Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 6 Review: Severide and Pascal Make a Surprising Team
Chicago Fire Season 13, Episode 6, “Birds of Prey” isn’t an episode that fans will remember on its own — except maybe for Mouch getting attacked by a bird. The episode’s value is that its main plot, involving another suspicious fire in Chicago, sets up an ongoing subplot for Kelly Severide and Police Chief Dom Pascal. And in doing so, it gives Pascal some valuable character development.
“Birds of Prey” largely revolves around a fire that breaks out at a storage facility. While examining the affected storage units, Firehouse 51 finds several instances of 3D-printed guns — and stumbles into an Illinois State Police investigation. The usual territorial drama follows, but Taylor Kinney is always reliable in such stories, and Dermot Mulroney makes for a more capable sidekick.
The general rhythm of the A-story in “Birds of Prey” is familiar: someone at Firehouse 51 (usually Severide) disagrees with an outside group or agency about how to handle a problem, and Firehouse 51 turns out to be right, or at least on the right track. What makes this story work is what has made previous stories of this type successful — Taylor Kinney’s conviction. He always plays Severide with such determination and confidence that it’s impossible not to root for him against anyone who stands in his way. It might seem odd at first to pair him with Chief Pascal, but Kinney and Mulroney get along just fine.
The plot actually works better for Pascal. Severide’s suspicion of him being corrupt is a bit of a procedural cliche, but overall the plot gives Mulroney a variety of things to do, from currying favor with a corrupt state police officer to taking down his lieutenant. This is probably a third to midway through Season 12 (previous seasons ran between 13 and 24 episodes), so the “getting to know you” phase is over and it’s time to dig deeper. Pascal’s biggest story arc so far has been his very complicated relationship with his wife, and that’s not enough to keep the interest. Making him an ally to Severide here, and getting a chance to see how far he’ll actually go to support his new fire department, is much more compelling and worthwhile.
Kelly Severide: If he’s into something shady, I wouldn’t just sit on the sidelines.
It’s still hard to know whether Pascal will stick around. Viewers know that Christopher Herrmann is still planning to take the exam for promotion, and it would be lamentable for him to miss it again. So unless the writers give Herrmann a reason to fail (which is possible, since Herrmann can be unpredictable), Pascal could be a short-term character. If that’s the case, having him fall on some sword to defend what’s right would be a great emotional arc, and very Wallace Boden-like. If he continues, this is a story that could get people fully on his side. Viewers certainly haven’t seen the full range of Mulroney yet.
The mention of Treat Williams’s Benny Severide is still appreciated, although Chicago Fire thankfully doesn’t decide that Pascal has a past with him either. Instead, revealing that Pascal has a corrupt colleague in Miami is a way to make his professional history relevant — not just his personal history. It adds another layer to the character. The audience knows Firehouse 51 needs Pascal because there’s a job opening, but this storyline could be a way to explain what Pascal gets out of being part of 51. He and Severide are both incredibly stubborn and both have hot tempers, so they’d be a formidable pair, and everyone wins by seeing a new dynamic develop.
Unfortunately, everything else in Season 13, Episode 6 falls short of the main story’s standards; the subplots feel like they need something for other characters to do, but they don’t know what it is. Writer Danielle Nicki previously wrote Season 12, Episode 10, “The Wrong Guy,” which had a similar problem. There are more scenes of Sam Carver exhibiting erratic behavior; the big change is that he eventually screws up the job, prompting Stella Kidd to send him home. But Jake Lockett has been playing the dark Carver for so long that it’s getting old. Violet Mikami at least goes on a date with her new love interest Flynn, but the solo call to Ambulance 61 is so brief that it’s resolved offscreen.
The main subplot involves Mouch being harassed by a bird nesting on the equipment floor at Firehouse 51. It’s the equivalent of Bill Dauterive being attacked by a hawk in King of the Hill: funny, but pointless. Christian Stolte makes Mouch go into a fit of rage… but he’s done that plenty of times before. There are plenty of subplots about Moch
