Everyone has those days at work that make no sense — and Chicago Fire Season 13, Episode 2, “Ride the Blade” is one of those days. It’s an episode overpowered by characters’ personal lives and relationship drama, and most of it feels awkward as a result. Furthermore, it’s evidence that two of Firehouse 51’s newest additions don’t fit within the show’s well-oiled framework. Luckily, at least one of them appears to be on their way out.
“Ride the Blade” primarily focuses on the tension caused by Jack Damon, as he drives a wedge between Kelly Severide and Stella Kidd, much to everyone’s frustration (including the audience). Meanwhile, even more is learned about new chief Dom Pascal, and there might be progress in the situation between Violet Mikami and Sam Carver. But most of this episode, except for the last few minutes, isn’t something that fans will want to see again.
Jack Damon Is Chicago Fire’s Biggest Problem
Season 13, Episode 2 Might Be Fixing That, Though
In fairness to this episode, Jack Damon has been a problem for Chicago Fire since the Season 12 finale. The reveal of Damon as Severide’s heretofore unknown half-brother felt utterly random, and now two episodes later, Damon has made a full heel turn. Some of the expressions on actor Michael Bradway’s face in scenes between Severide and Damon are reminiscent of how creepy Hope used to look when she was obsessed with Severide in Season 7. And the dynamic between Damon and Severide in this episode is equally uncomfortable as the former’s hero worship escalates to him expecting Severide to be his confidant and protector. Luckily, the end of the hour suggests that this will all be over soon, as Severide gives Damon an ultimatum.
Kelly Severide: We can’t work at the same firehouse. One of us has to go.
Some fans are worried that this means Kinney will be leaving Chicago Fire again, but there is no logical reason to keep the character of Damon around. He doesn’t add anything to the program aside from stirring up drama; if the show wants to explore Severide’s family more, it has a clear path with the idea of him and Stella starting one of their own. Meanwhile, this show needs Taylor Kinney. The best part of “Ride the Blade” is the evidence of that because Kinney takes Severide through a clear arc, with some help from Joe Minoso as Joe Cruz.
It gets frustrating for viewers when Severide is so clearly letting Damon steamroll him — it feels like depowering his character. But the script gives him back his intelligence by the end, and does so in the best way, because there truly is a parallel between Cruz and his brother Leon and what Severide is on the brink of with Damon. Kinney says very little in that pivotal scene with Minoso, but his eyes tell the whole story and that moment is an example of what he brings to the series. Hopefully the Damon arc is over, if only so Kinney can get back to developing Severide in other directions that don’t take away from him as a character.
Chicago Fire’s New Chief Just Keeps Getting Weirder
Will Fans Invest in Pascal’s Marriage?
While the Damon situation is going on, the other major story in “Ride the Blade” is about new chief Dom Pascal and his very complicated, even slightly disturbing marriage. Pascal had his hero moment in the Chicago Fire Season 12 premiere — but then it ended on the weird half-fight he had with his wife Monica. Episode 2 affirms that she’s not that mad at him after all, because it opens with them in bed. And then they get into a different argument when Monica lets slip that Pascal’s old buddy Vale (whom viewers met in the premiere) called her while they were separated. It doesn’t sound like anything else happened, but that’s enough to prove Pascal is as intense as his wife, and that their relationship is clearly not healthy.
Viewers are supposed to be stunned when Pascal shows up at Vale’s house and slugs him in the stomach for speaking to Monica, but it really just makes the character that much more off-putting. Of course Pascal was never going to live up to fan-favorite Wallace Boden, but especially with an actor of Dermot Mulroney’s caliber, he could have been a fun character. As presently written it seems like he and Damon are in the same boat: short-term additions meant to cause trouble in the firehouse before leaving. Audiences have been suspecting that Pascal is just a short-term fix until Christopher Herrmann gets promoted to Captain, and Pascal’s behavior in “Ride the Blade” kind of proves that, because he can’t possibly last at Firehouse 51 if he’s going around punching things and people.
Sharon: No one ever really knows Dom Pascal.
There’s even a great way to write him out, since Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman confirmed to CBR that Boden returns in Season 12. Boden can show up as Deputy Commissioner, fire Pascal for his erratic behavior, and promote Herrmann into his chair. Herrmann and Mouch’s scene about Herrmann’s lack of confidence in himself as a leader feels like foreshadowing. When he gets that promotion, it needs to be Boden who gives to him, as a way of reminding him that he deserves to be there. And seeing Boden come back to dump Pascal will be entertaining if Eamonn Walker and Mulroney get to square off.
Chicago Fire Loses Itself in Personal Problems
Season 13, Episode 2 Is Disjointed and Messy
The fundamental issue with “Ride the Blade” is that it feels like an episode comprised of subplots, as if Chicago Fire wanted to push all its personal stories along so it put them all into one hour. There’s very little here that has any long-term impact, save the idea of Damon being transferred out of the firehouse. It is a wonderful thing to see Christopher and Cindy Herrmann’s marriage take center stage in a story that doesn’t involve something terrible happening, but Herrmann running around trying to identify a scent comes across as just needing to find some comic relief and knowing that David Eigenberg can always make that happen. The funniest person in the episode is actually Jocelyn Hudon as Lizzie Novak, because the writers have finally found an almost surgical way to apply Novak’s lack of filter.
The best news is that Violet reaches out to Carver, who seems to be having second thoughts about his hard-partying fling with Tori from high school — because as quickly as the show put them together, it’s taken its sweet time letting them actually be a proper couple. Both characters deserve a good step forward. But aside from that and Damon’s fate, there’s not much in Chicago Fire Season 13, Episode 2 that audiences need to remember. It’s the rare installment that One Chicago fans will forget before the end of the season, when they’re focused on characters and plot developments that matter a lot more.
