Chicago Fire season 7 midseason report: Stella Kidd

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CHICAGO FIRE — “The Beginning is the End is the Beginning” Episode 709 — Pictured: (l-r) Tye White as Tyler, Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC) /

What it means

It’s no surprise that Stella has taken on a bigger role in Chicago Fire season 7. The show needed a new primary ship with the end of Dawsey, so Stellaride was obviously going to become more of a focus. And after the duo spent the better part of two seasons in relationship limbo, there was sort of a sigh of relief when they finally were put back together last season.

But because of all that build-up, most of Stella Kidd’s character development has revolved around who she’s dating. Even her being in that fire during the crossover was as much about Severide and him worrying over his girlfriend. It’s been a while since there’s been a good Stella story that’s just about Stella.

This season could’ve done that when it introduced Tyler, and started to reveal a little bit more of her past (like that purple hair she used to have!). But there was a big missed opportunity when that wound up being about her relationship, too.

Severide is clearly jealous of Tyler (which is tired in a sense because we also had to go through Stella being jealous of Foster for talking to Severide), and Chicago Fire is remaining frustratingly vague about if Tyler actually has a crush on Stella or is just a protective old friend. The best thing the show can do for Stella is wrap that up pronto.

It’s certainly possible for Tyler and Stella to just be friends, and it would be cool to get back to him shedding more light on Stella’s history. How about everyone stops being jealous and we just go on exploring a character we still haven’t learned a lot about?

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