Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 7 Review: Did Sheriff Pascal Do Something Unforgivable?
Chicago Fire Season 13, Episode 7, “Untouchable” wraps up the story that began in Episode 6 very quickly. It’s a bit of a surprise, because the way corrupt state police officer Bishop was hyped in that episode, it seemed like he was going to be the NBC show’s newest Big Bad. But that news was blown away by what may or may not be a revelation about Sheriff Dom Pascal that makes him more interesting or more sinister, depending on how fans want to look at it.
“Untouchable” begins with Pascal and Kelly Severide continuing to investigate a fire at a storage facility that they now believe Bishop began covering up for his corruption. Things escalate when Bishop threatens both of their families, leading to a major twist in Pascal’s story that viewers will debate for a long time. But it’s also what makes the episode stand out. It’s packed with developments that will carry Season 13 into the fall and beyond.
With so much effort being put into establishing Bishop as a threat to Firehouse 51 and the fact that the fall finale is coming up, it’s surprising that Chicago Fire didn’t extend Bishop’s story into another episode. It would have provided the perfect amount of drama for a midseason finale, but the episode mentions that the police have a lot of information on Bishop, and the fall finale synopsis doesn’t mention Bishop or Pascal, so it feels like the plot is really just a quick diversion. Whatever happens in the back half of Season 13, showrunner Andrea Newman and company missed an opportunity to do something big and completely insane.
At the end of “Untouchable,” right after Severide shares a cigar with Pascal outside the firehouse — significant because that’s exactly what he used to do with his best friend Matthew Casey — it’s revealed that the Bishop house fire wasn’t started by his former informant, as the duo suspected. It’s proven that the informant was nowhere near Bishop’s garage at the time of the fire. Pascal makes a casual comment about how Bishop would never threaten their loved ones again, and that line, along with the melodic music, suggests that Pascal himself may have started the fire. It’s unlikely that the audience will get a clear answer, as the fall finale has a different plot, but it’s a terrible thing to bring up just for dramatic effect.
Dom Pascal: I’m not the bad guy here.
Monica Pascal: You were never the bad guy.
If that’s the case, it undermines everything the show has done to establish that Pascal is more than just a new Battalion Chief. He certainly has a reason to understand if he started the fire, but Wallace Boden would never condone such a thing — let alone do it himself. Pascal just returned to Chicago; is it worth risking his new position? On the other hand, this seems in-character for Pascal given his past behavior, such as beating up a former co-worker for talking to Pascal’s wife. And since the audience still doesn’t know when or if Pascal will make way for Christopher Herrmann for a promotion, Pascal leaving because he was exposed for arson would be a crazy storyline. And he’s not even the first criminal firefighter on this show. “Untouchable” has a development that will certainly impact the rest of the season: his girlfriend Tori breaks up with him after realizing he’s recommitting to his job at Firehouse 51. After Tori’s surprise visit to the firehouse upsets Carver, he returns home to find that Tori has moved most of her belongings out of the apartment. It’s hard to be too upset about this, because her character was never interesting on her own, and it’s clear that she’s just a hindrance to Violet and Carver’s storyline. But it’s probably no coincidence that Tori and Carver are in the same episode where Violet gets serious about her new love interest Flynn.
Violet worries that Flynn likes her more than she likes him when he invites her to a relative’s funeral — which is a pretty random plot point. It does serve a purpose, though, as Violet actually connects with Flynn when she tells him about Evan Hawkins’ death. He takes this with a grain of salt, and the two leave the event to return to her house. So instead of Violet pining after Carver, it looks like the second half of Season 13 will be Carver chasing Violet. Hopefully the season ends with the two of them getting their act together — the show doesn’t need to delve into another Casey and Brett situation, where they spent years getting together, then broke up when Casey left the show, then reconnected. The “will they, won’t they” trope only works for so long before fans get frustrated.
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