Chicago Fire season 7 character review: Kelly Severide

What it means

Severide had an eventful season, but it was dealing with themes that Chicago Fire fans have seen him struggle with for years now, so it’s up to you if you consider it a good season for him or not.

The biggest development was the death of his father, and that’s something the writers may end up regretting. In a big-picture sense, it felt a little too familiar (Benny was the second father to die this season alone, after Pat Halstead and before Cornelius Rhodes). For this show specifically, it didn’t seem necessary—and even if it was, it was an emotional letdown to not give Kelly a chance to say goodbye to his dad. That scene would have meant so much for his character development.

The Stellaride material in season 7 was fun to watch, but it wasn’t surprising. Even when they weren’t together, they were both pining for each other, so the show wasn’t fooling anybody; they were going to resume their relationship at some point. It was just a matter of when.

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If there was one surprise in the season, it was the attempt at having Emily Foster (Annie Ilonzeh) try and support Severide through his dad’s loss. It was nice to see Foster develop another dynamic with someone other than her partner, and to see Severide have screen time with someone other than Stella, since they share so many scenes together. But the writers kind of truncated that by having Stella be jealous, which made the whole thing awkward.

Still, give them props for not bringing back yet another of Severide’s many ex-girlfriends.