After Damon pulled a fast one on Stella, it was up to new Chief Pascal to determine who would leave 51.
We’ve said goodbye to many firefighters throughout Chicago Fire’s 13-season run. While some leave happily to chart new horizons, occasionally, a firefighter gets the boot after they fail to be “Firehouse 51 material.”
Jack Damon (Michael Bradway), the Season 12 recruit who initially hid the secret that he is the long-lost brother of Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney), is a prime example of a firefighter who failed to meet 51’s gold standard. Under the supervision of Lieutenant Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo), Damon has lit more metaphorical fires than he’s put out real ones. Between hiding his identity as Severide’s brother in Season 12 and deliberately disobeying Stella’s orders in Season 13, Stella found herself in a heap of trouble after trying to report Damon for misconduct, only for the complaint to dramatically backfire.
After catching wind of the drama, new Chief Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) was tasked with relieving either Stella or Damon from 51, and it was a nail-biting decision. Find out what happened during Season 13, Episode 3 (“All Kinds of Crazy”), below.
Stella Kidd tried to give Damon the boot but ended up on the chopping block
Stella has been having a challenging time at 51 this season. Not only is there a new no-nonsense chief who she’s apprehensive about at 51, she’s been struggling to get a hold of Damon on her rig. While Damon idolizes his older brother, he tends to ignore Stella’s commands on calls, going as far as lying about not hearing an order on a rescue mission. After learning from Severide that Damon lied about mishearing her, she was done making excuses for him. Despite Pascal’s recent complaint that her rig has “more turnover than the Cubs bullpen,” Stella told Severide she wanted Damon back in the floater pool.
Severide gave Damon a heads-up about telling Stella, so he was keen to chat with his lieutenant after spotting her at the station. Stella turned him down; she had a bigger conversation in mind. Stella visited Pascal’s office.
“I need to put Jack Damon back in the floater pool,” she told her chief.
“You’ve never mentioned any issues with him in reports,” Pascal noted. “From what I see, Damon’s a solid firefighter.”
“He can be, yeah,” Stella admitted. “But I just found out that he disobeyed a direct order on that speedboat call last shift, then he lied about it. And there have been some questions about his honesty in the past, too.”
“If there were problems, I shouldn’t just be hearing about it now,” Pascal quipped. Pascal had a point — but Stella hadn’t complained about Damon because she knew how much Severide cared for his brother. Stella wasn’t going to throw her husband under the bus, but at this point, Damon had manipulated her into silence.
“You’re right,” Stella agreed. “I should have flagged it sooner.”
“And once again, there’s a turnover on your rig,” Pascal said grimly.
“That is true, and I don’t want to make excuses for—”
“So don’t,” Pascal cut her off. “As chief, I’m the one who makes the final decision about who stays and who goes in the firehouse. And I’ll decide if your leadership is part of the problem.”
Instead of fessing up, Damon continued to spin lies
Pascal dismissed Stella, who was rendered speechless by Pascal’s harsh words. Severide pled with Stella to let him talk to the chief, but she warned him against it — Pascal had already flagged them for working in the same firehouse as husband and wife. He’d think Severide was protecting Stella because they were married.
“We can’t do nothing,” Severide urged.
“We got ourselves into this,” Stella explained worriedly. “We got to just let it play out and hope Pascal arrives at the right decision.”
After catching wind of the drama, Pascal quickly called Damon into his office to get his side of the rescue. Damon wasted no time twisting the story’s details, telling Pascal there was “sort of a miscommunication” rather than a blatant disregard of orders during the call. When asked if Stella’s orders were unclear, Damon told Pascal, “To be honest, sometimes she’s clear. But sometimes, she’s not.”
Damon continued, “Look, I’ll admit I’m still pretty green — only a couple years on the job. But I just want to get better. I’m trying to do the right thing, chief. I just don’t always know what that is with her.”
Mouch stepped in to heroically vouch for his 51 friend
Chi-Hards were left squirming after that unsettling chat but were devastated when Pascal checked in with Mouch (Christian Stolte) about his upcoming Lietenant exam. After Mouch mentioned that 51 was full-up on lieutenants, Pascal told him an opportunity might arise. Fiercely loyal, Mouch asked Kidd about what was going on, and she sadly confirmed that she was potentially getting the axe due to high turnover on her rig.
Mouch wasn’t going to allow his friend to go down with defending her honor. As Pascal arrived home for the night, he got a knock on his door from the 51 veteran, who had some touching words about Stella.
“I am dead set on becoming a lieutenant before my career is over, and that’s because I have been lucky enough to be inspired by some of the best lieutenants in the CFD, like Stella Kidd,” Mouch told a confused Pascal.
“And you came to my house to tell me this?” Pascal asked.
“I didn’t want you to make any decisions before you saw these,” Mouch said, handing over a massive stack of folders detailing Stella’s CFD career. “Her record speaks for itself. And since I know you believe knowledge is power, I took the liberty of pulling some of her older records for you, especially those concerning turnover. All I ask is that you take a look.”
Chief Dom Pascal ultimately made the best decision for everyone at Firehouse 51
Pascal was impressed with Mouch’s gesture and took it seriously, looking over Stella’s glimmering record and having a dramatic change of heart about the ordeal. The next day, Pascal called Damon into his office. While Damon showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about the check-in, Pascal had bad news.
“I wanted to let you know I’m putting you back in the floater pool,” Pascal told Damon, shocking him. Damon tried to protest, but Pascal revealed he’d done his research and found that Stella has historically been unwavering and direct with her commanding style. Damon was the outlier.
“You’ve broken the trust with your lieutenant,” Pascal leveled with him. “There’s no getting it back. Dismissing you from this firehouse, that’s the only option.”
Pascal visited Stella in the garage to reveal that he’d followed up on her request to relieve Damon from 51. Even better, Pascal allowed her to choose who would become his replacement.
“Let’s make sure this one lasts, OK?” Pascal said as Stella was finally able to breathe easy. The one remaining loose end was Severide’s relationship with Damon — how would this development impact their newfound brotherly bond?
“You’ll get a job at another firehouse,” Severide reassured Damon at the end of the shift. “This is the best thing for you, trust me.”
“Trust you?” Damon asked incredulously, comparing Severide to their deadbeat father, precisely what Severide feared. “I came to 51 because I wanted to get to know you. Learn from you. But you abandoned me the first chance.”
Severide was ultimately forced to sever the bond he formed with his newfound brother to maintain the peace at 51. Jack Damon’s tenure at 51 was bookended by dishonesty and manipulation, and while his intentions began well-intended, he didn’t prove to be 51 material.
