Chicago Fire Season 13, Episode 16, “In the Rubble,” picks up a couple of weeks after the death of Monica Pascal, the wife of Chief of Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney), and as the episode starts, it feels like everyone is just waiting for Pascal to get to the firehouse so they can figure out how he wants them to act. The answer is revealed pretty quickly; it’s business as usual. Or at least, that’s what he says. But is it really?
What Happened to Chicago Fire’s Dom Pascal?
Things are not just as they seem with Pascal during the episode, as Severide (Taylor Kinney), Herrmann (David Eigenberg), and Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) quickly discover. First, Pascal is doing daring stunts he wouldn’t have normally tried — and, worse, would have disciplined others for. Then he absolutely loses it when he’s told no charges will be pressed against the other driver involved in the collision against Monica.
After that, he makes the entire firehouse run through the accident again, trying to find anything they or the police might have missed. It’s when everyone is going through their reports again that Severide realizes that Pascal has likely followed the other driver involved in the collision home. And Severide, of all people, knows what Pascal would do to protect his wife — and what he has done to protect her before. Severide was, after all, there with him previously when Monica and Stella were in danger.
So, Severide warns him. “Don’t do it, Chief,” he tells Pascal. He takes it even further. “I know it’s not what she would have wanted,” he says about Monica. And though it’s an offer of support on Severide’s part, it’s also a warning. Because Pascal understands that if he does something, Severide will know. And Severide can rat him out.
What does Pascal do then? Well, he gives Severide something Severide wanted: Damon (Michael Bradway), Severide’s brother, is now set to return to 51 full-time to work under Herrman. At the end of the episode, we even get the entirety of Firehouse 51 showing up at Monica Pascal’s funeral to be there for Dom Pascal, with the suggestion that they are there for him because he’s family. It feels like a full-circle moment.
It’s just too nice and perhaps too full circle. Why did Pascal really do it? He’s been a truly enigmatic character since he was introduced, and the show hasn’t really delved into his dark side. Sure, it has always seemed like his wife was his weak spot, but does that mean he’s really going to drop the possibility of getting revenge on the man who killed her because Severide asked him nicely? Or is he just playing nice with Severide and distracting him with what he wants so Severide doesn’t think about what Pascal is really doing? Because if I were Pascal, that would be my real move.
Bring back Damon. Play nice with Firehouse 51, in my own gruff way. Play the chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) was for a while, if needed. And then go get my revenge when Severide isn’t looking and when he won’t suspect me of doing it because he now trusts me. And hey, this could even provide the show a dramatic exit for Pascal at the end of the season that will finally Herrmann to become the actual Firehouse 51 Chief. Even if it happens one season later than we thought he would be. He did pass that exam, after all.
