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

What’s next

First things first, Chicago Fire has to get Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) out of his burning home and have him trace that back to the trailer company. Hopefully that won’t take long, because has anyone wondered where he’s going to live now? That’s a crime scene, so he can’t stay there (and that’s assuming there’s anything left by the time Firehouse 51 puts out the blaze).

Hopefully he doesn’t bunk with new girlfriend Naomi Graham (recurring guest star Kate Villanova) because that would be too fast. But could you imagine Casey crashing with Severide? More advice about each other’s relationships incoming? There could be some fun offshoots of that fire should the show want to focus on more than the drama.

As we’ve spoken about on the site before, the absence of Fire Commissioner Carl Grissom (Gary Cole) was pretty glaring in the first part of the season—but again that wasn’t the show’s fault. It was because Cole was unavailable, working on other projects, and the good news is he’s coming back later this season. We need some more Gary Cole, and we need some scenes between the new boss and just about everyone.

Plus, we need more Mouch (Christian Stolte). Particularly with his wife Trudy Platt (Amy Morton). Mouch hasn’t gotten a ton to do yet, and since Platt isn’t getting any screen time on Chicago PD, why not bring her over here for some more delightful snark between the one crossover couple that our franchise has been able to sustain?

What did you think of the first half of this Chicago Fire season? Give us your thoughts about the first nine episodes in the comments, then tune back in on Jan. 9 for the winter premiere!