One of Chicago Fire’s greatest assets has always been its amazing pool of recurring guest characters who drop in from time to time, reminding us that the world of Firehouse 51 extends far beyond the people who show up for every shift. These guest characters help to elevate the storytelling and allow the writers to explore unique dynamics that extend beyond the everyday dynamics we get to see from those in the core cast.
Among the most tenured and beloved recurring characters is Tim Hopper’s Tom Van Meter, who has been a key recurring fixture on the show since season 6 (though his roots were first planted in season 2 via what was first a one-off guest appearance). Through the years, Van Meter has become a friend and mentor for Severide, appearing in several episodes every season, typically to tag team with Severide on an arson investigation.
We last saw Van Meter in season 14’s penultimate episode in an episode where he both lent support to Severide as he worked to put the Hopkins drama behind him and pondered his future after being offered the position of Captain of OFI. Surprisingly, Van Meter has not come up yet in season 15, which felt like an interesting choice given Severide spent the majority of the season 15 premiere working to clear Cruz’s name while working the warehouse fire case. However, the show is finally bringing him back for his first appearance in the show’s fourth episode, set to air on October 28.
Fittingly, episode 4 will center around an arson investigation, with the episode title confirmed to be "A Perfect Arson.” In the episode, Severide will be recruited by the FBI to help investigate an arson that was staged to help cover up the kidnapping of a judge’s daughter. While the synopsis for the episode does not reveal how Van Meter will eventually be looped into the case, it’s not hard to put two and two together and assume that Severide reached out to Van Meter to enlist his help in the case as a sounding board for his theories.
We’ve seen Severide work several arson investigations over the years, but we’ve never seen one that involved the FBI in which he was personally recruited to help solve the case. This is sure to bring a lot of pressure, and it makes sense that he would turn to Van Meter to assist him on the case.
It’s always fun when we get to see Van Meter and Severide tag team on an arson investigation, and it’s going to be really interesting to see how their dynamic shifts now that they’re both in new roles, with Severide now captain of 51 and Van Meter now working as a consultant. We don’t anticipate that there will be a power dynamic shift, as the pair have always really worked as equals even when their titles weren’t the same, but who knows, perhaps the show will try to play up the power shift as a hook in the episode.
Regardless of how the pair go about working the case, we’re excited to have Van Meter back for his first appearance of season 15 and are excited to see him and Severide team up to work this arson investigation.
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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