Fans tuning into Chicago Fire season 14, episode 3 were met with some disappointing news minutes into the episode.
After making his way to 51, Chief Pascal gathers everyone in the meeting room to inform them that he’s been notified by the Deputy District Chief that Engine 51 has been pulled from service. This results in Mouch and his team being removed from the rotation and left without work for a week, something that does not sit well with Chief Pascal at all.
Chief Pascal goes to bat for Mouch and the team, but his hands are ultimately tied resulting in Engine 51 being left out of commission for the week. This results in Mouch being MIA from the entire episode, which was an unexpected move so early into the season – especially with how central he has been to the show’s early storylines thus far this season.
Christian Stolte misses Chicago Fire season 14 episode 3, but he’ll be back
In the show, Mouch’s absence is explained away as being the result of the ongoing budget cuts in the CFD with Engine 51 pulled from the rotation. This resulted in Christian Stolte missing the episode, which is due to the fact that the show is unable to feature every member of the series regular cast in every episode.
This has been an ongoing occurrence in the One Chicago franchise for several seasons now, with the writers having to work around not having every member of the cast in each episode. Rather than simply having a character disappear, the writers have started to find ways to explain their absences. Sometimes this comes via a quick one-off comment, other timers they weave them into a plot line of the episode, as was the case in episode 3 with Mouch’s absence.
Rather than simply saying Mouch was off at some conference or on vacation, the writers chose to have his absence tie into the CFD cuts. This helped to further the storyline set up in the final episodes of season 13 which hinted that the CFD was going to face some major obstacles with budgets being cut.
The good news is that Mouch will be back and this is not part of an extended leave. In fact, photos from episode 4 confirm that Stolte will return for the episode and is back in action alongside his 51 team members. Of course, this doesn’t mean we might see Mouch miss another episode in the weeks ahead, as that’s a very real possibility; however, fans can at least rest at ease knowing Mouch will be back soon!
