A Notorious Chicago Fire Villain Just “Returned” and Is Haunting Cruz
In the Season 13 fall finale, Cruz’s past came back to haunt him.
No one likes it when a Chicago Fire fan favorite lands in hot water, but Firehouse 51’s Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso) found himself sweating in the Season 13 fall finale after getting a blast from the past.
Chi-Hards may remember the jaw-dropping moment Cruz chose to forego rescuing an insidious gang leader, Flaco Rodriquez (José Antonio García), in Season 1 of Chicago Fire. While the ethics of leaving Flaco for dead were murky, Cruz ultimately moved on after accepting it was the only way he could protect his brother, Leon (Jeff Lima), from being trapped in Flaco’s gang, the Insane Kings. Flaco had demanded an insane buyout from Cruz to prevent Leon’s fate, so when Cruz later found Flaco fighting for his life inside a burning building, he wasn’t too keen on saving the criminal’s life. Cruz announced on his radio that the building was clear of civilians, shut the door on Flaco, and the rest became One Chicago history…
Until Chicago Fire’s latest, when Cruz received a visit from a scared Leon and Flaco’s cousin, a former member of the Insane Kings. Here’s everything that happened during Season 13’s blood-pumping fall finale.
Joe Cruz got a troubling visit from his brother at Firehouse 51
It all began after Cruz arrived at work to find a strange pendant in his station locker in Season 13, Episode 8 (“Quicksand”).
“Is this some kind of prank?” Cruz asked his 51 friends, but no one knew what he was talking about. After giving it a look and debating whether it was a bullet or a pendant, Cruz cautioned his colleagues to stay out of his locker while shrugging it off.
Alarm bells began ringing later when Cruz noticed a similar pendant hanging from his car door’s mirror. Confused by the suspicious omen, Cruz started to get fed up. Later, after his brother Leon visited him at Firehouse 51, the puzzle pieces finally began coming together. A parole agent reached out to Leon about Junior, Flaco’s cousin. Junior spent the last 12 years in prison after Leon helped put him away, but it turns out he got an early release.
Cruz asked Leon if the parole agent thought Junior was a risk to them — he might still have ties to the Insane Kings — but Leon said the agent didn’t provide further information. He hadn’t heard rumors of Junior stalking them, but Leon remained dubious about Junior keeping the peace now that he was back on the streets.
Leon was crashing with friends outside the city to protect himself but voiced his concerns to Cruz that Junior would track him down. Cruz cautioned his brother against running away from the problem but encouraged him to keep him updated.
Joe Cruz learned the origins of a strange gift left for him at work
While Cruz did his best to reassure Leon, the same couldn’t be said for himself. Bewildered by the mysterious pendants being left for him to find, Cruz took one to a lab to ask about the strange contents stored inside the pendant: peculiar ash.
“So I was just curious of what you thought about the ashes in there,” Cruz told the scientist after claiming he found it at a garage sale. “Get your professional take.”
“I’ve seen these things before,” she told him. “They’re called pendant urns. These are cremated remains.”
Cruz’s confusion instantly turned into panic as the truth of these sinister presents dawned on him. Flaco’s cousin was out of prison — could those be Flaco’s ashes? It has been 12 years since Cruz left Flaco for dead and over a decade since Cruz has reflected on his damning actions, but he can’t run anymore. Later, while praying at a church and reflecting on the situation, Cruz received an unexpected visit from Junior himself.
“It’s been a while. Let me refresh your memory,” Junior told him. “I’m the one who saw you close the door on my cousin. Left him to die. We need to talk, my friend.”
