Chicago Fire shook things up with the format for season 15, episode 4, “A Perfect Arson,” putting a focus on Severide and Kidd in a Stellaride-centric episode.
As the episode opens, Severide is sitting in a budget meeting, and it’s clear he’s not loving this side of his leadership role as Captain of Firehouse 51. After the meeting, he heads out to get a drink and catches the eye of a woman at the end of the bar, who sends him a drink. Said woman ends up being Kidd, with the pair engaging in a bit of fun banter before the conversation shifts to work. Kidd admits she knows it's not easy sitting in the big chair alone and that the pressures of work will keep getting harder for them both.
They eventually move back to their apartment and are awoken early in the morning by a knock at the door. FBI Agents Evans and Warren have dropped in on Severide and Kidd and inform him there has been a fire at a judge’s house. They inform him ATF is taking charge and that the agent in charge, Agent Calloway, has requested him personally to work the case. The judge and his wife weren’t home at the time, but now their five-year-old daughter is missing.
Severide gets dressed and heads out with them to the house as the agents walk them through what they know, informing him the babysitter didn’t make it in the fire. He enters the scene where the sitter’s burned body is still on the couch. The reality is the only clue they have at the moment is the fire.
Severide and Kidd team up to track down a dangerous arsonist
As Severide investigates the scene, Kidd calls to check in and offers her help in tracking down third shift to try to get some answers. Agent Calloway arrives and asks Severide to walk him through things. Severide has gone over the room but can’t find any V pattern, and there seems to be no point of origin, suggesting whoever was behind this was smart enough not to leave a trail. The position of the babysitter’s body has caught his attention, as the position of her body makes no sense, as it suggests she was incapacitated before the fire was set, thus why she didn’t try to run away.
Kidd heads to the firehouse, where she speaks with third shift about the fire. As she presses them for any out-of-the-ordinary signs, one of the firefighters remembers seeing a car tearing down the road in the opposite direction on their way to the house. With the firefighter’s help, PD is able to put a BOLO for the car.
Agent Calloway and Severide head out to meet with the medical examiner, and Severide sparks up a conversation about how OFI won’t be happy with Agent Calloway turning to him. Calloway is unbothered as he suggests that Severide should be running things, which is when Severide admits OFI offered him the job running OFI, but he turned it down. Severide reveals that Van Meter wasn’t too happy about his decision, and Agent Calloway admits he wouldn’t have been either, as it was clear Van Meter was grooming him for the position.
Their conversation is interrupted when a hit on the BOLO comes through, and they race out to the scene of the vehicle. As the FBI agents and Calloway race in one direction, Severide spots smoke, and it leads him to the car, which is empty but has been set on fire, clearly in an attempt to destroy evidence. They find the daughter’s blanket at the scene as well as a graffitied symbol.
The symbol seems to be the scales of justice, suggesting that someone targeted the judge because they feel they’ve been wronged and want to balance the scales. They believe their suspect was someone whose case the judge oversaw, and Severide suggests they begin with arson cases as he tracks down a hunch of his own.
We cut to Van Meter, who is teaching at the fire academy as Kidd drops in to visit him and ask for some help. Severide recalled Van Meter telling him about an arson that had a victim whose body was posed. Van Meter recalls a case from 2008 in which the victims were immobilized with a paralytic before the fires were set. Van Meter offers to speak with the killer, a man named Anton Liddell, who is in prison, and Kidd asks to accompany him.
Severide and Calloway meet with an evidence tech at OFI, who walks them through the findings from the car fire in which a powerful chemical was used to start the fire. As he reviews this evidence, Calloway seems to pause, and Severide asks him if something jumped out to him, but Calloway brushes him off as they head out.
Van Meter and Kidd meet with the arsonist who admits he thought he was making art. Van Meter shows him a photo of the tag from the car and calls it the arsonist’s signature. He recalls how one of the investigators at the time seemed to be a worthy adversary who was always thinking of him and trying to get in his head.
Turns out that agent happened to be Calloway, who put Liddell behind bars. Severide presses him for information, as Calloway notes that if there is a connection, that means everything is on him. In the original investigation there was some evidence suggesting that Liddell had an accomplice, but Liddell denied it, so they never looked into the lead. Severide suggests they revisit the list of suspected accomplices.
Kidd reveals that Severide was planning on taking the OFI job before Cruz was injured
At the prison, Kidd watches the judge address the media, making a plea for the abductor to return his daughter. Van Meter comes out to inform him that Liddell is asking for a deal, offering to give up his accomplice’s name in return for better accommodations at the prison. The pair begin to review old case files in hopes of finding something that will lead them to his accomplice.
The conversation shifts to Severide choosing to walk away from OFI and turn down the position as Kidd informs him that when faced with the two choices, he was planning on choosing the OFI job. Then Cruz got hurt, and he felt like he didn’t have a choice and couldn’t leave 51. As Van Meter heads out, he suggests that it occurs to him that Severide isn’t the only leader at 51. Could this be hinting at bigger things to come for Kidd? We sure hope so!
Back at the FBI headquarters, Calloway walks the team through its suspects as they track down a lead in the form of a man named Palmer. The autopsy comes back clean with no paralytics in her system and no signs of restraint, which breaks the MO. They get a hit on their suspect and head out to his car shop, which closed last week. As they search the scene, Severide spots a hidden office where a small fire has been set; he then sees an individual and gives chase, but they flee before Severide can catch up with them.
Calloway is feeling guilty for not following the accomplice lead as he heads Severide home to get cleaned up as forensics processes the scene. Before Severide leaves, he notices a flyer in the garage that catches his attention, suggesting it could lead to something.
Kidd is surprised to find Severide at home, where he thanks her for her help, and she reminds him Van Meter helped as well. That’s when Severide gets a call informing him that Calloway has gone dark, and Kidd notes that Van Meter said this could happen. Severide recalls the flyer, and Kidd recalls a photo in files for the Elk Motel, which was where Calloway arrested Liddell.
Severide and Kidd head out to the Elk Hotel and find signs that both Calloway and Palmer have already arrived. Rather than waiting for the FBI to arrive, the pair head inside and make their way through the abandoned building. They hear crying and discover the judge’s daughter. Kidd takes her outside to safety as Severide stays back to continue looking for Calloway and Palmer.
He eventually finds Calloway outside on the motel balcony as Calloway makes it clear he knows that Palmer is here. When he pushes open a door, we know something is up as the camera pans to a timing device like the one from the garage, but Calloway enters before Severide is able to warn him. That’s when an explosion goes off, knocking Severide to his feet from outside the door.
Severide's life may be in real danger
After the explosion knocks him out, Kidd reaches Severide and helps get him down to safety as the FBI arrive. Unfortunately, Calloway did not survive the explosion, but Agent Evans admits they did find Palmer’s body in the motel. Something doesn’t sit right with Severide, and Evans points out they found an article about Calloway’s accommodations and that Palmer wanted this to be the last mark on his career.
Kidd admits this wasn’t the 48 hours they had planned, but she saw a spark in him that she hadn't seen in some time. He knows she’s right, but he can’t work arson cases and run 51. He gets a call from OFI and heads down to headquarters, where he’s informed that Palmer was found sitting upright in the hotel room with no signs of struggle. He died in the same way the sitter did, and the FBI is considering it an anomaly, which doesn’t sit well with Severide.
He races out and goes to the academy to see Van Meter. Severide apologizes for not looping him in on his decision to turn down the OFI job, as Van Meter admits he understands given what Kidd told him.
They begin looking at the case and the evidence. Severide suggests this was never about the judge and that the arsonist was targeting Calloway all along, as the symbol stands for nemesis, suggesting the arsonist’s real motive was an adversary. Severide took this to the FBI, but he can’t prove anything; he just has a feeling they got the wrong guy. Van Meter notes that if this is true, the arsonist pulled off a perfect arson and they just got what they wanted: a worthy adversary in Severide.
This case might be closed, but it’s clear that this is far from over.
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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