Chief Pascal might not be the only familiar face making their way back to the Windy City in the Chicago Fire season 14 finale.
The official synopsis for the season 14 finale, “Thank You,” teases that Severide and Kidd welcome a surprise visitor - a tease that hints at the return of a familiar face. At first, we speculated that perhaps this familiar face would be someone like Boden or Pascal, as we assumed the Hopkins and Severide showdown would reach its climax in the season finale. However, that proved not to be the case.
We learned in the penultimate episode of season 14 that Benny had reported Hopkins and Williams after an expensive watch was stolen at a jewelry store fire they responded to back in the day. Benny believed one of the two were responsible for the theft and wrote them up for conduct unbecoming, which was what led Hopkins to single Severide out and try to push him out of the CFD.
While working the old case, Severide came to the conclusion that it was Williams who took the watch, a revelation that rattled Hopkins. It also helped him to see the errors of his ways and see that he had made the wrong assumptions about who Severide was. He ended up dropping the Internal Affairs investigation, clearing the path for Severide to become captain at 51 and ending Hopkins’ time on the show.
Knowing that the Hopkins and Severide storyline has been resolved, we began to wonder who this surprise visitor might be. That’s when we recalled a conversation that happened in the opening moments of the episode that seemed to hint at who will be coming back in the finale.
Isaiah is likely returning in the Chicago Fire season 14 finale
At the beginning of Chicago Fire season 14, episode 20, we learned that Kidd had left town in the middle of the night to go be with Isaiah after his mother suffered a setback in her recovery.
“Stella had to take off late last night to Cleveland to go see Isaiah. His mother had a little setback in her recovery. Docs think she’s going to be okay, but Isaiah was a little freaked out,” Severide informed Van Meter when he asked about Kidd’s whereabouts.
This was the first mention of Isaiah on the show in months since he was written out of the show in episode 9, “Crime of Passion.” The episode saw Isaiah leave Chicago to move to Cleveland to be closer to his mom on a full-time basis with an old family friend named Lydia taking over as his guardian.
On its own, the moment felt like a simple way for the show to explain Miranda Rae Mayo’s absence in the episode; however, it seems that this moment might have been foreshadowing the surprise visitor who is about to drop in on Kidd and Severide in the final episode.
Isaiah’s return would certainly be a surprise, as we had thought we’d seen the last of the character given the exit storyline the writers crafted. With his mother getting better and Isaiah living with Lydia, there wasn’t really much of a need to continue the storyline as it seemed to come to a natural close. But since the penultimate episode of the season reopened the door, the odds of Isaiah coming back seem much higher.
What will be interesting is to figure out what will bring Isaiah back to Chicago. Severide hinted that the doctors weren’t too concerned about Isaiah’s mom, but is the show about to throw an unexpected twist and reveal that things were worse than they first seemed? This seems like a strong possibility that would explain his return and we certainly would love to see more of Hero Hunter on the show.
We’ll have to see if Isaiah is indeed the surprise visitor who drops in to see Severide and Kidd, or if another familiar face from the past ends up passing through town. Either way, we can’t wait to see what the Chicago Fire season 14 finale brings when it airs on Wednesday, May 13, at 9/8c on NBC!
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