Chicago Fire season 8 character review: Kelly Severide

Our prognosis

Hopefully, Severide will stay the course when Chicago Fire season 9 premieres. It would be very frustrating if nine seasons in—coming up on a decade of time—he was still acting reckless and screwing up his life. But we’ve said that before; we thought he’d grow up after Anna died, and he didn’t change that much at all. It’ll come down to whether or not the writers are willing to commit to a Severide who is different from the character they first envisioned.

After all, just because he’s not self-sabotaging doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have an edge or isn’t interesting. What makes him compelling is the risks he’s willing to take for his friends, colleagues and total strangers, not the risks he takes for no reason. He’s still going to get into trouble; at this rate, he’s earned a private investigator’s license with all the sleuthing that he’s done on different cases!

Another thing that the show should consider building upon is Severide’s friendship with Seager. The idea that Seager had a crush on him, and that Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) was jealous, was honestly just lame. It felt like forcing something that didn’t fit for drama’s sake. Seager is a cool character, and we haven’t explored Severide’s female friendships. Yes, he’s friends with the paramedics, but how many Severide and Brett scenes can you recall?

Seager could be a friend who pops in from time to time and helps out, and who proves that another woman can be in the Stellaride orbit without being a threat. That would be a great new relationship, and a big sign that this isn’t the same Kelly Severide anymore.

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