Chicago Fire season 9, episode 10 recap: One Crazy Shift

This week’s Chicago Fire seemed like an episode of transition as characters both came and went, permanently.

Wednesday’s episode “One Crazy Shift” involved Firehouse 51 welcoming their new paramedic, who started out as a temporary fill-in yet wound up staying by the time the credits rolled. That went over well with some characters and not so well with others.

Meanwhile, Mouch (Christian Stolte) revealed a hidden musical talent—though “talent” was a bit of a stretch.

Here’s what happened in the latest Chicago Fire episode for each of your favorite characters.

Chicago Fire season 9, episode 10 recap

Chicago Fire opens with Violet Mikami (recurring guest star Hanako Greensmith) finding out that Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) personally requested her as Gianna Mackey’s replacement. Her ex-boyfriend Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende) is less thrilled to see Violet there. “I get weird when I’m around her,” he complains to Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri), who informs the rest of the room that Bill Maloney Sr. died recently. That causes Mouch to run off in a hurry.

In the bunk room, Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) tells Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) about all the women who have been inspiring her on her way to taking the lieutenant’s exam. But they and everyone else are called to a laundromat fire with the manager still inside the building. He’s rescued and Stella is knocked down by a blast of flames from a dryer but it turns out to be no big deal; the problem is Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer), who’s still not 100 percent. Gallo isn’t convinced about either of his colleagues.

Back at Firehouse 51, everyone talks about what would make dryers explode. Mouch is also thrilled to finally get an audition for Pipes and Drums, the band that plays all the major events, thanks to the death of the aforementioned Bill. He goes into the locker room and we find out he’s been hiding his bagpipes in a locker for five years by pretending there’s a firefighter named “Baggs.”

While Stella worries she’s come into a run of bad luck between the dryer and one of her framed photos falling off the wall, Gallo asks Casey if he’s fine. Casey comes up with a few excuses and then gets tetchy when Blake continues to ask; a cowed Gallo backs off as Casey stares into space.

Mouch is soon deafening everyone else with his bagpipes (you had to know that was going to happen) and Boden bans him from practicing in the house. Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) tells Mouch that what really matters is having “the best sob story.” Nice cross-promotion with mentioning The Voice!

Brett wants to keep Violet on permanently, but doesn’t think she’ll leave Firehouse 20. “It’s my fourth partner in four years,” she points out to Casey, while Violet joins Gallo and Ritter for lunch. Which Gallo quickly ruins by rambling almost right after she sits down. Brett arrives and asks Violet about another candidate, but Violet reveals that woman has just retired, before Mouch wants help building up his social media prescence.

Mercifully, here’s another fire, if Casey can focus long enough to get there and Truck 81 can avoid an accident. Stella hits a pothole and is freaked out by the flat tire that nearly causes them to hit two people; Casey orders the team to walk the rest of the way to the scene, and Herrmann reports it’s all clear by the time they get to… another laundromat. Yes, this is a pattern.

Our heroes are soon searching files looking for other laundromat fires, while Herrmann and Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) debate whether or not Mouch should keep playing the bagpipes, and Stella tries to apologize for hitting the pothole. Violet tells her she’s had “one crazy shift” while Casey finds out there are three more fires which fit the team’s profile. He and Severide decide to go poking around, because that’s what they do.

Chicago Fire shows Ritter, Gallo and Violet trying to help Mouch make a TikTok video, only to be stunned by Mouch whipping out a Scottish accent. Stella, meanwhile, shows Brett that more of her photos have come off the wall. She’s fully convinced that Violet is jinxing her since Violet is the only new thing at Firehouse 51. Brett does not subscribe to this theory.

Severide and Casey return to the first laundromat they visited in the episode to investigate the crime scene. The employee who was using the ruined dryers mentions strong perfume in the detergent; Severide can smell something other than perfume in the mix. They go to the factory that the detergent comes from and confront the manager, convincing her by setting some of it on fire right in front of her face. So who put the fuel in the detergent?

The manager explains that her company “recently switched chemical suppliers” and that there’s tons of product within a 30-mile radius. Severide insists that they’re going to make a lot of phone calls, while Violet asks Brett about her relationship with Greg Grainger and reveals that she herself is single. Gallo and Stella are way too interested in their conversation.

After nearly colliding with a freaked-out Mouch (whose audition has been moved up to right now), Casey tells Brett that all of her partners have left her because she’s made them better. He also encourages her to “go get the partner you really want.” After Chicago Fire shows Mouch getting flustered because he can’t read the audition piece of music, Gallo gives Casey his own personal aspirin bottle and reminds Casey that accountability is a two-way street. His team can’t look out for him if Casey isn’t being honest with them.

But Casey’s opportunity to think on that is cut short by Severide confirming the cause of the faulty detergent and that there’s one truck still on the loose. Boden and Casey rush to find the truck already smoking, and call in everyone else to help them disable it. Severide opens the truck door so Casey and Boden can smother the fire with a ton of foam, but not before giving everyone a good scare.

The show cuts back to the firehouse as Brett starts pitching Violet on staying at 51. But Violet is already interested; she just wanted Brett to be the one to propose the idea. Brett tells Violet about Stella’s idea that she’s a jinx while Stella is shocked to find the Deputy Commissioner she idolizes in the conference room. But the other woman is there to congratulate her for keeping 81 from running over those innocent people earlier, having found out from a viral video. She gives Stella her card and Severide congratulates his girlfriend.

Chicago Fire winds down with Mouch telling everyone else what happened at his Pipes and Drums audition. He admitted that he can’t read sheet music, which didn’t go over well. However, that TikTok video is now going to be promo material. So, um, it’s kind of a win? And Violet tells Ritter and Gallo she’s sticking around, prompting Ritter to tell Gallo to get his stuff together, while Brett gets Casey a beer to thank him for being such a good friend and captain.

Casey sees Chicago Med‘s Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) across the room and approaches him with a terrible hypothetical about a “friend.” Will tells him the friend should see a neurologist immediately, but will Matt actually go through with it?

Next. When is the Chicago Fire season 9 finale?. dark

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