Before Chicago Fire season 14 episode 12, titled "Coming in Hot," aired on NBC, we were aware that at least one character wouldn't appear in the episode. Severide was absent from the episode since he was off visiting Isaiah in Cleveland, but he wasn't the only character who didn't grace us with his presence in season 14 episode 12. Early in the episode, Vasquez was revealed to be sidelined.
As explained by the characters in dialogue, Vasquez was away from Firehouse 51 because he was called in to assist at another firehouse at the last minute. The explanation was part of the ongoing growing pains happening with the Chicago Fire Department and causes some temporary changes for the 51 team's latest calls. But the handling of Vasquez's absence should set a new precedent.
Obviously, it's not uncommon for Chicago Fire to sideline a few characters every now and again. Its fellow One Chicago shows Chicago Med and Chicago PD also find characters absent from time to time. But the way absences are handled often differ. Sometimes the reason for a character not being in the episode is explained on screen, but sometimes it's not mentioned at all.
Even though Vasquez wasn't seen at all in Chicago Fire season 14 episode 12, he still very much remained a presence throughout the episode, and that's exactly what we need more of from the show. Violet and Novak were talking about him in the beginning of the absent (as a crush, not a colleague), but he was also mentioned a few more times beyond their conversation and the explanation of his absence. Violet even spends some time texting with him, too.
An episode's storyline might not always necessitate mentions of an absent character or for them to still be mentioned and involved while offscreen. But fans would much rather the world of the series still feel whole and not lacking in any way. Sure, explanations why a character isn't in the episode can be a piece of clunky exposition. That didn't happen here, and it's a method the show should lean on.
The opposite happened on Chicago Med during the same week, as Archer and Ripley were absent without any explanation. Archer wasn't even mentioned, and his absence came after a major development in his love triangle between Asher and Kingston. Ripley, however, was mentioned as Lenox expressed her frustrations about intimacy. See, we got a small detail without Ripley appearing.
Because the One Chicago shows have such rich ensemble casts, each episode doesn't need to have every single character present. If that were the case, certain characters' storylines would be overwritten and, to put it plainly, boring. We don't want filler weeks where nothing happens. But we also don't want to feel like certain characters have just vanished into thin air.
Without Vasquez in season 14 episode 12, the plot around him was able to move forward, even if it was just a centimeter. It's a clever writing trick that Chicago Fire has mastered, to keep a character offscreen but make moves for them. We need more of this kind of writing, more of keeping absent characters in the mix and ever so slightly in the action so they don't seem so far away.
Chicago Fire season 14 resumes on Wednesday, March 4 at 8/7c on NBC.