Chicago Fire season 1, episode 4 rewatch: One Minute
Look back at where Chicago Fire began this summer. Read our retrospective on the fourth episode as we rewatch Chicago Fire season 1, episode 4.
Over the One Chicago summer break, we’re looking back at where it all began by rewatching the first seasons of our shows—and today we’re revisiting Chicago Fire season 1, episode 4.
If you want to rewatch this episode along with us, you can find Chicago Fire season 1 on iTunes and DVD.
“One Minute” can best be described as Casey vs. Voight, Round Two. This is the episode where Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) really starts messing with Casey.
We said this last week but it’s worth saying again: rewatch this episode and then try to fathom a One Chicago universe where this guy’s the hero. But that’s exactly what happened!
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Anyway, so Casey’s car is “suspiciously broken into” in this episode, and at the end so is the car belonging to his then-fiancee Dr. Hallie Thomas (Teri Reeves). It’s pretty clear what’s going on here, and Jason Beghe is also clearly enjoying chewing the scenery.
That makes it kind of a Catch-22: you can see with his almost larger than life performance why NBC thought he’d make a good star for a spinoff, but at the same time, you really don’t like the character.
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Although “One Minute” is more remembered for Voight’s campaign of annoyance, it’s actually better because of the storyline for Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) and Peter Mills (Charlie Barnett)—the first big storyline for both of their characters and a very poignant one.
Rewatch the scene that sets the stage, involving a warehouse fire where Boden has to make the most terrible decision a firefighter could make:
This is a great plotline for Chicago Fire season 1. Firstly, this is simultaneously the hardest and the most obvious decision to force Boden into. All first responders are inevitably faced with calls like this, so it’s a natural story to tell, but that never makes it any less devastating.
Secondly, this allows us to finally start exploring both Mills and Boden. We understand more now how Boden isn’t just another boss-type character, and he’s just as much a firefighter as those who are under his command. And Mills gets some definition beyond “the new guy,” as this is where we learn that his father died in the line of duty. That, of course, will come back later.
Trivia tidbit for this episode: Mrs. Grady, the elderly woman whom Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) helps in the midst of all this drama, is played by actress Irma P. Hall.
Hall is a Chicago native and this was one of her last TV acting credits—after 2012, she went back to working in film, save an appearance on HBO‘s Getting On and a recurring role on the recently cancelled Hap & Leonard for SundanceTV. She’s pretty awesome, and you can catch her again by rewatching this episode on iTunes and DVD.
Next: What Chicago Fire season 6 was missing
Join us every Thursday this summer for our Chicago Fire season 1 review. For more Chicago Fire related news, follow the Chicago Fire category at One Chicago Center.