‘Chicago Fire’: Why We’re Not Worried About Severide Leaving for Arson Again
Arson cases have consistently pulled Lt. Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) away from his job at Chicago Fire’s 51st Fire Department—and again in the latest episode. And maybe we’re just being optimistic or naive, but we don’t think this will be a repeat of last season.
To explain Severide’s absence while Kinney was on leave in the middle of Season 11, the lieutenant went on an arson investigation. But then, without telling anyone at home, including his wife, Lt. Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo), he went back to work on an ATF investigation. Kidd finally had enough and went looking for him in the finale, describing in the season premiere as “I basically had to fly to Alabama, handcuff you, and drag you home.” That’s why she hesitated when he started working on an arson case, but with Chicago firefighters being targeted, she couldn’t stop him. Arson cases are like a drug to him, though, she knew.
And that was proven true when, despite having his name removed from the list of accredited investigators, Severide couldn’t help but sit down and read through an ATF file that Van Meter (Tim Hopper) sent him in the third episode. Severide later admitted to Kidd that he wanted to continue helping with arson cases, pointing out that it could open doors for him—like OFI—in the future. Not wanting him to feel trapped, she eventually gave him her blessing to go work on the case, as long as he came back soon. “That’s the plan,” he promised. “But if you’re MIA with me again, if you leave me in the dark,” she warns him.
And sure enough, Severide says the plan is to be back soon, and both he and Kidd reiterate that they won’t be apart for long in their goodbyes at the end of the episode, which seems to be foreshadowing something that could potentially keep him apart. But we’ll take what executive producer Andrea Newman told us at the beginning of the season when we asked if Kinney would be back full-time: “Severide is the heart of this season, so I’d say yes.” That means there’s a lot more to come from him, considering he’s only been on the air for three episodes.
Plus, according to Newman, Severide and Kidd “have to work through this and go somewhere else, maybe a better place.” We’ve only begun to see that in the conversations they’ve had so far, and the latest case that takes him away from Chicago seems to be just preparing them for that “better place.”
And hey, as we saw in the sauna scene that opened the premiere, Stellaride continues to be one of the hottest couples on TV. This trip away could just be a stepping stone to things getting more heated when he returns.
