When Chicago Fire decided to introduce a new leader, it was a huge shock. The Chicago Fire Season 13 premiere, “A Monster in the Field,” played into that feeling by focusing the majority of its time and energy on newcomer Dom Pascal. The show succeeded in giving viewers a strong first impression of Pascal — but not necessarily a good one. And that was the goal.
“A Monster in the Field” refers to Pascal, as that’s how he’s described when Firehouse 51 is talking about their new boss. And like any TV show that has a regime change, the new character (played by former Secret Invasion member Dermot Mulroney) shows up and starts doing things the exact opposite way. Meanwhile, Violet Mikami gets some heartbreaking news when Sam Carver returns home to Texas from a six-week trip.
The great news for Chicago Fire is that Dermot Mulroney makes an immediate impression as Chief Dom Pascal — the question is whether fans will get tired of him. The character doesn’t endear himself to many of his new coworkers in the first episode, and is even hinted at having trouble with his wife by the end of the episode, though the episode ends with her letting him back in after changing the locks. But even if you admit that Pascal’s goal is to shake things up around Firehouse 51, there’s not much to take in about the guy.
Episode 1 keeps Pascal pretty mysterious, perhaps because showrunner Andrea Newman (who wrote the episode) didn’t want to explore too much about his character early on. The antagonism he brings doesn’t work if the audience warms to him too quickly. However, what’s revealed about Pascal has been done before. A former co-worker shows up at his new office and asks if he’s okay after “what happened in Miami.” But the series already has a “character may or may not have done something bad in a previous call” storyline with Brett Dalton’s Jason Pelham. And the anticipated scene with Pascal, played by Private Practice alum KaDee Strickland, raises more questions than it answers. Mulroney doesn’t really show much of Pascal’s humanity, and even a little of it is enough to draw the audience to his side.
As such, much of his screen time is spent making things difficult for the current characters — and those scenes don’t always work. It’s confusing when Pascal hands Kelly Severide the General Direction Manual and points out that there’s a rule that prohibits him and his wife Stella Kidd from working the same shift. Pascal makes a comment about “keeping an eye on” their relationship because it relates to their work. However, if Pascal knows enough to know that Severide and Kidd are married, does he know that they’ve been working together while still in a relationship for years and therefore aren’t a burden to 51? He doesn’t need to know the details of their relationship to figure out the timeline. The scene feels more like an attempt to make Stellaride’s life harder than any valid criticism. And so far, that’s the initial hurdle Pascal has to overcome. Sure, he’ll be different, and he might even be a nuisance, but he has to make the audience want to watch him. The cleverest part of Newman’s script is how she uses Stella Kidd as a stand-in for the One Chicago fan. When the news broke that Eamonn Walker was finally leaving Chicago Fire, it was hard for viewers, because he felt like the only original cast member who would always be there. It was unlike any other cast change on the show, given Walker’s longevity and the impact his character Wallace Boden had on almost every other main character. Newman, who had been with Chicago Fire since the beginning, recognized that and allowed viewers’ feelings of sadness, hurt, and disbelief about Boden’s replacement to come out through Stella.
Although Boden had a beautiful farewell in Season 12, those feelings were rekindled by seeing someone else take his place. By making the choice to create a new character in Pascal and not give Boden’s job to someone fans already knew and loved, the writers left fans stunned and therefore naturally biased against Pascal. When Pascal says he’s not Boden, it feels like he’s talking to the audience as much as he is to Firehouse 51. Stella is the perfect character to show the audience that their feelings are acknowledged, because she’s one of the people Boden has impacted the most positively. Not only did he walk her down the aisle at her wedding, but he also pushed her to become an officer and saw more potential in her than she saw in herself.
