Chicago Fire put its various subplots on the back burner for the One Chicago crossover at the end of January, but now it's back to business as usual. The firefighting drama has plenty to address in the life of Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo), who nearly died during the crossover, as well as her husband, Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), who has been pushing to start a family. And "Relief Cut" gave us answers.
The episode opened with Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg), who provided a much-needed update on his buddy Mouch (Christian Stolte). Mouch really went through it during the crossover, as his wife Trudy Platt (Amy Morton) was shot and nearly killed. The character doesn't appear in the episode, but Herrmann assured the rest of Firehouse 51 (and the viewers) that things are good.
The tranquility doesn't last, though, as Herrmann and the rest of 51 are called to the scene of a car accident. An elderly woman was trapped in the car while it was on fire, and Kidd ordered Ritter (Daniel Kyri) to spring into action. Bizarrely, Ritter froze up, and Kidd had Sam Carver (Jake Lockett) step in to get the job done.
Stella Kidd reconnected with her cousin Cole
Both Ritter and Kidd were revealed to have a lot on their mind. The former was dealing with issues pertaining to his boyfriend, and Kidd was anxious to get a visit from her cousin. Ultimately, though, Ritter took the blame for the misunderstanding and apologized to Kidd. The real meat of "Relief Cut" comes, however, when Kidd's aforementioned cousin shows up.
Kidd and her cousin, Cole, had some initial awkwardness, and it stemmed from a misunderstanding. Apparently, Kidd created distance between her and the rest of her family when she started dating Severide, and the family mistakenly though Severide was responsible.
Kidd and Cole eventually had a heart to heart, and the former admitted that she wasn't sure what she was doing with her life, and felt it was easier to go it alone. She apologized to her cousin for creating distance, especially given how close they were as children, and all was seemingly forgiven.
Kidd decided that she wanted to start a family
Severide even sat down for a conversation with Cole. The cousin explained that Kidd moved in with his family when she was 12, shortly after her parents died. "She tried to be tough, but there was a lot of hurt there," Cole acknowledged. Did we mention that Cole also hooked up with Lyla Novak (Joceyln Hudon)? Well, that happened too, which made for some hilarious interactions the next morning, since Cole was staying with Kidd and Severide.
The subplots to the episode felt a bit more slight than usual. Herrmann teamed up with Kyie Estevez (Katelynn Shennett) to solve a mystery involving fire hydrants. There was also some nice closure to the Ritter conflict, as Carver gave him a crash course in Kidd slang.
The real story, though was Kidd and Severide. The former declared that she wanted to start a family with Severide, but did not want to get pregnant. Ergo, the couple are seemingly headed for another Chicago Fire adoption! This will be fascinating to unpack in the next several episodes.