Chicago Fire season 7 character preview: Joe Cruz

What should happen

Joe Cruz is a supporting character, so Chicago Fire is never going to give him the same amount of screen time or storylines as someone like Kelly Severide. That limits what can be done with him, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have nice things in Chicago Fire season 7.

The first thing that needs to be done is sorting out the mess of Cruz’s romantic life. His renewed crush on Brett was just said, because everyone knew that the storyline for Brett was with Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda), so why write that story for Cruz when it was only going to end badly for him? Not only did it not have much point, it felt pretty sad.

Then to have Cruz get mixed up with a married woman, even though he recognized his mistake and broke it off with her, felt like kicking him when he was down (or punching him, if you will). If the show has to get him a love interest—and it looks like it will—it needs to be something nice and straight-forward that gives him some respect.

Another thing that ought to happen is more of Cruz’s serious side. Joe Minoso was brilliant when Cruz cracked during the Otis situation, and he doesn’t get to do enough of that. Just because Joe Cruz is funny doesn’t mean he always has to be used for laughs.