from prison and was now in charge of the CPD Intelligence Unit forcing Casey to team up with his former nemesis to solve Hallie’s murder.
It was a brilliant way of reintroducing Voight as a more complex character alongside the entire team of detectives who would be the driving force of Chicago PD. That team included another familiar face, Detective Antonio Dawson, brother of Chicago Fire paramedic Gabby Dawson, who we’d also met in previous Fire episodes and who helped in taking down Voight. The crossover also opened the door for a potential romantic involvement between Casey and Dawson and that reason is enough to earn it the top spot!
Next: Our Top 5 Favorite One Chicago Couples
This has been a look back at all the Chicago Fire and Chicago PD crossover episodes with a very loose ranking of how they fall in importance. How would you rank each of the Fire and PD One Chicago crossovers? Let us know in the comments and don’t miss new episodes of Chicago PD and Chicago Fire Wednesday and Thursday night, respectively, at 10/9 on NBC!