Chicago Fire season 6 by character: Joe Cruz
How was Chicago Fire season 6 for your favorite character? In this retrospective profile, we look at how Chicago Fire treated Joe Cruz this season.
As we continue to look back on Chicago Fire season 6, we’re breaking down the season for each of the show’s characters.
Did your favorite character have a good season or a bad season? What were their strong points and were there any weaknesses? Was the character affected by the show’s writing, or vice versa? Where could they go from here?
Check out our detailed character breakdown, and let us know your thoughts on how this season was for each character in the comments.
In this profile, we’re looking at Chicago Fire‘s Joe Cruz, as played by Joe Minoso.
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MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS:
Most of what happened for Cruz this season was related to his love life. First, he decided that he was still in love with Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer). Then he slept with a previous ex-girlfriend, and got punched by her husband!
Along the way, Cruz invented the Slamigan and went on a rampage after his BFF Otis was hit and almost killed by an exploding bullet.
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ANALYSIS:
When it comes to Joe Cruz, Chicago Fire season 6 left us a little bit wanting. Not to mention, feeling more than a little bit sorry for him.
Rekindling Cruz’s feelings for Brett felt like an awkward plot point from the very beginning. Given that this season was also rekindling Brett’s feelings for Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda), it felt like the show was just being cruel to Cruz, because it was so clear that he didn’t have any shot. (Although, given that Brettonio never went anywhere, maybe he does now.)
And Cruz sleeping with his married ex Delia was a boneheaded move, one that he knew was wrong, the rest of Firehouse 51 knew was wrong, and the audience definitely knew was wrong. What was the point, in terms of story?
So what does Cruz come out of this season with? A wounded heart and the Slamigan.
Having said that, his scenes in the first two-hour event were spectacular. The bromance with Cruz and Otis has been as meaningful a relationship as any either of them have ever had, and like Otis’s half of that storyline, it was a welcome change of pace to see him in a more serious light. Watch this scene below and you’ll get chills:
PROGNOSIS:
Chicago Fire season 7 will need to come up with something new and substantive for Joe Cruz to do. There’s no way he’s getting back together with Brett; the season 6 finale made it clear that she needs him as a friend more than anything, and even though Brettonio appears to be dead again, it would just be a bad idea to hook the two of them up again simply because they’re both single.
If anything, his romantic misadventures plus the fear of potentially losing Otis should be some kind of a wake-up call for Cruz. What does he want out of his life outside of the firehouse? The Slamigan was fun, but that doesn’t seem like something that the show can stretch out over more than one season. So what else does he have going on right now but firefighting? And that doesn’t seem like enough for him.
He’s a great supporting character, but there’s room to grow and develop him further next season, and this is exactly the time to do that.
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What did you think of Chicago Fire season 6 as it relates to Joe Cruz? Let us know how you’d evaluate his season in the comments.
Chicago Fire returns to NBC on Sept. 26.