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Chicago Fire season 6 report card: What worked and what didn’t

By Brittany Frederick

CHICAGO FIRE -- "The Whole Point of Being Roommates" Episode 608 -- Pictured: (l-r) Kara Killmer as Sylvie Brett, Monica Raymund as Gabriela Dawson -- (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)
CHICAGO FIRE -- "The Whole Point of Being Roommates" Episode 608 -- Pictured: (l-r) Kara Killmer as Sylvie Brett, Monica Raymund as Gabriela Dawson -- (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC) /
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Chicago Fire season 6 is complete, so it’s time to put the season in review: What worked? What didn’t? Here’s what we thought about this season.

This season of Chicago Fire is in the books, meaning it’s time to look back on Season 6 and see how it all turned out. What parts of the season worked and made us fans all over again? What parts didn’t and could use room for improvement in the future?

We answer those questions in our Season 6 Report Card as we examine where this past season of Chicago Fire burned brightest, and where it didn’t always succeed. Looking back at the big picture, we hope you get additional perspective on all of the season that was.

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts about Season 6’s hits and misses in the comments, and continue the discussion.

Here’s how we grade Season 6 of Chicago Fire:

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WHAT WORKED:

  • Casey becomes Captain: Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) getting promoted was a great turning point not just for him, but for the entire show. With as good as these characters are supposed to be at their jobs, it was great to see someone finally get ahead in the CFD system. And it also opened up new dynamics for Casey with both Severide and Boden.
  • Stellaride finally happened: Whether you ship them or not, Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) getting together was a plus if only because it stopped the revolving door of Severide’s love life and put a period in something that Chicago Fire had been teasing for the better part of two seasons. The execution wasn’t perfect, but it was a start.
  • Illustrating the cost of firefighting: On a less happy note, we saw some truly poignant and heartbreaking material in the second half of the season with Otis (Yuri Sardarov)’s injury and Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) mourning the loss of a colleague. These two plots reminded fans how much Firehouse 51 risks every day, and gave extra screen time to two of the show’s underrated supporting characters.

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WHAT DIDN’T:

  • The love lives of our paramedics: Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) was all over the place this season, whether it was the will they, won’t they, not quite she did with Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda), the subsequent pregnancy scare, or how Chicago Fire had ex Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) fall back in love with her. And did anyone else feel like giving Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund) an aneurysm was just piling on to all the grief she’s already had when it comes to trying to have a family? Plus, that cliffhanger ending.
  • Hope: We’re still trying to figure out why the first six episodes of the season spent so much time on a woman obsessed with Severide. Eloise Mumford is great, but her character didn’t need to take up that much screen time. She could’ve been handled in an episode or two.
  • Cliffhangers: The show resolved three cliffhangers this season—last season’s fire, the midseason finale with Ramon Dawson (Daniel Zacapa), and the episode that ended with Severide and Casey jumping off the roof. That’s a lot of cliffhangers, with multiple characters in life-threatening peril…and everyone pretty much came out fine. The worst that happened was Ramon spending a few days in hospital and becoming a minor celebrity.

There was no shortage of drama in Chicago Fire season 6, and once again the show delivered all kinds of firefighting action. But it definitely faltered in the personal department, creating crises that often felt like they were just adding issues to characters and relationships that didn’t need them. The season did address some of the concerns from the end of last season, but there’s still room for improvement going into the fall.

When the show focuses just on telling good stories, it’s fantastic; it just goes a little sideways when it tries to throw in more complications to those stories than it needs. On the plus side, it seems like Severide has his act together after six seasons—and the big fires and rescues in this season were among the best.

Next: Look at Chicago Fire's season 6 ratings

How would you look back on Chicago Fire season 6? Let us know your thoughts about this season in the comments.

Chicago Fire returns this fall on NBC.

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