Babies: On “Chicago Fire,” they can be a relationship killer or a relationship savior. Over the years, we’ve watched Gabriela Dawson (Monica Raymund) fall in love with her foster son Louie before losing him, which ruins her marriage to Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer). On top of that, Gabby suffers a miscarriage and learns that if she gets pregnant again, she may die, which firmly torpedos any hope of happiness the Caseys might have had. We’ve seen Cruz (Joe Minoso) adopt Javi (Carlos S. Sanchez) with Chloe (Kristen Gutoskie), and then become quite a protective papa to both Javi and his biological son, Brian. Adoptee Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) gives back when she becomes the adoptive mother of Julia, named after Sylvie’s birth mother. But many of these stories have the same beats — a member of the team locates a foundling, gets attached, and then their original relatives get involved. Depending on the lesson the show’s writers want to tell, or the level of drama the couple’s romance requires, either the kid goes back to their natal family or they stay with their adoptive parents.
Next on this storyline whirligig appears to be Stellaride, who saw a big storyline development during the Season 12 finale that suggested they’re contemplating becoming parents. The back-together-at-last married duo of Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) and Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) have been through a lot and are at a weird juncture of their relationship — not the most auspicious time to have a child. With the twosome considering the idea, there’s one thing “Chicago Fire” desperately needs to do — make the story different from any of the kiddie storylines they’ve done in recent years.
Stellaride are the next couple set for the baby-go-round
Stella and Kelly have had an incredibly turbulent couple of seasons on “Chicago Fire,” some of them inspired by Taylor Kinney’s season-long absence from the series during Season 11. First, Stella spent much of Season 10 in Boston launching her Girl on Fire charity. Then, Kelly was gone during Season 11 helping with an ATF case and working with the government on a training program. Finally, during Season 12 both halves of the Stellaride whole were in Chicago together again, mending their fraying marriage and learning how to trust each other again.
That’s what makes Kelly’s declaration to Stella that he wants to have kids and would like to start trying for one soon so stunning. He knows that his wife loves her very physical job, and they’ve just barely managed to get their marriage back on even footing. Even he seems a little abashed suggesting this to Stella. She has a good reason to be blatantly stunned by the suggestion, because it absolutely comes out of nowhere. It shows that he’s not thinking of her, her career, or what she’s dealing with.
Chicago Fire needs to do something different with this baby plot
This is the kind of storyline that can resolve in one of four ways — either Stella ends up miscarrying or they run into fertility issues, they find a child of adoptable age and run into some kind of trouble adding them to the family, Stella decides she doesn’t want to have a kid and lies to Kelly about being off birth control or — the most impossible option of all, because this is “Chicago Fire” and drama rules the roost — she has a drama-free birth and delivery.
The first two options are just retreads of previous storylines. And as for the notion of Stella lying to Kelly … do these two really need more relationship troubles on top of everything they’ve been going through lately? The clear answer is that originality needs to enter the picture here, by hook or by crook.
Here’s how Chicago Fire can make Stella and Kelly’s swing at parenthood different
How do you freshen up a story that might be past its prime? Do something entirely different with it. Why not have Stella cope poorly with being out of control of her body and her circumstances? Why not have her hate her physical limitations? Why not have her be an unnatural mother — bad at being a parent, to her horror? Maybe she never settles into the role, to her surprise, even if Kelly’s a natural dad. Sometimes even the most heroic among us can be bad parents, after all. It would, at least, be a different idea — and would add some shades of grey to Stella’s do-no-wrong character.
Another way to make this story interesting? Involve any fatherly feelings Kelly might be developing toward his newly-found half brother, Jack Damon (Michael Bradway), a bombshell twist that happened during the Season 12 finale. Maybe he’s transferring his desire to be a dad to his brother, and helping out Jack teaches him he needs to wait a little longer to be someone’s father. In any event, the show’s producers need to do something — anything — new to make this time on the baby-go-round feel like a unique journey. We’ll see which route the show takes when Season 13 of “Chicago Fire” makes its debut on September 25.
