Chicago Fire Review: Escape Route (Season 9 Episode 8)

Please calm down, Casey.

On Chicago Fire Season 9 Episode 8, “Escape Route,” Lt. Grainger fills in while Herrmann is on vacation, and Casey’s jealousy gets the better of him because of it. 

Immediately, Casey gives Grainger a hard time. His treatment of him is entirely unfair, and he uses his position of power to make Grainger’s life more difficult. It’s not a good look for Casey, and honestly, it’s not an entirely believable one.

Granted, we’ve seen Casey’s feelings affect his temperament in similar ways before, but this feels too far. 

It’s all a means to an end, but it’s more complex than Sylvie Brett having feelings for another man. Brett calls Casey out on that directly, and it’s a heck of a satisfying scene. Casey doesn’t need to make some grand gesture for Brett right now. Perhaps, instead, he needs to come to terms more with his lasting feelings for Dawson.

Brett all but spells out for Casey what he needs to do at this point, and it’s gold. This is a woman who has done a lot of work on herself to figure out what she needs.

Speaking of satisfying scenes, Brett’s quick thinking and fierce destruction of a piece of furniture in order to save a victim is one of the best moments of the episode. She’s clearly putting a lot of her own personal feelings into that — which takes us right back to “Smash Therapy.” 

Back to Casey, frustration of his actions aside, it’s interesting writing to use his position of authority to create conflict here. He’s come into his own as Captain, but there’s still more he has to learn, and this is the perfect example of that. All of these pieces work well together for the story.

Meanwhile, Severide is once again on his own mission, because of course he is. This one is a little more personal to him, though, since it revolves around his childhood home. 

It actually feels like a missed opportunity that we don’t see more emotion from him on watching the home he once lived in go up in flames. It strikes a chord, sure, but not in the way it could and should. What it does do, is give him an edge on helping the teen boy living there climb out the window to escape. 

The mother is terribly injured trying to save her son’s insulin, and it turns out to be a tragic story that shines more light on problems with the healthcare system. That’s where Severide goes above and beyond, once again.

He heads to Med to see April, reminding us of their friendship and history together. April’s able to find a way to help the family with medical costs — all very quickly and easily.

Then, when the teenager takes off and plans to run away to spare his parents of being burdened by him, Severide is the one who finds him and talks him out of it. As usual, he’s a compassionate, selfless hero going above and beyond the duties of his job. 

Other thoughts:

• It’s fun to see Cruz’s excitement over expanding his Slamigan empire. It’s even more fun to see the ideas everyone comes up with. I’m a fan of the “hose hands” one.
• The idea that will probably take off comes from Stella’s conversation with Brett about their uniforms and gear — all of which are made by men for men. I really appreciate this detail for the female characters.
• I don’t know how much longer we’ll see Grainger sticking around, but I’m really enjoying his character so far.

What did you think of this episode of Chicago Fire? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

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