Chicago Fire season 1, episode 12 rewatch: Under The Knife
Look back at where Chicago Fire began this summer. Read our retrospective on the twelfth episode as we rewatch Chicago Fire season 1, episode 12.
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 12.
If you want to rewatch this episode along with us, you can find Chicago Fire season 1 on iTunes and DVD.
This episode is called “Under The Knife,” and like the episode before it, it picks up with the same storyline that the previous installment ended on. Except this one is a lot less serious than a car crash.
Things had ended the week before with Gabriela Dawson and Peter Mills hooking up, and now Dawson (Monica Raymund) has to deal with the consequences.
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Dawson is startled to realize she’s naked and didn’t sleep alone the night before, as if the wine impaired her judgment. And that’s exactly what she tries to say to Mills.
Yet after he reassures her that no one will find out about them, she initiates another kiss with him. So which is it? Did she make a slightly inebriated flub or is she really into him?
In retrospect, the opening scene could be a bit clearer one way or the other, but this episode at least lets Dawson’s personal life settle for a bit.
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“Under The Knife” is still about Dawson, though, as she bonds with a teenage undocumented immigrant and tries to reunite her with her uncle before she can be deported. There’s also subplots for Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer), with overdue surgery and his mom, respectively.
The latter is more successful than the former. Casey’s mother (Kathleen Quinlan) was introduced in a previous episode, and the more we dig into the story of what happened between her and his dad, the more you kind of get an idea of why Casey is who he is.
Plus, her suggestion that her son perjure himself—by saying that he wanted his father to die, no less—is so incredulous it’s one of those “oh no you didn’t” moments.
Severide’s medical issues are addressed in a way that seems odd, looking back at it now. Why not give him a desk job? Otis (Yuri Sardarov) kept working at the firehouse while he was in physical therapy during Chicago Fire season 6, but Severide doesn’t have that option?
Maybe because having him tear off out of the building is more dramatic for Chicago Fire. And it’s hard to believe he’s seriously going to leave for Madrid; the show can’t afford to lose its co-lead in the middle of its first season. But that part of “Under The Knife” doesn’t hold up, not like the parts of Casey trying to deal with his family and Dawson trying to preserve one.
You can rewatch this episode on iTunes and DVD.
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