For longtime fans of Chicago Fire, the best thing about the show can also be one of its most frustrating aspects. The long-running first responder procedural has an extensive ensemble cast full of amazing characters we fall in love with more and more as we get to know them. But as previously stated, the ensemble cast is quite large and that has obvious drawbacks.
While certain Chicago Fire characters take more of a leading role, the show also tends to cycle through its characters in order to give them each time to shine. Now going into its fifteenth season, there are still characters who have been with the show since the very beginning that we adore and even more who joined the cast later on that we still love just as much.
However, Chicago Fire season 14 introduced a new character that a chaotic start at Firehouse 51. After a casting shakeup sent a number of characters away following season 13, Brandon Larracuente joined the cast as Sal Vasquez as a hot-headed new member of the team. Vasquez was instantly a character the audience could connect with, but season 15 needs to give his story some direction.
Chicago Fire season 15 needs to figure out Vasquez's direction
For much of the beginning half of Chicago Fire season 14, Vasquez's story revolved around the mystery of figuring out who he is and what happened in his past. He felt a complicated pull to his incarcerated father, who had an otherwise toxic pull over his son. This particular storyline was a very in-the-weeds way to get to know a new characters, but it was interesting nonetheless.
While Vasquez's personal storyline with his father took various turns, he also became the unfortunate prong in a love triangle between Violet and Novak. Both of the paramedics had feelings for him, which later created some friction between them, but didn't really result in a ship that we were emotionally invested in just yet. And then came the twist about his professional aspirations.
Toward the end of Chicago Fire season 14, Vasquez found himself reigniting his former desire to become a police officer. He aspired to become a cop until his father, a former detective, took the fall for planting evidence at a murder scene. Vasquez then decided to pursue his own future separate from his father's, though the pull toward policing persistent and grew louder and louder.
Even Kidd advised him to join the police academy and take the exam, insisting that it's not too late to follow his dreams. Vasquez ends up taking part in an trial run at the police academy and performing really well, something that clearly fulfills him. While we don't find out whether he's going to decide to pursue policing over sticking with his new Firehouse 51 family, season 15 needs to provide direction on his future.
Since joining the cast, Vasquez's role in the show has been to add intrigue and mystery as well as to stir the pot romantically for Violet and Novak. But Chicago Fire season 15 honestly needs to give Larracuente some juicier material and figure out what the show wants to do with Vasquez. Does he want to remain a member of the firehouse squad or will he always be wondering "what if" about a possible policing career?
It's hard to give a new character the stakes of leaving the squad before a real emotional attachment has been made. We have only known Vasquez for 21 episodes and the show wants the whole audience to care whether he leaves the team. That's a big ask! Hopefully, the dangerous and potentially deadly case in the season 14 finale further bonds him to the squad and opens up a new path for his storyline moving forward.
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