Chicago Fire’s 3 most frustrating characters in season 7

1. Matthew Casey

Speaking of growth, Chicago Fire season 7 could have completely reinvented Matthew Casey. He went through a sudden divorce, it was only a season prior that he’d been promoted to Captain, it had all kinds of possibilities in front of him. But what lands him at the top of this list was that we didn’t feel like it really explored any of them.

To be fair, Casey’s season got off on the wrong foot because the show had to awkwardly wrap up Dawson’s departure—something that showrunner Derek Haas admitted they didn’t handle well. Getting Monica Raymund back to at least have Dawsey break up on screen helped, but it was still not great.

But then things kind of got muddled after that. Chicago Fire didn’t waste a ton of time throwing Casey into a brief relationship with reporter Naomi Graham (recurring guest star Kate Villanova) that was a total misfire. It felt heavy-handed (she was flirting with him almost immediately) and it ended right after they slept together with his apartment burning down and her dumping him to go to Switzerland.

The show backtracked then and had Casey still brooding over Dawson’s departure. That would have been the kind of thing to do before hooking him up with a new love interest. Oh, and he was almost shot, too.

So if you add it all up, Matthew Casey’s season involved a terrible romance, him almost being killed twice (at least the writers acknowledged that happens to him too much), and his apartment burning to the ground. It was a really frustrating season when it could have amounted to so much more.

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.