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3 reasons why Chicago Fire’s new Dawsey relationship won’t work

By Brittany Frederick

CHICAGO FIRE -- "When They See Us Coming" Episode 618 -- Pictured: (l-r) Damon Dayoub as Jake Cordova, Jesse Spencer as Matthew Casey, Miranda Rae Mayo Stella Kidd, Christian Stolte as Mouch, Monica Raymund as Gabriela Dawson, David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann -- (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)
CHICAGO FIRE -- "When They See Us Coming" Episode 618 -- Pictured: (l-r) Damon Dayoub as Jake Cordova, Jesse Spencer as Matthew Casey, Miranda Rae Mayo Stella Kidd, Christian Stolte as Mouch, Monica Raymund as Gabriela Dawson, David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann -- (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC) /
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CHICAGO FIRE — “Where I Want To Be” Episode 619 — Pictured: Monica Raymund as Gabriela Dawson — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC) /

3. It’s a logistical nightmare

Our first question about Chicago Fire season 7’s handling of Dawsey is a simple one: how exactly is this going to work?

As far as audiences know right now, Monica Raymund is not returning in season 7 to wrap up her character’s storyline. That could change, or maybe she’ll be persuaded to come back later on. But right now, she’s not coming back at all. And Jesse Spencer is staying on as a series regular. So we have one-half of the relationship who will be in every episode—and one-half of the relationship who will be in zero episodes.

Many fans have already pointed this out, but a long-distance relationship arc only really works if an actor is away from the show temporarily, or their character is recurring. (See: how Chicago Fire handled Severanna before it had Anna randomly move to Chicago and then, erm, killed her.) But in this case, it’s a short-term solution for a long-term problem.

So are we just going to get periodic updates on Dawson, and therefore Dawsey, through Casey? The most the show can do with Dawsey now is refer to something that’s happened off-screen, or have them talking on the phone—but we’d still only hear his side of the conversation. That would work for an episode or two, but not much more. This is going to be hard to work around, and it will only get harder the longer it goes on.

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