Chicago Fire season 7 midseason report card: What worked, what didn’t?

As Chicago Fire takes its midseason break, it’s time to ask: what parts of Chicago Fire season 7 worked, what didn’t, and what’s coming next?

The new season of Chicago Fire has reached its halfway point, which means it’s time for only one thing: our annual midseason report card!

The seventh season has been one of change inside and outside of Firehouse 51. While the house has struggled with a new regime (represented principally by Jerry Gorsch), there has also been a big transition inside it now that Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund) left Chicago for Puerto Rico permanently.

So what should fans make of all this? There have been highs, lows and questions throughout the first half of the season, and this report card is where we discuss them all.

We’re going to walk you through the parts of the first half that worked best and the ones that did not quite work out. Then last but not least, we’ll give you our opinions on what could happen next based on what we’ve seen in the first nine episodes. Starting with:

What worked

There were high expectations for Dawson’s replacement, but Chicago Fire shushed them early by announcing that Annie Ilonzeh was a series regular before her character Emily Foster even got to Firehouse 51. That was a big risk (after all, fans could’ve hated her character and consigned her to the same bin that Jason Kannell, et al have gone to) but it paid off. Ilonzeh has fit right in with the show.

So has Daniel Kyri, who has a recurring part as Ritter, the candidate brought into Firehouse 51 to get a fresh start after the big crossover event. Let’s hope he gets to stick around, too, because he’s great.

It also meant a lot that Monica Raymund was willing to come back and shoot some final scenes to wrap up Dawson’s story. She was under no contractual obligation to do that, but the fact that she did was important because it gave closure to a character and a relationship that had been part of the show for so many years.

And Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) being promoted was one of those “about darn time” moments that we’re still giddy about. Maybe it doesn’t mean much in the big picture, but he really deserved that and Eigenberg has been playing it so well.