Chicago Fire season 6, episode 16 takeaways: The One That Matters Most

Did Chicago Fire’s handling of the Otis story satisfy you? How would you grade the new arrival? Here are our Chicago Fire season 6, episode 16 takeaways.

Last night’s Chicago Fire saw several big changes at Firehouse 51, but did any of them go over well with you?

Thursday’s episode was called “The One That Matters Most” and while Otis (Yuri Sardarov) was faced with the possibility of permanent injury from his shooting last week, the house welcomed a new firefighter (guest star Damon Dayoub) who turned out to have history with Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund). Small world.

If you missed any of this episode or just want a refresher on the events that we’re discussing, you can catch up with our “The One That Matters Most” recap.

Here are our Chicago Fire season 6, episode 16 takeaways:

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1) How long will Otis be out?

In “The One That Matters Most,” Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) told us that Otis has to complete at least two months of rehab before he can get back to Truck 81. But what does that mean in TV time?

In real time, there are only two months left of Fire season 6; the season is expected to end on May 10. So if we were anywhere near a 24-style approach, Otis could be in hospital scenes for the rest of the season.

But One Chicago is also known for its time jumps. There were time jumps in the Fire season opener and the Chicago Med season premiere as well, and that’s just this year. So Otis could only be out for a few episodes if the writers skip some time in there, or shorten his stint in rehab. It depends on how much they want to dig into his story, or if they decide they’ve got other stuff they want to do in the rest of the season.

Which brings us to observation number two on our list.

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2) The Cordova-Dawson connection

Okay, so Cordova and Dawson have a history, one that she hasn’t yet told Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) about. But what is it and more importantly, why should we care?

It’s fairly clear that these two were romantically involved way back when, as NBC has twice called Cordova a “flame” of Dawson’s in their promos. But that’s not necessarily a big deal. Everyone has exes; heck, remember that Dawson briefly got close to Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) and that’s never been brought back up in years.

There’s so many degrees of romantic involvement. There’s a big difference between, say, that Dawson and Cordova dated and that Dawson and Cordova were engaged before she met Casey. So playing coy with whatever their relationship was makes it hard to tell if we should sound the alarm or not.

The fact that Dawson feels she needs to tell Casey is slightly concerning, but maybe she just wants him to know and not hear it from the rumor mill (which, if you saw the promo that aired after this episode, you know how that goes).

But setting aside whatever Cordova’s history is, what’s Chicago Fire trying to accomplish with that part of his character? Right now, without more facts, all it looks like is a way to create drama with Dawsey. And do we need that? Does anyone want that? We’re not sure on either count.

3) What’s Boden’s future?

“The One That Matters Most” also dropped a potential endgame for Boden, when Chief Grissom (Gary Cole) suggested he move up the CFD ladder. Now, we’ve discussed Boden moving on before on this site, as a potential plot point in a series finale not a season finale. It’s a good idea, for sure, but not now.

That would definitely leave fans talking at the end of Chicago Fire season 6, but again, we have to look toward the long game and not just what seems like a good idea at the time. We don’t have a renewal for season 7 yet (though we have no reason to think we won’t get one). So if Boden isn’t at Firehouse 51, is Eamonn Walker getting written out? What purpose would that serve? Boden is more than just a boss character who can be replaced—he’s a big part of the ensemble.

Or, you know, Chicago Fire could have Boden contemplating leaving and then changing his mind in the end. That wouldn’t be the last time a fake-out like that has happened on this show either (hi, Severide!).

Next: Chicago Fire vs. Station 19

What did you take away from this week’s Chicago Fire episode? Leave your thoughts on “The One That Matters Most” in the comments.

Chicago Fire airs Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC.