Look back at where Chicago Fire began this summer. Read our retrospective on the sixth episode as we rewatch Chicago Fire season 1, episode 6.
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 6.
If you want to rewatch this episode along with us, you can find Chicago Fire season 1 on iTunes and DVD.
The sixth episode “Rear View Mirror” finally resolves the Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) vs. Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) storyline in spectacular fashion.
But it’s almost as much about Gabriela Dawson’s (Monica Raymund) unresolved feelings toward Casey, too, as both of their off the job problems bring emotions to the forefront.
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Seemingly talked off the proverbial ledge in the last episode, Casey gets angry again and then some in this one once someone connected to Voight plants cocaine in his and Hallie’s apartment.
Though he’s able to get out of the planned drug bust by having the officers call Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda) and Hallie (Teri Reeves) flushes the drugs, Casey has had enough and goes to Voight’s place to engage him in a fistfight.
Voight dares Casey to shoot him—which of course, our hero doesn’t do. Instead, a sting operation is set up and Voight gets arrested when he offers money to have Casey handled.
That doesn’t stop him from glaring at Casey as he’s arrested, not unlike how his old partner Denny Woods (Mykelti Williamson) would glare at Voight before being hauled off at the end of this most recent Chicago PD season. There’s a little bit of deja vu when you compare the rampaging Voight from Chicago Fire season 1 to the rampaging Woods from now, with moments like this:
The other storyline involves Dawson facing suspension for her own actions in the previous episode, which is serious enough; she did something she shouldn’t have, even if it was for totally right reasons. But the misstep of “Rear View Mirror,” in a sense, is that the show makes it seem like Dawson’s angst over Casey’s problem is far more than her own issue.
We get that she’s upset about his trouble and cares for him—but that makes her own difficulties feel like they’re not as important, to her or to the show. We like Dawson, and of course Dawsey is totally happening, but Dawson’s fate should be just as significant as Casey’s. And the fact that the episode ends with her gazing at Casey and Hallie across the room is telling, too.
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This is one of those episodes where it feels like there’s too much emphasis on the romantic stuff. There’s more than enough drama in this episode, between Casey finishing Voight and Dawson in a fight for her job, but somehow the focus keeps coming back to Casey, Dawson and Hallie. It feels like that should be the other way around.
At least Voight is dealt with, for now, and everyone can move on. But with guns being pointed, people getting arrested, and fights breaking out, this episode is about a lot more than what it’s remembered for. If you want to watch this episode again, you can find it on iTunes and DVD.
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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.