From the moment Chief Hopkins entered the picture at Firehouse 51, it became clear that he had it out for Severide. We’d quickly come to learn that Hopkins’ issues with Severide stem from a grudge he’s been carrying for years connected to the actions of Severide’s late father, Benny Severide.
Back in the day, Benny suspended Hopkins, and it seems this grudge has led him to single out Severide, suggesting to him that he’s only made it as far as he has in the CFD because of Benny’s connections, alleging that Severide has had everything handed to him. During the conversation, Hopkins makes it clear to Severide that while he didn’t have power back in the day, he does now, and he intends on using that power to wipe the slate clean and push out legacy firefighters.
In episode 17, we expected that the show would continue to explore the budding tensions between Severide and Hopkins. Instead, the show sidelined Severide for the episode as he left town to participate in the captain’s training. While Severide was away for the shift, that didn’t stop Hopkins from taking steps towards singling out Severide and finding a way to push him out of the CFD. By the episode’s end, Hopkins’ plan finally became clear.
As the episode drew to a close, Hopkins tasked Lucy with taking a file over to the CFD front office to internal affairs. When Lucy pulled the report out, she found that Hopkins was reporting Severide for “dereliction of duty,” an accusation that created a lot of confusion among audiences. After all, what grounds would Hopkins have to file the internal affairs report when Severide wasn’t even present in the episode?
Hopkins is looking to use Severide’s history working arson cases as his smoking gun
Hopkins’ decision to report Severide for dereliction of duty certainly was unexpected; however, the episode quietly put the pieces in place right under our nose.
Over the course of the episode, Hopkins took a particular interest in Severide’s history working arson investigations. While sitting down with Captain Williams, Hopkins pointed out how Severide had worked more arson cases than anyone outside of OFI, quipping that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. That was the clue that suggests Hopkins’ smoking gun for his internal affairs case is Severide’s history dedicating time working arson cases.
Yes, working more arson cases than anyone outside of OFI might sound impressive, but Hopkins can reframe this as Severide overstepping and neglecting his core responsibilities, which is where the charge of dereliction of duty comes in. Hopkins’ argument will likely be that Severide has focused on the wrong responsibilities at the expense of his actual role within the CFD.
Hopkins is likely to argue that by working so many arson investigations, Severide missed calls and failed to complete some of his assigned duties. It's also likely that he'll point out that Severide is operating outside of his authority within the CFD, suggesting that he's inserting himself into investigations without authorization and therefore stepping outside the chain of command and acting beyond the scope of his role.
The focus on how Severide has worked more arson cases than anyone outside of OFI is also likely to be used to point out that this isn't a one-off issue but rather a pattern of Severide misplacing his priorities, showing a pattern of neglect. Ultimately, Hopkins' plan is likely to be establishing that while Severide was chasing arsonists, he wasn't doing the job he was sworn to do, which is dereliction of duty—aka willful or negligent failure to perform assigned obligations.
What will be interesting is to see how far Hopkins' internal affairs allegation goes. One thing that is certain is that if Severide's arson investigations are at the root of Hopkins' complaint, Van Meter will do everything he can to help Severide.