Chicago Fire midseason finale recap: Always A Catch

Chicago Fire’s midseason finale burned the house down (literally). Here’s what happened in Chicago Fire season 7, episode 9.

The Chicago Fire midseason finale went pretty much the way past finales have gone on this show: there was a cliffhanger, a big fire, and plenty of romantic angst. So what went wrong this time that wasn’t like all the ones before?

“Always A Catch” opens as Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) and his new love interest slash partner in crime Naomi Graham (recurring guest star Kate Villanova) are talking about what they found as they were poking around at the end of the previous episode. They continue to flirt, of course.

Back at Firehouse 51 everyone else has other things to talk about. Things get awkward between Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) and Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) again when she wants him to come out with her and her friend Tyler (returning guest star Tye White), and Severide would rather be anywhere else.

And Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) gets a phone call from his girlfriend Chloe (recurring guest star Kristen Gutoskie), which results in everyone at the house hearing when she becomes involved in a multi-car accident.

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Everybody rushes to the scene, where Cruz begins a frantic search for Chloe. Of course, she’s one of the people who’ve been injured; she’s unconscious and has to be cut out of her car before she can be rushed to the hospital.

It seems like there’s a loved one in the line of fire in almost every major One Chicago event, doesn’t it? But cue the scene of a freaked-out Cruz worrying at the hospital, along with the rest of the crew, who by now are treating Chloe like family.

At least someone points out how they’ve made too many trips to the waiting room lately. And look, it’s Kyle (recurring guest star Teddy Sears)!

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Chloe needs emergency surgery, which causes Cruz to go literally running through the hospital. It’s so we can get the other dramatic scene of him talking to her as she’s being wheeled in, and having to watch her go.

With nothing to do but wait, he tells the rest of Firehouse 51 to go back into service. But as they’re leaving, a doctor stops Emily Foster (Annie Ilonzeh). She recognizes Foster and gives her kind of a pep talk, which ends with her suggesting that Foster re-enroll in medical school. But she can’t do that, right, because then we’d need another paramedic?

Eventually Chicago Fire brings us back to the house, where the news breaks that Chloe is now out of surgery and stable. Before the show even lets that sink in, here’s Naomi trying to get Casey to come out with her again—this time for an interview with the people she’s trying to stop. Uh, you have terrible timing, Naomi.

Speaking of bad timing, just a minute or two later is when Tyler likewise decides to walk in. Stella has to tell him she doesn’t know if she can have dinner with him; Severide coldly tells her to “do what you want; I’ll be at the game.” Tyler sees this and tells Stella about his previous confrontation with Severide.

He even compares Severide to her stalker ex Grant (that guy who attacked her two seasons ago), which prompts Stella to confront Kelly. This sparks an argument between them about who the real problem is and she leaves after giving him an ultimatum:

"Stella: This jealous, possessive thing that you’re doing—I don’t respond to that, so you know. It has got to end. It’s got to end now, or else we do."

Severide goes to Casey for advice on how to fix his breaking relationship. But Casey, who’s just out of a failed relationship himself, doesn’t have much advice. He just points out the couples here who have managed to make things work, which just reminds Chicago Fire fans that we need a lot more Mouch and Trudy in our lives.

Ambulance 61 is dispatched to an “unknown causes” call and find a young boy who’s lost a ton of blood after apparently jumping on his bed. While trying to rush him to the hospital, Brett winds up behind a truck that dumps its load all over the street, rendering the ambulance useless. She takes the drastic step of commandeering a car to finish the journey.

That’s more exciting than continued Stellaride angst, but we cut back to them; he denies that he threatened Tyler and Stella says that’s still not addressing his own issues. He still won’t talk to her except to say he doesn’t know what she wants from him. Does that remind anyone of this?

“Always A Catch” segues to Naomi’s interview with the family who own the trailer company she’s been investigating. But here’s another non-surprise: it’s not an interview. After ranting about how she’s not treating them like human beings, they tell her that not only are they suing her but they’re also going to personally attack her.

Casey just sits there quietly through most of this, except to mention the elderly woman who died in the first fire a few episodes ago. After they’re thrown out of the non-interview, a gleeful Naomi is happy when he kisses her, and One Chicago viewers can guess what’s going to happen the next time we see them.

But first, more important things: Chloe finally regains consciousness. Her parents are relieved and be sure to tell Cruz how much he means to their daughter. Brett arrives to say hi, and also to pop downstairs and ask Kyle out on a dinner date (sorry, Brettonio shippers).

As for Foster, she’s at Molly’s Bar with Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) when he asks her about that medical school offer. He doesn’t want her to leave Firehouse 51, which is fine because she likes it there and she’s staying.

Then it’s time for your shipper updates: Severide is ordering pizza by himself while Stella goes to have a drink with Tyler, and yes, Chicago Fire gives us a good thirty seconds of Casey and Naomi getting hot and heavy on the way to his bedroom.

After they’ve slept together, he wakes up later and realizes that somehow, the entire rest of his apartment is on fire! It’s not hard to guess that it’s arson, caused by the people who just made a point of threatening Naomi personally. The problem is, now Casey’s mixed up with her.

So Chicago Fire ends with another cliffhanger that has Casey in the middle of a fire. It’s sort of like the fifth season finale “My Miracle” only it’s his apartment, not a warehouse and no one’s outside waiting for him.

But if we were Matthew Casey, we’d invest in a bunch more extinguishers. Not to mention check on our renters’ insurance, because there won’t be much left when we see him next.

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.