Spoilers ahead for Episode 18 of Chicago Fire Season 11, called “Danger Is All Around.”
Chicago Fire brought back none other than Matt Casey in the latest episode, with Jesse Spencer reprising his role for the first time since the Season 10 finale’s Stellaride wedding. He returned to his old Firehouse 51 stomping grounds to recruit Stella Kidd for a special task force, but it wasn’t all business for Casey as he reunited with Brett for the first time since their breakup. Plus, the show delivered a crisis never done before in eleven seasons: a crawlspace full of bees! Director Tayo Amos spoke with CinemaBlend about the episode to break down some of the biggest developments.
Tayo Amos came to Chicago Fire for her episodic television directing debut as part of NBCU’s Female Forward program that promotes gender parity in directing, although she had plenty of experience thanks to projects filmed at Cannes Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Urbanworld, as well as streamed on Peacock and Amazon Prime. After sharing how she prepared to direct for the show that’s already eleven seasons and more than 200 episodes into its run, she weighed in on the return of Jesse Spencer as Matt Casey as well as his scenes with Kara Killmer’s Sylvie Brett:
Honestly, it felt like he never left. It really just felt like a big brother or a best friend coming back into the fold. As for the scenes with Brett… I think there's a lot of subtext. There was a lot of fun in really delving into the beats there and really figuring out the flow and what their characters are thinking, because it is very complicated when you have an ex come into your life as sudden as he did. It was just a really wonderful time to break the performances down and have them try things, [with] different takes where it's like, 'Okay, let's try this one way. We'll try this another way.' And then fine-tuning it in the edit.
There could hardly be a more complicated time for Casey to drop in on Brett without any warning, as her fairly new relationship with Dylan has been going well as she works to move on. After all, Brettsey ended because the long distance was too much of a challenge, and not because they stopped caring about each other.
According to Tayo Amos, there were a number of different takes between her as director and Spencer and Killmer as actors to choose from for the final edit. Given that Casey seems to have some very unresolved feelings about wanting a future with Brett, it feels like the story isn’t quite finished just yet.
Fortunately for the heroes of Truck 81 and Squad 3, a different story was finished by the end of “Danger Is All Around.” What could have been a fairly routine call like they’ve tackled hundreds of times before turned out to involve a man trapped in a crawlspace under a house, positively coated with bees that weren’t shy about stinging anybody who got too close, including Miranda Rae Mayo’s Stella Kidd!
Luckily, Stella (unlike Tony) didn't have an allergy, and this was a sequence that had never been done on this scale before in all 200+ episodes of Chicago Fire, and the director opened up about bringing the bee stunt to the small screen:
I got to give credit to the amazing producing team on the show. They very, very much anticipated this stunt, and there were conversations even before I officially started prep about how to take on this stunt that they haven't done before. And major shout out to our head of makeup and special effects, Chris Payne, who created the bee suit by hand. He literally molded and created little fake bees to glue on a t-shirt that our actor wore, and then the additional bees were added by our VFX team. It was wonderful to see the process come together, to see him put all these bees on and figure out ways to make the bees move.
Fear not, Chicago Fire fans! No actors (or bees, for that matter) were hurt by hundreds of real bees being poured onto the man playing the trapped victim, and the finished product looked real thanks to a combination of visual effects and practical makeup effects. According to Tayo Amos, there was another element of the scene that helped make it so harrowing for the heroes. The director continued:
I think what also helped was the fact that it was in a crawlspace. It's a little darker, so we're able to kind of get away with a bit more than if the bees were in a big swarm outside or something like that, [and] working with the camera team to make sure we were shooting very long lenses, kind of making the background a bit blurred out so you couldn't see every detail. It's more like the suspense of seeing the bees than actually seeing the bees themselves.
The suspense certainly helped raise the fear level for the sequence, especially since Stella’s “bucket brigade” method of saving the man from the bees meant that she didn’t have a clear path to get out in a dash if necessary. Fortunately, the Truck 81 lieutenant (with some help from Cruz as acting Squad lieutenant) pulled off the save with just a couple of stings.
Tayo Amos weighed in on how the combination of practical effects and VFX helped the actors in the bee sequence, including Miranda Rae Mayo’s relatable reaction:
I think having the practical effects there really helped the actors' performance. I remember when we first revealed the bees to Miranda. She was so impressed. She was like 'Oh my gosh, now I'm really terrified!' You know what I mean? I think if we had just done it all green screen or all VFX, it would have been a little more challenging, because already practically it looks really terrifying. The VFX was just an added bonus, and I think it definitely helped our actors' performance. Not that they need it, but I think it helps.
This episode was just further proof that Stella Kidd is still thriving as a lieutenant, even with Severide’s absence as both her husband and fellow Firehouse 51 officer. Of course, his absence is only temporary and she was able to pay him an off-screen visit while actor Taylor Kinney takes a leave of absence, so Chicago Fire is avoiding the Stellaride tension from last season when she was gone for some time. Stella had a central role in Tayo Amos’ One Chicago directing debut, and I for one would love to see more.
Amos shared that she’d “definitely” be interested in returning to Chicago Fire and/or expanding into other shows in the extended Wolf Entertainment TV universe, so perhaps it’s only a matter of time before she steps behind the camera again to direct in One Chicago.
For now, you’ll be able to revisit “Danger Is All Around” (as well as the rest of Chicago Fire so far) streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, and look forward to more new episodes on NBC, airing on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET. Fire hasn’t yet been renewed for Season 12, but hopefully that news is coming sooner rather than later.
