We’ll have to side with Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) when it comes to Chicago Fire’s new director, Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney): There’s something “off” about him, and not just because he’s not Boden (Eamonn Walker, who exited last season) or because his replacement is Herrmann (David Eigenberg).
The first episode of Season 13 wastes no time in revealing why Pascal, back at CFD after 10 years in Miami, is in the chair instead of Herrmann. According to Herrmann, he just had a bit of bad luck and got sick before the captain’s test, failing the test, but he plans to take the test in the next round, followed by the captain’s test. Pascal wishes him luck, but is he sincere? Pascal’s first morning press conference with the fire department was interrupted by a phone call before he could do more than introduce himself. “I’m not Captain Boden. I don’t try to be. I have my own leadership style. I do things my own way. You should all expect some changes to Firehouse 51,” he warns.
He surprises everyone on the call when he leaps into action, sans body armor, as firefighters and paramedics work to treat victims of a fire at an e-cigarette warehouse. As Novak (Jocelyn Hudon) puts it, it’s like “he’s missing the fear gene.” His actions leave the others wondering about him. Pascal then upsets them when he announces that he wants them to bond over lunch, so the phones will be in their cases; just because they’ve known each other for years doesn’t mean they can’t figure out something new. “You’ll thank me—either that, or you’ll think I’m a “You son of a bitch,” he says.
Another change is that he wants to meet with his three lieutenants—Severide, Kidd, and Herrmann—in person to review the call instead of just reading their reports. That would help him understand their leadership styles and methods. Kidd sees Pascal making an alpha move. Severide (the kiss) encourages her to give him a chance.
Severide is the first to meet with Pascal, and it seems like things are going well—until the leader brings up the fact that as immediate family, he and Kidd shouldn’t be working together. It seems to him that they’ve figured out a way to work this out, given how long they’ve worked together, but he wants Severide to know that he’ll be keeping an eye on them. Herrmann’s meeting is also good, as Pascal explains that he believes knowledge is power and wants to learn from every call. Kidd, however, postpones the meeting and tries to continue doing so (until after some Girls on Fire work) when Pascal finds her, but he won’t let her.
We begin to understand why Pascal is back in Chicago when Lieutenant Veil visits him, saying he heard about what happened in Miami and asking if he’s okay. Absolutely fine, Pascal says. Veil checks in, because he heard… but Pascal cuts him off, insisting that most of CFD doesn’t even know he’s there yet and basically shoos him away. But before he leaves, Veil makes sure he knows he wants to talk to get close.
Later, at home, Kidd admits that she’s angry with herself for turning Pascal down because she would never do that to Boden. She misses Boden at 51 because he’s more than just her boss—he did, after all, walk her down the aisle. But still, there’s something about Pascal that worries her, and she’s not the only one. Severide agrees that there’s something off about him.
In the final scene of the episode, we get a taste of Pascal as he leaves work, coming home only to find that his wife Monica (KaDee Strickland) has apparently changed the locks. She’s unhappy and thinks he should be somewhere else. He argues that his name is on the lease, but he wants her there and wants to work on “this.” As she sees it, all he does is work, day and night, like always, and he should be in Miami. He’s here to be with her, and he refuses to give up. “You’re going to need me to keep you warm when the Chicago winter hits. We were weak in Miami,” he says, urging her to open the door. She opens the door, reminds him that he’s a lucky man, and kisses him. But something was definitely wrong in that relationship…
