If you were watching Chicago Fire season 14, episode 4 and felt like something was missing, you’re not wrong.
The latest episode of NBC’s firefighter drama was without two members of its series regular cast, with both Joe Minoso and Dermot Mulroney missing the fourth episode of season 14. Both actors failed to appear in the episode, making some fans do a double take and question whether they had just missed them in the shuffle of the episode’s storylines.
The two actors’ absence in the episode is connected to the budget cuts which have impacted the last several seasons of the show. While series regulars once appeared in every episode of a season, they now miss two to four episodes each season as part of budget cuts designed to help with production of long-running series.
This results in actors missing episodes at random, and we never quite know who will miss an episode as the season progresses.
Where were Cruz and Chief Pascal in Chicago Fire season 14 episode 4?
So where exactly were Cruz and Chief Pascal in the episode? Well, the answer is simple, mainly in the sense that we didn’t get much explanation for either character’s absence.
Early in the episode as Violet and Novak head into the firehouse for their shift, they begin to talk starting their firefighter EMS training program. Novak asks who their first trainee will be, and Violet replies, “I was thinking Herrmann, but I still need Severide to sign off on it.”
Confused, Novak questions why Violet needs approval from Severide, which is when Violet notes that, “Pascal put him in charge while he’s gone.” There is no further explanation as to where Pascal went, but we had learned in the previous episode that with six battalion chiefs being laid off within the CFD, the remaining chiefs in the district would have to assist at neighboring stations, thus why he did not appear in episode 4.
Interestingly, it was through Violet and Novak’s storyline that the writers also revealed where Cruz was.
After a fire broke out at Herrmann’s home, he took the rest of the shift off, so Violet and Novak connect with Severide to find a new trainee. When they ask for an alternate trainee, he mentioned that he already had Lorenzo from Squad 4 covering for Cruz as he offers up Capp to help. There’s no further explanation given, hinting that Cruz is simply off for the day and not working the shift.
Fortunately, the two characters should be back soon as these absences were not connected to departures, but were instead standard episode count reductions for the show’s stars.
New episodes of Chicago Fire air Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.