Chicago Fire started the One Chicago crossover with Infection, Part 1. Find out what happened in our Chicago Fire season 8, episode 4 recap.
This week’s Chicago Fire was the first hour of the latest One Chicago crossover, and it certainly provided plenty of suspense to get fans on the edge of their seats.
“Infection” begins with many of our One Chicago heroes tailgating before a Chicago Bears game, complete with a voiceover from the legendary sportscaster Al Michaels. But what should be a fun get-together, well, you know it’s going to turn bad or we wouldn’t have a show—let alone a three-hour crossover.
There are literally two minutes of banter before Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) notices a commotion. A guy is seizing and just repeating the acronym “BRT” over and over again. Not only that, but his leg is covered in a gross flesh-eating bacteria that makes us want to apologize to anyone who’s watching this episode while having dinner.
The man is rushed to Chicago Med, where Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) steps in, much to the annoyance of his ex-fiancee Dr. Natalie Manning (Torrey DeVitto). The two break the news of it being flesh-eating bacteria to everyone else, and ask them for help in identifying their patient. You have to cringe when Natalie says it’s not contagious, since the crossover promos have revealed otherwise.
Some time later, Firehouse 51 is back in business, with Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) informing them they’ve drawn duty for the city’s annual Oktoberfest parade. Chloe (returning guest star Kristen Gutoskie) tells Cruz that she and some people from her office are going, which One Chicago fans can see as a big red flag. Chicago Fire wouldn’t have her turn up just to talk about her social plans.
But back to the crisis-in-waiting. Ambulance 61 gets a distress call, and they force entry into the house only to find two dead bodies inside. These victims have the same symptoms as the person who collapsed at the tailgate. Now this officially is an epidemic.
A malicious fire
The call goes out for Chicago PD‘s Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer), who’s now found out the mystery dude is a student named Stuart Anderson. So where did Stuart get infected? What does he have in common with this deceased couple? As the paramedics return to the firehouse, Foster has become germaphobic. Brett, however, is finding out that Cruz is proposing to Chloe.
Cut to Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati), who finds the fourth victim at a local gas station. The woman and her baby die at Chicago Med, causing the CDC to be called in for what seems to be a “new and virulent” strain of staph infection. That’s in the news in about 30 seconds, causing a citywide panic. So it’s a great time for one of the mayor’s aides to show up to discuss Oktoberfest plans!
Luckily, Boden can leave him there when everybody gets called out to a structure fire. That would be Central Chicago University, which is the same place Stuart was attending before his gruesome death. There are people trapped in the basement of the science building, though the administrator is more worried about her precious research on the second floor. Maybe because the fire started in a secure lab? The kind of lab that might hold a lethal bacteria?
Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) notices that the lab belongs to BRT Health Industries; that’s the same acronym that Stuart mentioned. While he uses an argon tank as a battering ram to save the people trapped inside, the crew in the basement also realizes there’s something hinky going on. You don’t see green flames every day. Stella briefly catches fire, but Casey is there to smother the flames, and everybody gets out of the building.
A fatal development
When the fire is out, Boden questions one of the researchers about what’s happening in the lab. He explains they conduct biological research, including diseases and bacteria. With the pieces coming together, Boden calls Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), who speeds to the scene to interview the firefighters.
Severide tells Voight that he believes the fire was set deliberately, since the fire sprinklers should have been working when they got there—and they weren’t. Cue more dramatic music.
Back at the firehouse, Cruz gets interrogated by Chloe about why he’s made a dinner reservation, because she’s having second thoughts. But it’s not just about dinner; it’s about their whole relationship. She tells him she needs some time and breaks up with him right there, giving Cruz another kick in the gut. First the death of his best friend, and then he gets dumped, when he was about to propose no less.
Chicago Fire then shifts over to the 21st District, where Halstead and Adam Ruzek (Patrick John Flueger) are poring over Stuart’s personal effects and everything that they could salvage from the lab. They’re finally able to get into his phone, and discover that he’s been sending emails talking about an “apocalyptic event” in Chicago. Stuart Anderson wasn’t a victim; it appears that he’s the perpetrator, and he was using himself as the carrier.
And now that he’s died at Chicago Med, where do they go from here? Things obviously can’t be that simple, since there are two more hours to fill. Onward to this week’s episode of Chicago Med for more!
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