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Chicago Fire questions likely to be unanswered in season 8

By Brittany Frederick

CHICAGO FIRE -- "Protect a Child" Episode 817 -- Pictured: (l-r) Alberto Rosende as Blake Gallo, Eamonn Walker as Wallace Boden, Jesse Spencer as Matthew Casey -- (Photo by: Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC)
CHICAGO FIRE -- "Protect a Child" Episode 817 -- Pictured: (l-r) Alberto Rosende as Blake Gallo, Eamonn Walker as Wallace Boden, Jesse Spencer as Matthew Casey -- (Photo by: Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC) /
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Chicago Fire
CHICAGO FIRE — “Off The Grid” Episode 815 — Pictured: Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd — (Photo by: Adrian Burrows/NBC) /

2. What’s next for Stella?

Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) has been heavily featured throughout Chicago Fire season 8, as her career prospects have improved. First we had the storyline of Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) trying to push her as a leadership candidate, even sending her to a conference that only officers were supposed to be at. But after Stella caused a car accident due to her exhaustion, he throttled back on that.

However, Stella has now come up with an idea of her own and is co-sponsoring a new mentoring program for high school girls, training them as junior firefighters. That plotline just started in the last two episodes so there’s a fair chance that the season ends before it completely plays out, especially since that’s the kind of subplot that might sit to the side for an episode and then come back again. It doesn’t have to be mentioned every week.

This has definitely been a Stella-heavy season, and with more focus on Stella as a firefighter and not so much on her relationship with Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney). That’s been a breath of fresh air, because Stella is more than Kelly’s girlfriend, and because Chicago Fire fans could only take so much drama being thrown at Stellaride.

But the ultimate goal here still seems far off. Is Stella’s mentoring program going to be the end of her career ambitions? Is this something that’s meant to continue on and Stella is going to get new opportunities? Firehouse 51 doesn’t have a female officer, after all. The season is really pushing Stella having a bigger role professionally, and it just feels like whatever final form that’s going to take hasn’t been decided yet. Especially since there are more pressing issues, we’d be surprised if Stella’s subplot gets completely tied up by season’s end.

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