Chicago Fire season 7, episode 8 recap: The Solution To Everything

Chicago Fire had everyone back on duty this week, but were they back to normal? Here’s what happened in Chicago Fire season 7, episode 8.

After last week’s emotional episode, Chicago Fire went back to firefighting this week, but there were still pieces to be picked up. Plus, why was Naomi Graham still hanging around?

“The Solution to Everything” starts with Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) facing his first day back at Firehouse 51 after his father’s funeral. He’s understandably subdued as he heads into the house.

But then Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) confides in him that A) he’s still thinking about Naomi, and B) apparently he and Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund) signed the divorce papers “a while” ago.

Severide tells Casey to call Naomi, while we wonder why a Severide moment just became about Casey’s love life. And apparently, Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) was in a calendar some 30 years ago, so everyone knows what the comedic subplot this week will be.

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Mercifully, there’s a house fire that needs to be put out so we can stop talking about all of these things.

Everyone pours in to clear the house and look for a man who’s stuck inside, but then the chimney collapses and it’s Severide who gets the worst of it. Of course.

Eventually, both the man who was trapped and Severide are pulled out of the collapsed home, only after Severide does a fair amount of ordering his colleagues around. You have to respect a man who is still trying to do his job even while under a chimney.

Severide eventually stumbles out of what’s left of the house and Boden orders him to be checked out at the hospital. It seems like everyone’s more worried about him, even though he’s very much alive, than putting out the rest of the house fire.

Once the trucks return to the firehouse, Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) gives Casey her opinion about being told not to run into the house after Severide. Casey points out that the last time she chased after her boyfriend, she almost died.

As for the man himself, he’s in an exam room admitting to Emily Foster (Annie Ilonzeh) that he froze up during the fire. Foster tells him “from personal experience” that losing a parent can mess with someone’s head. That seems to resonate with Severide.

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Chicago Fire tries to lighten the mood by going back to the calendar gag, with half the team poking around in filing cabinets looking for one. And having Naomi (recurring guest star Kate Villanova) so conveniently turn up to give Casey an update on the trailer park fire case—she’s gotten a mystery phone call that ends with warning her to “start watching your back.”

Naomi tells Casey that based on the information in that message, she’s uncovered another case in Indianapolis, and she’s looking for him to help her out yet again. Is she going to become a damsel in distress?

But hey, forget about that, there’s a new puppy in the firehouse! The dog belongs to Ritter, and it really likes Stella. Yet Stella really likes Severide, and wants to check in with him now that he’s out of the hospital. He continues to insist that he’s fine.

"Severide: I’m just trying to get through the day. I don’t need you turning everything into some big emotional crisis. Can you just give me some space?"

That night at Molly’s, Cruz’s girlfriend Chloe (guest star Kristen Gutoskie) is being regaled with the story of the house fire, and says she can help with the calendar search because she’s got a degree in library science.

And when Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) hears Naomi’s name, she can easily tell that Casey has a bit of a thing for her. She’s not only willing to give him a few tips on impressing Naomi, she happens to know someone in Indianapolis. If she can sober up long enough to remember his name.

Plus, Foster tells Severide her mother passed away from lung cancer during the final year of her medical residency. Stella sees Severide talking to Foster, and is naturally jealous that her boyfriend won’t talk to her, but will talk to the new paramedic.

The next day, Stella tells what she saw to Brett, making sure Brett knows how “great” she thinks it is. Foster happens to walk in after them, and she can tell that things are a bit weird, but Brett says Stella is just “a really friendly person.” You’d think she’d be a little more honest with her partner.

At least Brett’s contact came through for Casey, who calls Naomi to show her what was found in Indianapolis. There is, indeed, a connection between that fire and the ones that they looked into earlier. Naomi has notes of her own and has constructed an entire corporate conspiracy, which she is determined to expose. Casey invites himself along on her investigative road trip, and says he’ll buy her dinner, too.

There’s another puppy sighting before Cruz tells Firehouse 51 that Chloe hasn’t been able to find the calendar either. Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) thinks he might know where it is, but doesn’t want to get involved now that he’s a supervisor. But of course, he gets nudged into it.

"Herrmann: Come hell or high water, I am going to get us that calendar."

Ambulance 61 gets a call to a local bar where an unfortunate soul has a dart stuck in his head. It’s funnier that Chicago Fire makes a point of identifying the bar’s clientele as Green Bay Packers fans but, presumably for legal reasons, can’t actually show the Packers name or logo anywhere. So if there’s a joke here, it doesn’t land.

And then a drunken bar fight breaks out, so luckily Truck 81 was already on the way for backup. In the melee, Stella shoves Foster out of the way, telling her “Your job’s over there.” And Dart Guy has it ripped out of his forehead anyway. He’s fine, though, just needs a bandage. The point of this is just to show that Stella has a problem with Foster, and is a little passive-aggressive besides.

Brett gives Stella an ice pack for her new bruise and a talking-to, while Severide thanks Foster for listening to him and asks if she can get a drink with him. Foster, motivated by what just happened, tells him to find Stella instead.

But hey, Chicago Fire hasn’t resolved the calendar thing yet! Herrmann shows up at Boden’s house to ask Donna (guest star Melissa Ponzio) if she’s got a copy. She claims she doesn’t, but of course she has that particular month hanging up in their closet. She’s the only one who will ever see that photo, and now she doesn’t really want to go out on their dinner date.

That’d be a great place to end. Yet it’s not the end. Ominous music rises as Casey and Naomi wind up in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night. Our two amateur detectives don’t know that they’re being watched, but the audience does.

For the latest Chicago Fire season 7 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago Fire category at One Chicago Center.