Chicago Fire season 8 midseason report: Matthew Casey

What’s next

When Chicago Fire season 8 resumes, it’ll be picking up after an episode almost wholly focused on Casey and Dawson, and it’s going to be relatively soon after Casey listening to that voicemail, as it has a cliffhanger to resolve. So there should be something in the midseason premiere that reveals what’s on Casey’s mind. Is he going to stay in contact with Dawson? Will he actually have any kind of lengthy conversation with Brett? Even just one scene would clear up a lot.

There’s a fan theory going around that Dawson will become pregnant from her one-night stand with Casey, and return sometime later this season to tell him she’s having his baby. That’s not out of the question, since Chicago Fire has already had Monica Raymund back twice in the season and a half since she left the show. But how exactly would that work?

Let’s play best case scenario for the Dawsey fans there: Casey and Dawson get back together and want to raise the baby. Except Dawson’s still living in Puerto Rico! Does she move back to Chicago? The two would want to be physically close to each other to parent together, but the whole point of Dawson leaving in the first place was that she found something fulfilling in Puerto Rico.

So does she walk away from that for Casey? Would either of them want her to give up something that is her calling? And even if she did that, that’s not going to solve the problem of not having her around regularly; are we just going to see Dawson and the baby whenever Monica is available for a brief guest spot? This would all seem very difficult, both character-wise and for the show itself.

If that doesn’t happen, Chicago Fire needs to decide if it’s going to do anything with Brett or not, and quickly. We’re coming up on about a full season since that started to be a possibility, so fans deserve a clear answer at this point. It doesn’t have to be them getting together; the writers can continue to slow burn that, but they need to give some sign to viewers as to which direction they are going. Because the thing Casey needs most of all is some stability!

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