There’s a new Chief at Firehouse 51! Plus, Severide and Damon bond over the fact that they are siblings, and Kidd and Severide finally discuss the subject of babies on-screen. The Chicago Fire Season 13 premiere gave us answers to all of the cliffhangers last season set up, just as it set up even more questions the season is meant to go into – particularly when it comes to Carver’s relationship with Violet, and the new Chief, Dom Pascal.
Chicago Wednesdays returned on September 25, 2024, with new episodes of Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago P.D. Read on for our recap of Chicago Fire Season 13, Episode 1 “Sink or Swin.”
Introducing Dom Pascal, The New Chief of Firehouse 51
We meet Dom Pascal (Dermot Mulroney), the new Chief of Firehouse 51 in this episode, and no one really seems too excited about the fact that he exists. Pascal meets with Herrmann (David Eigenberg) first, because he wants to make sure there are no hard feelings about the fact that he is there considering Herrmann was supposed to take the Captain’s exam and was on track to sit in the spot he is now sitting. Herrman assures him there isn’t any bad blood, he missed the exam because he was sick but he’ll take it next round. “I got a little ways to go,” he says. It almost seems like he means it too, but the excuse doesn’t seem all that believable. Pascal wishes him good luck, all the same.
Pascal proceeds to introduce himself to everyone, and makes clear he has a lot of respect for Boden (Eamonn Walker), but he isn’t Boden and isn’t trying to be. So, things are going to change at Firehouse 51. The alarm bells give us our first chance to see the new Chief in action, and our first glimpse of how he behaves under pressure. And, as Novak puts it, “I think he’s missing the fear gene.” Pascal consistently walks into danger to save people, with everyone from Severide to Herrmann being impressed.
But he brings new ideas to the Firehouse, including the notion that everyone must put their phones in a little basket in the middle of the table during lunch and talk to each other. It is not a bad idea in general, but it is a little silly considering these people know each other well. He also calls Severide (Taylor Kinney), Herrmann, and Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) to his office and tells them he wants to debrief after every call – not just get a written report. Kidd isn’t really happy about it, but Severide interrupts her complaints to volunteer himself to go first.
Severide’s debrief goes pretty well – except for the part where the Chief throws around the rule about not working the same firehouse and same shift with immediate family. He mentions Severide and Kidd seems to have it handled, so he’s not going to make it a big issue, but says nothing about Damon, presumably because he doesn’t know Severide and Damon are related. Herrmann’s debrief goes even better, as Herrmann is actually excited to talk to Pascal. Kidd, however, pushes back when Pascal asks her to debrief, and later confesses to Severide that things didn’t go that well.
Pascal then gets a very weird visitor, another firefighter who claims they “heard what happened in Miami” and are just checking in. What happened in Miami? We don’t get to find out, at least not yet. At the end of the Chicago Fire Season 13 premiere we see Pascal arriving home to a locked door, and after he pleads to be let in and reminds her that he’s in Chicago to be with her, his wife Monica (KaDee Strickland) opens the door and they kiss.
Is a Stellaride Baby on the Way?
One of the biggest cliffhangers of Season 12 of Chicago Fire was about Kidd and Severide possibly having a baby. In this episode, which picks up six weeks later, we see that Severide and Damon have already hashed out the fact that they’re brothers and are getting along really well enough for Cruz to be worried about it, Herrman has managed to miss the Captain’s exam, so a new Captain was assigned to 51 and Severide and Kidd finished their baby conversation, with Stella telling Severide she isn’t ready yet.
It’s not a no, the conversation they have in this episode makes it clear. “You don’t have to apologize,” Severide even tells her, which makes it clear he’s willing to wait until she feels comfortable with it. But Kidd, who in the premiere gets to assist in a rescue with kids involved feels terrified at the idea of being a parent, even going as far as to ask Severide how parents do it. He, of course, doesn’t have an answer, but it does seem like this is the kind of storyline that will continue throughout the season and that they will figure out together.
Outside of the baby talk, the two get a couple of scenes that are about how Stella is dealing with Pascal – badly. Severide advises her to give him a chance, but despite that, Stella goes into his debrief with him on the defensive, which she confesses to Severide at the end of the episode, has a lot to do with how much she cares for Boden and misses him. She seems to regret it, perhaps signaling she will change, or at least try to give Pascal a chance, but both she and Severide think there’s something off about the new Chief.
Violet Missed Her Chance with Carver, Or Did She?
Carver (Jake Lockett) is back at Firehouse 51 after a six-week furlough in the Chicago Fire Season 13 premiere and Violet (Hanako Greensmith) is itching to talk to him. During breakfast she tells Kidd and Ritter that she’s going to apologize and she wants to tell Carver that the reason she was keeping a distance wasn’t because of Hawkins, but because of her feelings for him. She wants their relationship to work. But when Carver shows up, sporting the beard of a man who has been suffering, he seems to be going out of his way to not have any deep conversations with Violet.
Before she manages to corner him, she sees him walk out of the Firehouse and meet up with a woman we’ve never seen before. Later, Violet talks it over with Ritter (Daniel Kyri) and Stella, who advise her to still discuss it with Carver, who might just be trying to rebound with this woman because he doesn’t know Violet is an option.
When she does manage to corner him, before she can even confess her feelings, Carver tells her that the past is in the past and he’s done living there. And move on Carver has, or at least that’s what he wants us to believe, as we see the same blonde woman from before pick him up at the station, complete with PDA, in case anyone had any doubts about what kind of relationship they had. “Let’s just not pretend we’re anything more than coworkers,” Carver tells Violet. “It’ll be better for both of us.”
So, Violet’s love life, not doing that well. At least she and Novak (Jocelyn Hudon) get to bond with one of the kids in the accident that left Stella shaken and thanks to the fact that Novak trusts her instincts, they can alert the police to the fact that the father crashed the car on purpose.
