Chicago Fire season 8: New Year’s Resolutions for the rest of the season

Chicago Fire returns in the new year, so we’re making some New Year’s Resolutions for what we need to see in the rest of Chicago Fire season 8.

New Year’s Eve is upon us, and that means it’s time to start thinking about making some New Year’s Resolutions. So why not make a couple for Chicago Fire?

We’ve put together a short list of three things that Chicago Fire ought to do in the second half of season 8—whether they’re things that will make the show better, or things that would make a character’s life easier, or just things that make sense but haven’t happened yet for whatever reason.

Check out our New Year’s Resolutions for Chicago Fire below, and leave your own resolutions for the show in the comments at the end of the article.

And don’t forget that Chicago Fire season 8 returns on Jan. 8 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC!

More from Chicago Fire

• Here’s the perfect Chicago Fire episode to watch on Thanksgiving
• Chicago Fire gets season 12 release date (and it’s very soon!)
• Kara Killmer’s Chicago Fire exit kind of spoils Brett cliffhanger
• 4 ways Chicago Fire could write Sylvie Brett out of the show
• Every cast member leaving a Dick Wolf show in 2024

1) Get Brett and Casey together, or not

The second biggest question from the end of last season was if Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) and Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) were going to get together as a couple. We’re now at the halfway point of this season, and we still don’t have any clarification.

In fact, we’re even more confused, thanks to Chicago Fire‘s decision to have things heat up again between Casey and his ex-wife Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund).

Whether you’re interested in who Casey dates or not, everyone can agree that this question needs to get answered already. Both Brett and Casey need to move beyond this “will they, won’t they” so they can be developed in other directions. Either they’re going to hook up and we’ll follow what it means for both of them, or they don’t and that screen time can be used to give both characters a new storyline.

But having them in this limbo where they’re not even interacting that much is just stalling both of them in terms of character development this season.

Watch One Chicago on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!

2) Develop Foster better

Chicago Fire fans didn’t learn much about Emily Foster (Annie Ilonzeh) last season other than her sexuality and what she revealed about losing a parent. And through the first nine episodes of this season, we still don’t know a lot about who she is outside Firehouse 51.

That’s troubling, because if the show doesn’t fully flesh out a character, then we can’t completely connect with them. Just look at what happened on Chicago Med with Ava Bekker—the fans never learned much about her beyond her romantic relationship, and so it was no wonder that many of them didn’t embrace her. The writers eventually turned her into a crazy person and killed her off.

There’s no danger of that happening with Foster, but there’s still a lot of work that can be done with her. While Foster and Brett have become true partners, who else is in Foster’s life? Does she have any hobbies? What are her beliefs? We want to know more about her, and this is the right time to do that. She’s been introduced, the fans have accepted her, now let’s dig deeper.

3) More of Ritter and Gallo

Speaking of character development, we’re still learning about Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende) and we haven’t seen as much of Darren Ritter (recurring guest star Daniel Kyri) as we would have liked this season. Chicago Fire season 8 has teased the idea of Gallo and Ritter becoming buddies, and that’s a great idea that needs to happen.

It would give more screen time to both characters, which they can both use—we still need to get to know Gallo, and Ritter has been great when we’ve seen him but we want to see more. And their team-up would be interesting for the show as well. We’ve seen over the last two seasons or so where some of the veteran firefighters, most notably Mouch (Christian Stolte) have felt their age and been talking about retirement.

Why not look at that from the other end of the spectrum with Ritter and Gallo? Have them explore what it’s like to be a young, inexperienced firefighter? Especially when you’re working at the city’s most intense firehouse? Maybe they’ll have different perspectives on how to do things than their veteran counterparts. Chicago Fire can write about more than them learning from the team; they can be useful in other ways as well.

For the latest Chicago Fire season 8 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago Fire category at One Chicago Center.