The Chicago Fire season finale 51’s Original Bell featured Severide on a mission. Find out what happened in our Chicago Fire season 8, episode 20 recap.
The Chicago Fire season finale saw another member of Squad get injured, and Kelly Severide was so over it.
Wednesday’s episode “51’s Original Bell” was a bad day at the office for Capp (recurring guest star Randy Flagler), and Severide (Taylor Kinney) was determined to deal with the negligence that led to his injury by any means necessary.
Meanwhile, Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) got another update about her half-sister, as well as some potentially bad news about her partnership with Emily Foster (Annie Ilonzeh).
Click through this slideshow to find out what happened in the latest Chicago Fire episode for each of your favorite characters, starting with:
Capp gets injured
Chicago Fire opens the episode with Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo), Foster and Brett teaching their Girls on Fire group. Stella gives a rousing speech about how proud she is of everyone, and how they shouldn’t let anyone tell them what they can’t do. Awww.
Back at Firehouse 51, Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) returns after his wedding, still over the moon at being married. He already has a “real honeymoon” planned for June. And Capp has recovered the firehouse’s original bell and is cleaning it up. He just doesn’t get a chance to finish before the call to handle an “industrial accident.”
Everyone arrives to the scene of a chlorine gas leak. As Chief Wallace Boden (Eamonn Walker) calls for Hazmat backup, and Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende) gets the cold shoulder from his sort-of-girlfriend Violet when the paramedic arrives on the scene, Squad heads into the yellow cloud to look for any further victims. Severide finds the source of the leak; it was caused by a chemical reaction…which promptly causes the tank to explode. Because it’s not Chicago Fire until something explodes.
Capp is blown backwards by the explosion, causing his protective gear to fall off and exposing him to the gas. Severide rushes him out to Ambulance 61; he’s having trouble breathing and is visibly injured, though insisting that he’s fine. Seeing Capp’s injuries, Boden confronts the man in charge of the scrapyard about why a tank of chlorine is in his yard. He pleads ignorance.
Foster’s big decision
“How many regulations you think that place is violating?” Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) asks his colleagues when they get back to the firehouse. Severide declares that he’s going back there after their shift ends; Boden tells Casey to go with him, to make sure that Severide doesn’t do anything more than talk.
Meanwhile, Foster approaches Stella to ask for advice. She has an interview at Northwestern University for admission back into med school. She explains that she’s been thinking about it for a while, but she’s also afraid of looking like she’s abandoning Brett with everything that’s happened recently. Stella replies that Brett’s the person she should be talking to.
Brett is happy to see Scott return with her half-sister. He’s there to tell her that he’s taking Amelia and moving back to Rockford. He still wants Brett in the baby’s life, but can’t afford to stay in Chicago on just one income. Brett understands, but is disappointed anyway.
Severide and Casey find out that this scrapyard has a history of being shady, and learn from Boden that Capp can’t be found at Chicago Med. The duo go to the hospital themselves, where Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) informs them that Capp refused treatment and left. Furthermore, Will has to file a report that would harm Capp’s reputation at the CFD. They convince him to wait 24 hours while they try to find their friend and colleague.
After they break this news to the rest of the firehouse, Stella is surprised to see Kylie, her first Girls on Fire recruit, walk in the door. She wants to borrow Stella’s copy of the CFD firefighter manual. Stella assures her that the program will keep going through the summer, while Severide stares at the bell that Capp didn’t finish cleaning and decides he’s going back to the scrapyard ahead of schedule. “Don’t let him do anything stupid,” Casey tells Cruz.
Severide confronts the scrapyard owner, accusing him of getting paid under the table to dump hazardous materials. Cruz keeps the duo from getting into an argument. Elsewhere, Brett tells Foster what Scott said, which keeps Foster from informing Brett about her med school option. Instead, they’re sent to a call where someone mistook glue for lip gloss. That has to be on the short list of dumb mistakes, but Foster is able to quickly solve the problem by applying nail polish remover to the glue.
They take the victim to Chicago Med, where Will spills the beans about Foster’s interview with Northwestern. Brett is stunned and immediately turns on her partner, accusing her of already having made up her mind, despite the fact that this is just an interview and not acceptance.
Cruz and Tony bring the bell to Molly’s, where they work on getting it finished for Capp. They also try to give advice to Gallo about Violet. Finally, he goes over to speak with her and she tells him that she’s on her way to meet another guy for a date. His suggestion that they keep things casual and continue to see other people has officially blown up in his face.
Gallo returns to his colleagues and explains his problem, only to be laughed at by his older and wiser friends. Mouch (Christian Stolte) informs him that he’s in a war he can’t win. Cruz insists that getting married solved all of his problems. “Says the guy who has been married for a week,” Mouch retorts.
Chicago Fire cuts to Casey and Severide arriving at Capp’s place. Severide tells Casey that he first met Capp when the other man was working on another truck. The two were trying to break open a door, and Capp tried to launch himself into the door, only to get his foot stuck in it. Severide was at least able to get through the hole Capp’s foot created and open the door.
The duo find Capp sitting in the dark, still saying that he’s fine. Casey warns him that he needs to see Will or he’s going to get reported, but the two grab some beers and sit with their friend.
What happens next?
The next day, Stella is worried when Kylie is a no-show for Girls on Fire, and Severide confronts an OSHA representative about how fines aren’t enough to make up for Capp’s injury. “Treat it like there’s a human being whose life and career is at risk,” he advises the guy. But all the man does is say he’ll look into it, and Stella warns her boyfriend not to go do the wrong thing. In return, Severide urges Stella to call Kylie.
Gallo continues to get excoriated by Ritter, while Brett gives Foster the cold shoulder, and Boden introduces Capp’s replacement (who looks oddly like he could be Capp’s brother). Everyone is called to a hearse vs. car accident, where the hearse driver is pinned under the coffin that he was carrying. And he’s freaking out, as you would if you were getting smushed under a dead guy.
With a lot of teamwork, our heroes are able to move the casket, at which point Chicago Fire pulls a bit of a “gotcha” by revealing that there is no dead guy. The coffin was empty this whole time. “Well, that’s fortunate,” Mouch quips. Well, they could have mentioned that to the driver!
Severide declares his intention to make another trip back to the scrapyard, and this time he’s done talking. The squad arrives to find a stop work order slapped on the front gate; the place has been shut down. And Brett tells Casey (and us) that Capp went back to the hospital and will be getting more tests done the next day. Casey’s words about feeling someone’s pain like it’s your own hit home with Brett, who gets a contemplative look on her face.
Violet shows up at Firehouse 51 to confront Gallo about his persistent texts, including asking if she was dead. She reminds him that they’re not in a serious relationship. He continues his steady meltdown, capping it off by blurting out that they should get married. Violet understandably calls him crazy and leaves, at which point Gallo tells his eavesdropping coworkers that Cruz told him to say that. Of course he did. Not that he admits it, just standing there with his cereal looking all “Who, me?”
In the final few minutes of this Chicago Fire season, Stella leaves a phone message for Kylie and Capp tries to fake out Casey and Severide by claiming his eyes are ruined before we find out he’ll be fine. The duo bring him to Molly’s, where he’s presented with the restored firehouse bell. We know this is a time to celebrate because Herrmann declares that all the drinks are on the house.
The following day, Foster goes in for her Northwestern interview and decides to open it with a monologue about why she left medical school the first time and how she’s learned from her “last three years” at Firehouse 51. Chicago Fire then cuts to afterward, where she finds Brett waiting for her. Foster will have to wait to find out if she gets back into med school, but she and Brett have clearly made up, as Brett assures her that “They’d be lucky to have you” and they leave arm-in-arm together.
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