Spoilers ahead for Episode 2 of Chicago Fire Season 13, titled “Ride the Blade.”
Chicago Fire is officially moving forward into the era of Dermot Mulroney’s Dom Pascal as the new Fire Chief of 51, but it’s not his influence that’s keeping the house in order in “Ride the Blade.” In fact, it only takes two episodes in the fall 2024 TV schedule for Damon’s presence to cause some insurmountable complications for the other firefighters. After Severide gets a wake-up call, he informs his half-brother that something needs to change and that could lead to one of the characters leaving 51. What Happened in “Ride The Blade” The trouble begins when Truck, Squad, and Engine are all called to the scene of an accident and Damon jumps into action to try to save a life despite Kidd screaming in different directions. He then confesses to Severide that he heard what the truck lieutenant said, and Severide decides not to tell his wife—who also happens to be the lieutenant in question—about it.
And Severide could have continued to cover for Damon if Cruz hadn’t told him some harsh truths. Cruz called the lieutenant out for treating Damon differently than anyone else, and that affected the fire department. Things could have gotten a lot worse, too, if Severide had to decide between protecting his brother and doing his job.
That’s enough for Severide to know that he has to come clean to Stella, who’s not happy that he lied to her, and still doesn’t know if she wants to keep Damon on right after Pascal points out the number of replacement trucks.
In a disastrous failure to read the situation, Damon storms off to Severide at Molly’s to yell at him for telling Kidd the truth, and Severide holds his temper much better than he did in the early days of Chicago Fire. (You can watch the early seasons by subscribing to Peacock.) When Damon yells that he thought Severide was backing him up about not telling Kidd, Severide tells his half-brother: You [backed me]. That’s the problem. You lied to protect me, which is something I wouldn’t do to anyone else. She’s mad, she has every right to be mad, with both of us… We can’t work at the same fire station. One of us has to go.
Honestly, with the way he calmly talks Damon down to make amends, he’s probably ready to settle down if/when Stella gets there. If this conversation were between Damon and any other main cast member on the show, I would assume there would be no question of which character would stay at 51. However, since this is Severide, there are a few variables to consider.
Could Severide leave Fire Station 51?
On the one hand, Chicago Fire removing its highest-paid actor from action is hard to take seriously, in part because Squad is more specialized than Truck or Engine. I really don’t believe Severide would leave 51 permanently unless Taylor Kinney left the show. But Severide has more career options with CFD than any other character on the show.
Would Severide decide to call it quits, leave 51 so Damon can stay and become a full-time “fire marshal” for OFI? He’s been a fire investigator since the early days of Chicago Fire and has only gotten better in recent years. The conflict with Stella over OFI might not even be an issue if he just focused on that in Chicago instead of splitting his focus between the Squad and OFI.
Or maybe the bigger conflict would be about Damon, even in this scenario. As Severide noted, Kidd has every right to be angry with both of them. Cruz has also proven that he can take over as lieutenant when Severide leaves Squad 3, so Fire wouldn’t need a new permanent agent to fill that void.
Plus, of the three lieutenants at 51, Severide seems to have the least conflict with Pascal, so he would be the easiest of the three to lift up and start a new story elsewhere in CFD. And who knows? It’s possible that the transition to OFI will bring Severide into contact with Boden, as Eamonn Walker is reportedly open to reprising the role as a non-permanent employee in Season 13. It could also be interesting to see how Severide’s transition to a role that doesn’t involve risking life and limb on a daily basis might affect Stella’s feelings about starting a family. Even Severide admits when he brings up the idea that having a child of his own would affect Kidd more physically than it would affect him, but could she start to come to terms with the idea of Severide having a safer job?
It might be a stretch, but I think there are a lot of interesting possibilities if Chicago Fire has Severide decide to leave 51 for a while.
