Chicago Fire season 13, episode 22 aired Wednesday, May 21 on NBC and brought a handful of long-running storylines to a conclusion. Although Pascal spends the finale under investigation, it’s revealed that Vale tried to kill Franklin due to his obsession with Monica. However, a question still looms until the final moments — who will be the captain of Firehouse 51? At this point, booting out Pascal doesn’t feel like the right option.
In a surprise twist, Herrmann lays down his bugs for Mouch, who will now take over his role as lieutenant. It’s a beautiful moment between the best friends, and the finale keeps on giving. Carver and Violet kiss and confess their love, even though Jake Lockett (and Daniel Kyri) will not be returning as series regulars for season 14. “It Had To End This Way” concludes with Kidd telling Severide that she’s pregnant and the couple celebrating the good news.
I caught up with showrunner Andrea Newman about Vale’s attempt to kill Franklin, Herrmann giving up his position for Mouch, Violet’s romance with Carver, and Severide and Kidd’s final scene in the Chicago Fire season 13 finale.
Newman Wanted Chicago Fire’s Vale Reveal To Feel Reliable
“If you really thought about it, who else would be as obsessed as Pascal about who did this to Monica?”
Vale is the one who tried to kill Franklin. Did you know that it was going to be him from the get-go, or did you and the writers have other culprits in mind?
Andrea Newman: We played around with all of it, and ultimately, in the writer’s room, what you come to is like, “What’s going to be the most emotional punch on this?” And as much as we were interested in Bishop and in the past of what happened in Miami, which was a running thing, we love to just always say, “What happened in Miami?” [Laughs]
We constantly said that to each other and [wanted to] dive into that, we also wanted the audience to feel like they could have figured it out. If you really thought about it, who else would be as obsessed as Pascal about who did this to Monica? So it felt like it didn’t come out of left field. It was a really built-in inherent thing. It was about midway through the season where we started to sort of plant the seeds of it that he’s as obsessed with.
And then we had him come in looking like sh*t to give his condolences to Pascal. He comes, and he’s all unshaven and boozy, and it’s a tragedy what happened. Without tipping the hat too much, that was sort of a, “Oh, he’s really messed up about this.” If you thought about it or retroactively looked back that could lead you to “Oh yeah, he’s the one.” He went more off the rails than Pascal did in a lot of ways because Pascal had his 51 family to pick him up, and Vale didn’t have that.
Herrmann laid down his bugs for Mouch. What inspired that switch-up in leadership, and what is their new dynamic going to look like going forward?
Andrea Newman: That’s a fun one. That, again, was one that we knew from the beginning, because the moment he stepped on the stage Dermot was so great. We were like, “What’s this going to look like? Are people going to be rooting for Pascal to stay?” We wanted to build that over the course of the season, and we did obviously culminating in the funeral where Mouch said, “We’re here, we’re your family, that’s why you’re here. We’re here.”
And from that moment on, Pascal was locked in, I thought, and it was no longer a question of, “Are we going to kick Pascal out?” Unless he ends up in jail. But for Herrmann, the journey has been, Boden said, “You’re the guy. Mouch needs you to be the guy. Pascal is testing you to see if you can be the guy, but at the end of the day, what do you think? Do you want to be the guy?”
And that’s the question, obviously, he asks himself in the finale, and he decides, partly because of what that auditor said. “You guys could be gone any minute. So the clock is ticking. I got the chance to be a lieutenant at the house, I want you to have that because you’re my best friend.” So it’s such a sweet gesture.
And for Herrmann, it feels right. It’s a lot of pressure on Mouch now to step up and be a great lieutenant, which he will try to be. And it’s a lot of pressure for Herrmann, who’s now gotten a pay cut, to feed all the children at home. We have lots of stuff to play with going into next season, and how Pascal manages all that too.
What Does Jake Lockett’s Exit Mean For Carver’s Romance With Violet?
“We have to figure that out. They have to figure that out. Is it worth the risk to stay?”There was also a very romantic moment between Violet and Carver. I know you said you’re still working on season 14, but with Carver no longer being a series regular, where will that relationship go? Could he still be in the premiere?
Andrea Newman: For Violet and Carver, getting to that point—it was so bubbling under the surface and so much had gone unspoken in this last bunch of episodes, and really for a lot of this season. So there’s something beautiful and fulfilling about them coming together and saying these words, but it’s also dangerous because it speaks to Carver saying, “I don’t know that I can heal. I don’t know that I can get on the road to recovery here in this place where I spiraled to begin with.”
So as much as it’s this wonderful moment, it also brings up more questions than answers. We have to figure that out. They have to figure that out. Is it worth the risk to stay? Does Violet want that for him now? As much as she’s in love with him, doesn’t she want him to go to the place where he thinks he has the best chance of recovery?
So it’s complicated and it’s much messier than the Brett-Casey, which was very simple, which is just location. This is, “Can we pull this off at all, or is this too dangerous? Are we getting too close to the fire, so to speak?” So yeah, that one has to be figured out.
Kidd and Severide are having a baby. Is there anything you can share about the next steps of their journey?
Andrea Newman: The way we’ve talked about it, and with lots of the firefighters that we work with, is if you think the stakes are high because you work with someone you’re married to, wait until the stakes go up a thousand times because you’ve got a baby at home. So now you two are trapped in a fire together, or one sees the other in a dangerous situation.
It’s no longer just, “That’s my significant other.” It’s like, “That’s the mother of my child. If we both get killed here, we’ve left an orphan behind.” And that’s exactly what happened in Kidd’s life. She lost both parents. So it’s a deep fear of hers. It’s really more about, at work and their dynamics together, as a couple, how does it shake up Firehouse 51? Because if they start acting differently or if something goes wrong, could everybody else try and step in to help? It’s a fraught situation.
