‘Chicago Fire’: What’s Up With Herrmann After That Big Mishap, Plus Is Mouch Alive?
“51 is really unique,” Boden (Eamonn Walker) says at the end of the Chicago Fire premiere. “Nothing lasts forever. Change is inevitable. People will come and go from this fire department and from our lives. There will be welcomes back, there will be hellos, and there will be goodbyes. Anyone who is a part of 51 will always be a part of 51, and we can hold on, no matter what else is changing around us.”
Good news: While 51 says goodbye to Gallo (Alberto Rosende), Mouch (Christian Stolte), after a very bloody shrapnel injury in the Season 11 finale, is still alive! The first episode does a bit of a spin on that at the beginning, with a firefighter from 17 (who’s a guest after a fire at their house) attempting to remove his name tag from his locker, and Herrmann (David Eigenberg) reacting in a way that could have killed Mouch (“That name will never be removed from the locker. You hear me? Never!”) But the veteran firefighter is alive and well after six months of rehab. What doesn’t help, though, is that the firefighter who was targeted in the first episode (the arsonist got into a verbal altercation with 17 after CFD cut him off, and his life took a turn for the worse).
Continuing, “Mouch has changed after what he’s been through, and his completely new approach to firefighting is going to cause some unexpected events in the next few episodes,” executive producer Andrea Newman told TV Insider.
But now we’re worried about another veteran member of 51! During the arson investigation, Herrmann is the one who finds the bomb outside the fire station (since they have firefighters from 17 to 51) and gets it as far away from everyone else as possible. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get out of the blast zone before it goes off, and while he insists he’s fine afterward, we have to wonder about his hearing—it seems like he’s definitely looking at whoever he’s talking to afterward (Ritter and Daniel Kyri’s Boden during his episode-ending speech).
All Newman wanted to tease was, “Change is the theme of the season, and Herrmann has his own turmoil both mentally and physically after that heroic save. The question is, can Ritter get him to face the truth about his struggles, or will Herrmann hurt himself or others by not addressing the issue? And how will that dynamic affect the Herrmann/Ritter relationship going forward? Wait, who’s asking the questions here???”
As for Gallo’s departure, as mentioned above, he moved to Michigan with his aunt. It was the hardest decision of his life, and he’ll miss his family at 51, but his mother has cousins he’s never met and now has a chance to get to know; he shared when he stopped by to say goodbye. Boden said a word to the leader in Detroit on his behalf. Violet (Hanako Greensmith) and Ritter, of course, were the last to say goodbye, and while they may have tried not to say it, they were still emotional.
Meanwhile, as the photos show, Brett (Kara Killmer) and Casey (Jesse Spencer) are engaged, but they haven’t revealed their plans beyond that. The wedding will take place a month and a half away from Chicago, and Brett and Julia (the adoption is done!) will move to Oregon to be with Casey and her sons (who are the sons of his late best friend). She was originally planning to wait until the fall, but she and Casey have been talking, and they’ve waited long enough to be together full-time.
Kid (Taylor Kinney) is back, and he and Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) are still having a blast (in the bathroom to start the episode!) — though his work on an arson case has tested their relationship. She reminds him that she had to fly to Alabama and basically drag him home in handcuffs because he was so into arson cases that it was like a drug. She didn’t even know where he was on the last case, and it took them six months to really try to rebuild trust.
With his life on the line in the latest case, Severide works with OFI on the case, and in a conversation with Van Meter (Tim Hopper), it’s revealed that the lieutenant removed his name from the national investigator’s list, a pretty prestigious group to join. Van Meter reminds him that it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Then, near the end of the episode, Kidd tells Severide that she’s proud of him, and he admits that it’s nice to be part of the arson investigation team again. He wants to keep it in his life somehow without pushing the two of them apart. Even though she wanted to tell him to do it, it still hurt, and the time he was away left deep scars that wouldn’t go away just because of this one case.
What’s the good news? With Severide “at the center”
