Chicago Fire is in full swing. There was some scheduling confusion last week, and a slight delay, but the show is off to the races with a thrilling new episode and a crossover set for the end of the month. There's a lot to address in "Chaos Theory," from Stella Kidd's absence to Joe Cruz's fate after what happened in the winter premiere.
SPOILERS for "Chaos Theory" below
Cruz has a lot to clean up in the episode's opening moments. He drives to his brother's house and gets stitched up after he got shot in the winter premiere. Cruz's gut reaction was to go to the police, but his brother insisted that he keep it under wraps, as he fears gang retaliation. Leon's ties to the Insane Kings was what got Cruz involved in this mess in the first place.
Cruz agrees, but it does prove to be a wise decision. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) is put in charge of the investigation, and we all know how good the lieutenant is at his job. Cruz is a nervous wreck for a good chunk of the episode, as evidenced by his decision to lash out at Herrmann (David Eigenberg).
In season 1, Cruz decided to let gang leader Flaco (Jose Antonio Garcia) die in a building fire after the leader threatened to kill his brother. Flaco's cousin, Junior, was the one who resurfaced, and made it clear that he would ruin Cruz's career by revealing what he did.
Cruz tried to confess to his crime (twice)
It doesn't take long for Cruz to cave. He goes to Severide and confesses. Severide, being the friend and sometimes rule bender that he is, assures Cruz that he has nothing to worry about. There isn't concrete evidence. The firefighter is still racked with guilt, though. Cruz decides to pay a visit to PD veteran Kevin Atwater (LaRoyce Hawkins) and confess to what happened in season 1, but yet again, he was cleared.
"Chaos Theory" ended on a somber albeit relieving note. The fact that there was no evidence to convict Cruz meant the character was cleared of any wrongdoing. He was, however, suspended for two weeks without pay as a sort of slap on the wrist. It's a pretty fair punishment, given that he felt his life and career were over at the beginning of the episode.
The episode included some non-Cruz story beats, like the return of Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) and her heartwarming subplot to help a school teacher, as well as some signs that Sam Carver (Jake Lockett) and Violet (Hanako Greensmith) might be heating up again. Cruz was always going to be the main focus, though, and we got what we wanted. Next week is the crossover!