Chicago Fire Review: No Survivors (Season 9 Episode 16)

It wouldn’t be Chicago Fire if we weren’t left with a major cliffhanger at the end of the season, right?

Chicago Fire Season 9 Episode 16, “No Survivors,” centers mostly on relationships, with the happy news that Stella and Severide are now engaged, and Casey and Brett finally getting together once and for all. 

Severide’s announcement about the engagement is subtle, as he assigns tasks in a meeting, giving one to “my fiancee” which results in a joyous uproar. It’s sweet and fun to watch, and everyone’s reactions feel completely genuine.

It’s a little surprising that Brett doesn’t already know the news, considering the close friendship she has with Stella. It’s as though her coming in after the news is announced is there merely to move the plot forward for her and Casey, and less about how that might actually all shake out.

Still, it’s happy news and it’s nice that we get these sweet moments that remind us just how close everyone is at the firehouse.

Casey’s reaction when he learns the news beforehand is particularly special. He’s down on his luck in his own romantic life for the moment, but he’s honestly happy for his friend. There isn’t a relationship that’s been more consistent on Chicago Fire than the friendship between Matt Casey and Kelly Severide.

Casey does spend quite a lot of the episode waiting for some signal from Brett. The longer he waits, the more he thinks it’s just not going to go anywhere. He told her was in love with her on Chicago Fire Season 9 Episode 15, and now it’s up to her to respond.

It’s not a great situation for their work environment, and Brett nearly lets the distraction get in the way of saving a victim. She’s still working out her hesitations, but finally, in an almost perfectly cliche nighttime scene, she tells Casey she’s in love with him too. 

Considering the amount of time it’s taken for this ship to sail, the love scene that follows is given plenty of attention, which feels like a nice payoff. It really does the slow-burn romance justice. 

There are no questions left about Gabby. Plenty of time has passed, those conversations have been had, and now there’s real closure. Add to that, it makes sense for the story to have a new couple to be invested in just as Stella and Severide are taking that next step. 

Meanwhile, it’s been stated that changes were coming to Firehouse 51. Nothing happens yet, but Boden does consider making a move. A promotion would be well-deserved, but also bittersweet.

We also recently saw him get some joy out of being in the middle of the action at a call, and taking more steps away from that would be difficult for him.

But at the same time, Mouch and Herrmann are right — he’s a true firefighter, and that’s what they need at the top. After all these years, it would be satisfying to see this happen for Boden, but the thought of him leaving the firehouse? That hurts.

Okay, but again, this is a season finale, and there’s a cliffhanger. The nature of this show means a cliffhanger can come out of nowhere thanks to any emergency call, which is often how these things occur.

In fact, the episode is a little too fun and joyful and relaxing to think we’re not going to be ending it in a very different way.

Every member of squad is left in danger from a call when they go diving to save a victim… and wind up getting trapped. This is something we’ve never seen before, which is kind of remarkable as we end the ninth season.

Both Cruz and Severide are down there — which makes this especially high stakes. One is an expectant father and the other recently engaged. Actually, if there were going to be a cliffhanger, it seems only right it would include those two for that reason. 

With them are also Capp and Tony. There are two things to note here. One, we were just introduced to Capp’s girlfriend, much to the surprise of his fellow squad members.

Two: just prior to seeing squad take that dive and wind up in a life-threatening situation, Capp’s girlfriend points to each of them, naming them all incorrectly based on what she’s heard from Capp. It’s a bit of foreshadowing to see the members of squad lined up like that and to see them through new eyes.

Whether that means anyone will actually die, there’s no telling. We’ve seen many a cliffhanger where everyone ends up being just fine. But we’ve seen the opposite happen twice now too.

And to end a season where there’s been so much reflection on the past and on characters who’ve died, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the show go there again. 

I guess we’ll have to think on that one all summer.

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

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Chicago Fire returns this Fall to NBC.

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