Chicago Fire season 7 character review: Stella Kidd

What it means

It was pretty clear that Chicago Fire was favoring Stella this season. She had plenty of screen time, and several episodes made her the hero of the story. She wasn’t just able to figure out the human trafficking, for example, she was physically there to bust the bad guy along with Severide. Stella’s season was crafted in such a way that it made her look like the star.

But there’s a logistical reason for that. Following the exit of Monica Raymund‘s character Gabriela Dawson, Stella became the show’s female lead and one-half of its most prominent ship. She’s got to be a huge part of the series going forward, because she’s become the favorite female character and Stellaride is the biggest relationship the writers have to work with now.

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That does come with some drawbacks from a writing standpoint, though. As a viewer, it does get a bit obvious when plots are clearly made to feature anybody (like Stella being the one to get hurt in the crossover so Severide could worry about her and create that romantic tension).

And there was a weird turn when the writers made a potential friendship with Emily Foster (Annie Ilonzeh) come across as a threat to Stellaride, by having Stella be jealous about it. They cleared the air near season’s end, but the show’s emphasis on Stella and Severide meant it put a spin on the other story that wasn’t necessary. With the ship back together, though, hopefully that should be a thing of the past.