When any of the One Chicago shows writes out a main character, it's clear what's happening and where they're going. Sometimes writing out a character last for a few weeks or it's permanent. Hopefully, that's not the case with Chicago Fire season 14 writing out Mouch, but based on new details of upcoming episodes, he'll continue to be absent for a bit longer.
In Chicago Fire season 14 episode 9, Mouch learned the bittersweet news about his job after trying very hard to remain at Firehouse 51. Even though Mouch's job was saved, he's no longer able to remain at Firehouse 51 at this time. Because Engine 81 was officially decommissioned due to budget cuts in the city, Mouch was unfortunately transferred to Firehouse 40.
Look, we love Mouch and we hate to see him leave his family back at 51. He's been a member of this team since Chicago Fire first premiered, and the show wouldn't be the same without him. But we're going to have to get used to his absence at Firehouse 51 a little bit longer. The series appears to have really written out Mouch, though there's evidence to strongly suggest he will be back.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Mouch in Chicago Fire season 14 episode 10. The episode instead focused on different storylines, including Novak's new romance with Dr. Frost from Chicago Med. What's more, it's not looking likely that he will be back in episode 11 (or even episode 12, but we'll get to that) either. Mouch doesn't appear in either the episode trailer or synopsis.
The Chicago Fire season 14 episode 11 trailer played up the exciting news of Carver's return to Firehouse 51. After leaving the series after season 13, Jake Lockett will make his first reappearance as Carver in a guest role in the latest episode. He will seemingly butt heads with Vasquez over his budding relationship with Violet. (You snooze, you lose, Carver!)
Mouch also doesn't appear in any of the photos that NBC has released from episode 11. (For what it's worth, neither does Carver, which means NBC could still be holding some images back until after the episode airs.) The synopsis makes no mention of Mouch: "Herrmann grows uneasy when a local accident attorney inserts himself into a routine call; Firehouse 51 gets a visitor."
There's seemingly even more bad luck for a Mouch comeback in Chicago Fire season 14 episode 12. The official synopsis doesn't tease anything about Mouch, again focusing on Herrmann's latest grievances and what could be the start to Pascal being written off: "Pascal finds himself under intense scrutiny when a member of the firehouse is injured on a call. Herrmann grapples with family issues."
Based on what we know so far about the episodes ahead, Chicago Fire appears to being seeing the twists in Mouch's career through by actually writing him off the show and keeping him offscreen for longer than we probably expected. But there's still many more episodes left to go this season, and we're sure that the writers will find a way to bring Mouch back home where he belongs soon.
Watch Chicago Fire on NBC and Peacock.