Chicago Fire season 9 premiere recap: Rattle Second City

Stella and Boden

We find out that all the civilian employees have been furloughed by the Chicago Fire Department because of the pandemic, and Stella’s mentoring program has also been shut down. She begs a high-ranking officer to reconsider, while Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) finds out that his squad will have to give up some Saturdays to test out new equipment. (Say it with me: “I’m, uh, gonna need you to come in on Saturday…”) Severide is not enthused and then he has to listen to Stella rant. But he tells Stella how proud he is of her.

Later, Boden informs Stella that she has approval to restart her Girls on Fire program. He’s jealous because her request got through while his multiple requests to get civilian staff back haven’t. That gives him an Idea with a capital I.

Chicago Fire‘s first fire of the season involves a photo studio, where both Stella and Severide are still inside trying to save people as the building starts to collapse, and Stella rescues her trapped boyfriend at the literal last minute. These heroics again make Boden consider Stella’s future with Firehouse 51.

He calls her back into his office and tells her that there are not enough women or people of color in leadership positions in the Chicago Fire Department, so he wants her to take the lieutenant’s test. But um, where would that leave her since 51 already has two lieutenants and a captain? The show doesn’t address this, as Severide tells Stella he’ll help her prepare for the exam.

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Herrmann, Mouch and Ritter

Chicago Fire catches up with Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) in the bathroom. He calls Mouch (Christian Stolte) that he has an idea to drive traffic to the new patio they’re opening at Molly’s: they should bury a “free drinks for life” coupon and then write a poem that will make people want to come looking for said reward. Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri) volunteers to help with their new literary exploits.

After they argue over the composition of said poem, they bury a jar outside the firehouse and Mouch and Herrmann publicize the “treasure hunt” to the media. But because they included a mention of Firehouse 51, someone figures it out very quickly, much to Herrmann’s complete irritation. Some things never change.

For the latest Chicago Fire season 9 spoilers and news, plus more on the entire series, follow the Chicago Med category at One Chicago Center.