From the moment Marcus Burke was introduced in the Chicago Fire season 15 premiere, the show has gradually been peeling back his many layers to help fans get to know the show’s newest addition better.
Right out of the gate, it was made clear that Burke might not have had the easiest of lives, as he frequently pushed back against McCaffrey for taking his connections forgranted. He seemed to be guarded, suggesting that he had built up walls over the years to protect himself after having endured trauma of some kind in the past. Then came episode 3.
Episode 3 saw the probies at the firehouse coming under fire after one of them ignored Kidd’s order on a call and, in doing so, sent Tony to the hospital. This led to heightened tensions between the probies, which came to a head after Kidd and Severide found out it was McCaffrey and dismissed him. On his way out, he got into a heated exchange with Burke in which he called Burke the shadiest person on the team, as no one knew anything about him. He then dropped a subtle remark about how he didn’t even have anyone there for him at their firefighter academy graduation, suggesting that Burke doesn’t have the best family life.
As the episode came to a close, Burke visited a young man in the hospital, where he allowed a more vulnerable side to be seen as he confessed his struggles and his wish for this young man to be there so he could offer guidance.
“I don’t know, bro. I’m trying to do the right thing, but sometimes I don’t know what that is. I just wish you were—I wish you could tell me what to do,” Burke told the comatose young man in the hospital bed whose identity was kept from us. Our only clue was a medical wristband that read “M. Burke” with a birthday of August 14, 2001.
The introduction of the young man created a lot of questions for fans as the show failed to reveal exactly who it was. Adding further confusion, some outlets referred to the man in the bed as Burke’s father; however, the date of birth makes it clear that this can’t be the case, as the patient is only 25 years old. All signs instead point towards the young man being Burke’s younger brother.
Given what McCaffrey said about Burke not having anyone at the graduation ceremony and the way Burke told the young man in the hospital bed that he wishes he were there to tell him what to do, it seems that perhaps the brothers’ parents were not in the picture and that Burke’s brother was the only person he had in life. This is further indicated by Burke’s actions in the 300th episode as we see him working to protect a pair of young girls from seeing their father’s burned body while responding to a call.
It appears that Burke and his brother might have gone through some sort of trauma in their past, and whatever this traumatic event was, it landed his brother in the hospital in a comatose state. Hopefully, as the season progresses, we’ll get further answers about Burke’s backstory and what happened in his past before he became a firefighter.
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
Add us as a preferred source on Google