Chicago Fire season 8 midseason report: Kelly Severide

What it means

In some ways, Chicago Fire feels like it’s rehashing an old discussion with Severide’s current story of working outside Firehouse 51. Fans have already seen Grissom trying to meddle in Kelly’s life. The only difference now is that this time he did it for the good of the overall CFD, and not solely to get Severide promoted—which is why Kelly finally accepted the transfer to OFI.

But while it may not be unique, this is a very organic storyline for Severide. Fans have noted a few times over the past seven seasons that our firefighters seem to spend almost as much time being private investigators, and they’re good at it, particularly Kelly. It’s kind of baffling that somebody in the fire department didn’t try to utilize their investigative talents before this!

So you do have to tip your hat to the writers for acknowledging that and making something out of it, too.

Chicago Fire has been intimating that Severide might stay with OFI rather than return to Firehouse 51, but that’s the one part of this that rings hollow. If he left the firehouse, he wouldn’t be on the show anymore! It revolves around the firehouse, not the firehouse and the arson squad. So there’s some false suspense there, but other than that, it’s good to see Severide take steps forward even if they weren’t voluntary.

And you know what else is great? The show not coming up with yet another something (or usually someone) to get between Severide and Stella. Even if you’re not a Stellaride shipper, seeing all of the back and forth between them was getting tiring. Good on the writing staff for letting that ship just exist for a while.