Chicago Fire season 8, episode 6 recap: What Went Wrong

A rookie mistake

After Foster’s brief mention of the women’s lounge, 51 got called to a fire. Chief Boden ordered them to the roof, the perimeter of the home, and to hose line it down. Casey told Gallo to go around back, but do not go inside. Blake saw a little boy run around the corner, screaming that his family is inside. Gallo felt for the little boy, as his own family perished in a house fire, so he told the him that he would go get the family members who were trapped.

He went inside against Casey’s orders, and when Kidd okayed Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) to knock the front door down, it sent the flames surging towards Gallo. He ended up getting out and was okay, albeit shaken up.

Meanwhile, the kid’s grandmother was still inside, but Squad 3 found her, and got her down via the window on the second floor. The paramedics intubated and took her to Med. After the scene was secure, Casey ordered Gallo to get ready for overhaul.

Once he was back at the firehouse, Gallo felt like he was looking over his shoulder every time Casey spoke to him. Matt ended up calling Blake into a conference room, where he confronted him about his disobedient actions.  Gallo stuck to the facts, and apologized for going in against the captain’s orders. He got reprimanded, and was ordered to do a myriad of dirty jobs around the firehouse. Finally, Casey told Gallo that he would be noting the misconduct in his after incident report.

Later on in the episode, the Chief went to Casey, and told him about Gallo’s past. Casey asked him: “You think that’s why he lost his head on that call?” Boden answered honestly, and explained that Blake was around the same age as the young boy, when he lost his own family to a fire.

Casey felt for his recruit, but he also needed Gallo to know that he couldn’t very well send other members of his team into a fire with someone who was hiding their Achilles’ heel. Matt then saw firsthand how affected Blake was by the house fire that occurred last shift, when he overheard Squad 3 discuss it. Casey was left to wonder if Gallo would ever come clean to him about his past.

Blake found a friend in fellow newbie Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri), who told him that you could really be yourself at 51, and that the slogan “you’re never alone” applied inside the firehouse too. Ritter advised Gallo to talk to Casey, and Gallo took his advice, as fans saw him go to Casey with his full story.

In a heart wrenching scene, Blake recounted how he heard his little sister call his name, but he ran into the closet, scared for his life. He never knew if he could have saved them all.

Matt then got a little personal himself as he told Blake that he too lost someone in a fire: his first fiancé Hallie (Teri Reeves). He also mentioned the fact that the whole firehouse was still reeling from the loss of Brian “Otis” Zvonecek (Yuri Sardarov).

One of the most profound quotes came from this scene, when Matt reminded Blake: “When you can admit to your pain, own it. That’s when it makes you stronger.” And that’s what would make Blake Gallo a great firefighter.