Why Chicago Fire needs to fix Kelly Severide in season 12

We all love Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney). He’s one of the most interesting characters on Chicago Fire, and has been since the show premiered in 2012. He’s been through lots of ups and downs, and he always seems to come out on the right side of things, even if it’s a messy process to get there.

The thing is, personal matters forced Kinney to leave the show for the second half of Chicago Fire season 11, and the writers were forced to come up with reasons as to why the character was MIA. The cover of having him attend arson training program made sense, but the decision to have him then travel the country while keeping the truth from his wife, was a bit more confusing. It created a flaw that needs to be addressed in the upcoming season.

Chicago Fire needs to address inconsistencies in Severide’s character

The aforementioned arc didn’t really reflect the character that fans have come to to know. Especially, when you take into account the personal struggles he had with Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) leading up to their big day. He spent most of season 10 waiting for Kidd to return to Chicago after she decided to travel and promote her Girls on Fire training program.

Not only was Kidd gone longer than she originally planned, but she barely kept in touch with Severide when she was gone. The latter was justifiably upset by the fact that Kidd was creating distance between them (metaphorically, though also literally), and it was something the couple had to address when Kidd eventually came back. There was even a discussion as to whether they would still get married.

Severide knows what its like to have a loved one go silent when they are traveling, and the stress that it can put on a relationship, let alone a marriage. The fact that he turned around and did the same exact thing to Kidd, roughly a year after it was done to him, just doesn’t make sense.

The character is not the vindictive kind, and while him and Kidd were having their marital problems prior to his leaving, there was little to suggest that the character would decide to stick it to her by cutting off contact and/or withholding information.

Severide’s return will be thrilling to witness, but the writers are going to have to address this flaw in the character’s arc, because it doesn’t fit with the rest of the things we know about him. Our big concern, going into season 12, is that they continue to write Severide in an inconsistent manner, but since the flaw came about due to real-life circumstances, we will give the writers (and the show) the benefit of the doubt.

Here’s hoping the character gets back to his normal self in 2024.

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