Why This Chicago Fire Plot Is Making Some Fans Angry
NBC’s Chicago Fire, which debuted in 2012, is known for its intense fires, huge explosions, and daring rescues. The show also tells powerful stories about finding family, overcoming obstacles, and falling in love. Fans tend to gravitate toward love stories, and Chicago Fire has had a lot of truly great ones — from paramedic Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) and fire captain Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer) finally getting together to firefighter Randall “Mouch” McHolland (Christian Stolte) finding love later in life with Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), a police sergeant from the Chicago Police Department — so it’s tough when a fan-favorite couple starts to struggle in their relationship.
Chicago Fire ended its 12th season on May 22, 2024. Cut short due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023, the season only had thirteen episodes. In that short time, viewers saw cast members come and go and watched characters deal with both professional and personal obstacles that forced them out of their comfort zones. Most of what happened in Season 12 was enjoyed by viewers, but when Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso) and his wife Chloe (Kristen Gutoskie) began having marital problems, fans really struggled. Joe Cruz wasn’t the only one who met his wife because of Firehouse 51. Joe Miñoso, the actor who plays Cruz, met his wife, a makeup artist, on the set of Chicago Fire. They were married in 2016.
When Chicago Fire first started, Joe Cruz was a driver for Ladder Truck 81 under the command of Matt Casey. Eventually, after completing additional training, he was transferred from the truck to Squad 3, where he was part of a heavy rescue specialist team led by Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney). In Season 11, when Severide went to Atlanta for arson investigation training — since Kinney was on leave from the show — Cruz became a temporary lieutenant for Squad 3 and impressed everyone with his leadership skills.
In the early seasons of Chicago Fire, Cruz dated Zoya (Larissa Polanski), the bartender cousin of Cruz’s best friend, Brian “Otis” Zvonecek (Yuriy Sardarov), and even offered to marry her so she could stay in the country. He also dated Sylvie Brett for a short time, although they decided that they would be much better off as friends. In Season 7, Episode 2, “Going to War,” Cruz met Chloe Allen during an apartment fire. After he saved her life, Chloe went to the fire station with the donuts she made for Joe, and he asked her out. The rest, as they say, is history. When Chloe and Joe first started dating, things seemed to be going well for both of them, but in Season 8, Episode 5, “Buckle Up,” just as Joe was about to propose, Chloe ended things. After Otis’s death earlier in the season, Chloe watched as her friend and Otis’ girlfriend, Lily, struggled with his death and began to worry that she couldn’t handle dating a firefighter. A conversation with Sylvie Brett changed her mind, and by the end of the episode, Joe and Chloe were engaged. They got married in Season 8, Episode 19, “Light Things Up,” with most of the Station 51 audience either watching or standing at the altar with them.
Although Joe and Chloe had some problems at the beginning of their relationship, the rest of their relationship went perfectly for the most part. After their beautiful wedding in “Light Things Up,” Chloe became pregnant in Season 9 and gave birth to their son, Brian “Otis” Leon Cruz, in Season 10, Episode 5, “Two Hundred.” It was one of the few Firehouse 51 births to be without any complications, which surprised both the characters and fans. Then, in Season 10, Episode 16, “Hot and Fast,” Joe formed a relationship with Javi (Carlos S. Sanchez), an orphan he met at a fire, who came to stay with Joe and Chloe. In Season 10, Episode 9, “Nemesis,” Joe and Chloe are finally able to adopt Javi, officially making him a part of the family.
Although viewers don’t see Chloe until Season 12, Episode 12, “Under Pressure,” she is the topic of conversation between Joe and Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) throughout the season. Cruz reveals to Herrmann that he’s been working fewer shifts because Chloe has been traveling for work and wants him to spend more time at home, and that they’ve been talking about couples therapy. Herrmann tells him to go to therapy to save his marriage, and Joe does, but things take a turn for the worse in “Under Pressure” when Joe is rushed to the hospital after collapsing at the scene of a fire. Although he’s completely fine, the trip to the hospital scares Chloe, who eventually admits that she’s been struggling with the risks he takes on the job and has distanced herself from Joe and the fire department.
Although some fans see problems in the relationship
