Chicago Fire continued to chase an arsonist and new romance in The White Whale. Find out what happened in our Chicago Fire season 7, episode 21 recap.
This week’s Chicago Fire continued the storylines set up in last week’s episode, preparing One Chicago fans for another of the show’s crazy finales.
Wednesday’s episode “The White Whale” continued Kelly Severide’s (Taylor Kinney) hunt for the arsonist who had eluded his father, allowing him to identify the person and come much closer to them than he probably ever expected.
Meanwhile, Ritter (recurring guest star Daniel Kyri) got his biggest storyline yet, as Chicago Fire told a story about a retiring firefighter whose departure from the Chicago Fire Department was hiding a much darker truth.
Click through this slideshow to find out what happened in the latest Chicago Fire episode for each of your favorite characters, starting with:
Sparks, literally and metaphorically
Severide presented the evidence he’d found at his father’s cabin to Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) and Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker), sure that the person his dad had been chasing was also responsible for the salon fire they were still investigating. They were understanding, but Boden told Severide to messenger the material over to the Office of Fire Investigation and let them handle the case going forward.
Meanwhile, a fireman from Firehouse 77 named Russ LaPointe was retiring, and Russ seemed to be beloved by everyone but Mouch (Christian Stolte). Mouch’s grudge semeed to stem from getting his behind kicked in a hose-roll competition while then-girlfriend Trudy Platt (an unseen Amy Morton) was watching.
Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) developed an awkward cough when she saw Casey walk into the bunk room, and told Emily Foster and Stella Kidd (Annie Ilonzeh and Miranda Rae Mayo) what her friend had said about her and Casey being meant for each other. But Stella seemed to agree, and when Foster asked how Brett felt about him, she only managed, “I don’t know.” Well, everyone else does, including Chicago Fire fans.
The first call of the week was an idiot who’d been playing with fireworks and was now missing a few fingers. That’s why you don’t play with fireworks, kids. The best part is that despite the maiming, some of the guy’s idiot friends were still shooting off fireworks—and one of them hit Casey in the neck. Brett came to the rescue, complete with semi-romantic underscore.
Severide gets busted
Kyle Sheffield (Teddy Sears) was at Firehouse 51 when Casey returned. After the two had another short, awkward exchange about Brett not being there, Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) took Ritter over to Firehouse 51 to meet the retiring Russ. Chicago Fire viewers learned Ritter’s first name: Darren!
While Russ said he didn’t want a huge retirement party, Severide found out Alexa Hubble wasn’t convinced that Benny was right about the arsonist, and she told him she “didn’t need a lecture” when he urged her that the suspect would strike again.
Boden quickly found out about their talk and was waiting for Severide back at the firehouse, suggesting that his lieutenant’s judgment was clouded because the situation involved his father. When Severide snapped back at him, Boden sent him home on medical leave. However, in the locker room, Casey told Severide that he supported him “and I’m not the only one.”
After Ritter asked Herrmann if Russ seemed down about retiring and the gang decided to invite Russ to Molly’s, Severide visited the salon to keep investigating. He also spotted the guy who’d been eager to sue somebody last week, but salon owner Niya told him that didn’t make sense: Gavin’s apartment wasn’t located anywhere near the fire. Oh, and he’d just gotten out of prison after a pretty long time. Like, maybe 15 years?
When Severide tried to speak with Gavin, the other man just smirked, leading to a shoving match that ended with Severide pinning Gavin up against the wall. The two were quickly separated, but Chicago Fire made it clear who the prime suspect was.
Back at the firehouse Brett chastized Casey for not changing the bandage on his neck wound. But Casey was on his way to pass Severide’s information about Gavin to Hubble, adding that Gavin matched the physical description of the arsonist in Benny’s notebook. Hubble was still not convinced, though, because of how Gavin had alerted them to the power outage the night he’d wanted to sue. Why would he help investigate his own crime?
Chicago Fire then cut to Molly’s, where Russ was regaling everyone with his stories from 35 years on the job. He then surprised Mouch by apologizing for the hose-roll gaffe from years ago—and wanting to give him his prized Best Individual Firefighter medal! “I don’t need it anymore,” he insisted. “It’s yours.”
But the more drinks Russ had, the more gruesome his stories got, while Severide ranted to Casey about Hubble. Still going through the notebook, the ink on the page triggered a memory about the pen that Benny always used, and made Kelly think that “with this stuff, I can’t hold a candle to him.” That might be an unpopular opinion, Severide.
A thrashed Russ collapsed on the floor of Molly’s, before breaking down in tears. “Guess they don’t really prepare you for that at the academy,” Ritter said. “The way the job just gets inside your head.”
Saving a life
The next day, seeing that Russ had given Mouch his medal only fueled Ritter’s suspicions that Russ was not okay. He convinced Herrmann to go with him to Russ’s house, where his wife said that they were separated and he’d gotten his own apartment. Ritter explained to Herrmann that his beloved Uncle Anthony, the one who’d inspired him to be a firefighter, had committed suicide. “I always wished I’d seen the signs,” he said. “You’re seeing them here.”
Elsewhere Severide quite obviously snapped a photo of Gavin to show it to the person who’d caught a glimpse of the arsonist. Carol recognized his last name and she was able to identify Gavin, but when Severide turned his back she was also rifling through Benny’s notebook. Hey, was it time for another Chicago Fire fourth-act plot twist?
Indeed it was! The woman slipped away allegedly to make coffee, but Severide saw suspicious items on her table and then caught her car speeding away. He phoned Casey to tell both him and Boden that he’d gotten it all wrong: it was Carol, not Gavin, who was the arsonist—and he knew she had already planted her next device at a church!
With minutes to go, Chicago Fire sent everyone to the church in hopes of stopping Carol, especially since there was a baptism going on at the time! While Boden started to evacuate all the attendees, Casey followed Severide’s instructions (based on the supplies he was looking at in Carol’s house) and headed down to the church basement.
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He began to smell gas, and followed the scent to find the latest device—but the timer had already run down too far to stop it. The device went off and the fire broke out, with Casey locked outside. Finally, he busted the lock and Herrmann swept in with an extinguisher to put the blaze out in the nick of time.
“The White Whale” concluded with Severide returning to the firehouse, where both Stella and Hubble wanted a word with him. Chicago Fire cut away from that, though, because Casey needed Brett’s help with his bandage. Cue more piano music and a long look between them, plus another look from him when she walked away. So fans will have to just guess what Hubble said, and what Stella wanted to say.
But what happened to Russ LaPointe? Herrmann found him at his apartment, bringing along Russ’s wife, Ritter, Kyle and a bunch of other people to tell him that there was help available for him. Mouch was there, too, returning Russ’s medal and convincing him to go get help. Russ broke down crying again as Herrmann told him it was going to be okay.
Back at the firehouse, Hubble spelled out the full story of the arsonist for the team and the fans: Carol had stopped lighting things on fire when she got married and had “emotional stability,” but she started again when her marriage ended three months ago. She then let Severide take over the briefing, because somebody still had to find Carol!
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