Chicago Fire delivered a standout episode ahead of a mini hiatus by bringing back none other than Jesse Spencer as Matt Casey, who dropped by the Windy City for some Brettsey complications and big news for Stella Kidd. Casey came back to recruit the Truck 81 lieutenant to a task force ahead of a potential terror threat. While that’s obviously a terrifying prospect in the fictional world of the fictional characters of One Chicago, I’m hoping as a fan of the show that the heroes of Firehouse 51 have to face such a threat for one big reason: seeing Stella rise to the occasion.
Stella’s journey to get to where she is as the established and respected lieutenant on Truck 81 has taken years and involved an uphill battle, so it was great to hear Casey tell her that when the Department of Homeland Security needed first responders they could trust to be part of a network in target cities, he couldn’t think of anybody more trustworthy.
It’s hard to say if he would have made the same call if Severide had been in town as another option, but Stella has proved herself as the kind of leader who could step up in the face of a terrorist attack on Chicago’s electrical grid. She’s even been mentoring Cruz as he works as Squad’s acting lieutenant in Severide’s absence. As stressful as it would be for her, a crisis on the level of what Casey described in the latest episode could really showcase her as a character.
And if I hadn’t already been convinced that Stella could step up in the face of the biggest potential crisis of Season 11, comments from Tayo Amos, who directed the episode that brought back Jesse Spencer, could have been a deciding factor. Miranda Rae Mayo was one of few actresses in a room full of male actors for the scene of Casey briefing firefighters on the situation, as yet another example of Stella as a rare woman in an officer position in Chicago Fire’s CFD.
Tayo Amos, who came to Fire as part of NBCU’s Female Forward Program that promotes gender parity in scripted TV directing, opened up about that particular scene and working with Miranda Rae Mayo:
Miranda is such an amazing person and actor. I told her how awesome a character Stella is and… I definitely relate to her storyline as a woman of color coming up in a predominantly white male industry. I think the biggest thing is just do the job. You're here to do the job. You're not a woman of color doing your job, you're just a person doing their job. I think coming at it from that lens of empowerment – not to ignore her background or her identity – more just as, 'Oh, this is why I'm here. This is what makes me stand out, and this is why they're lucky that I'm in this position because I have this unique voice and perspective that they couldn't find anywhere else.’
Surely Chicago Fire wouldn’t devote a huge chunk of Jesse Spencer’s return episode to a plot involving Stella Kidd if it's never going to be explored, right? The show could have found plenty of one-off reasons to bring Casey back for a few days, put him through the paces as a Truck newbie for some humor, and give him that reunion with Brett without planting the seeds for a possible crisis.
In fact, if we weren’t so close to the end of the season, I might even suspect that this could be the basis for a long-awaited One Chicago crossover also including Chicago P.D. and Chicago Med, although P.D. seems to be setting the stage for a disastrous finale of its own for Ruzek. If this attack on the power grid does happen, I’d be interested in seeing whether or not Severide would be back yet.
The character is currently absent while star Taylor Kinney is on a temporary leave of absence, and no hard date has been announced for his return. Could Season 11 end with Severide still in Alabama in OFI training? That’s only one question worth asking as the final episodes approach with Stella possibly in for a major test of her mettle, and the show’s renewal for Season 12 raised plenty more questions (with some possible answers already) for fans to consider.
Now, all of this said, do I reserve the right to change my mind about wanting to see a crisis if it begins to look like any of the Firehouse 51 characters could die? Yes, I sure do! But for now, I’m looking forward to what disaster could be coming for Stella and Co. to tackle for a doozy of a way to end Season 11.
Chicago Fire returns from its break on Wednesday, May 3 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, between Chicago Med (which has been diving into Hannah’s backstory this season) at 8 p.m. and Chicago P.D. (which recently brought back Jesse Lee Soffer behind the camera) at 10 p.m. You can also revisit past episodes streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.
