Chicago Fire Season 11 Episode 6 Review: All-Out Mystery
A solidly entertaining episode with an emotional ending, Chicago Fire Season 11 Episode 6, “All-Out Mystery,” covers a lot of ground. It sets up a new kind of partnership between Kidd and Severide that turns out to be pretty fun to watch, and it answers some questions about Carver.
Most importantly, though, it has Cruz and Chloe taking the next step to make Javi a permanent part of their family. Unfortunately, they run into some trouble with it.
Let’s break it all down.
The Diamond Store:
An explosion at a diamond store means looters are grabbing everything they can when the Firehouse 51 crew shows up. There’s only one victim, and it seems that a bomb was set off.
This is unique enough of a situation, and it has Severide and Kidd curious enough as it is before they learn that they’re being sued by the diamond store owner.
That’s a story that feels a bit too much like old hat. The Firehouse is too often accused of misconduct, negligence, etc. etc. when they don’t deserve it.
Especially considering their reputation as one of the best firehouses in the city, it doesn’t seem realistic that this sort of thing would happen so often. It’s a tired type of conflict and it’s not one that’s all that necessary here.
It does, however, give Severide a reason to want to play fire cop again, this type with Stella as his partner. If Severide is going to continue to occasionally work with OFI, then this is the way to do it.
It sets up a new dynamic with the two of them now that they’re married, and it does so in a positive way.
Rather than giving them some sort of relationship trouble already, it lets them work together as partners in a way they haven’t before.
The mystery of who set off the bomb in the first place is also enough to keep the episode moving, and it’s certainly satisfying to see the entire Firehouse come together the way they do when this poor fellow shows up to the firehouse in hopes of retrieving the diamonds he stashed.
Making Friends with Carver
This is also the type of story we’ve seen before — not that long ago, in fact. The new guy doesn’t quite fit in and is a little suspicious. No one is sure if they should trust him, and that includes the audience.
Yeah, we’ve done this before. A whole bunch.
But Carver does seem like he’s got the potential to stick around, and Mouch, Gallo, and Ritter decide to try to harder to make him feel like he’s a part of the group.
It’s sweet, and it goes back to the found family theme of the entire show. What’s better is that it all does wind up answering some questions. The guys think they’ve crashed a date when they find Carver at a bar talking to a girl, but he’s warm when he sees them.
That is, unfortunately, just before Carver finds himself in a fight and the guys wind up providing backup.
So Carver’s big secret isn’t all that big. He’s just a hothead and a flirt who isn’t afraid of confrontation, it seems. He also likes a different kind of bar than the rest of the firefighters at 51.
But what’s really endearing is that Carver sees the fact that they provided backup as bonding, and he asks the guys — all bandaged and bruised to hang out together again.
Brett, Violet, and the Runaway patient:
First off, I’m glad that Brett’s paramedicine program is continuing to be a part of the story, and I’m glad to see the focus for her isn’t a love story again right away. In fact, with Violet still grieving Hawkins, there’s really good potential for these two women to have new kinds of stories and an evolving partnership.
That said, I’m ready for Brett to get something more central to the story, maybe in regard to the paramedicine program. What she does get, on this episode, is an almost funny, slightly tragic encounter with a patient who literally jumps out of the moving ambulance and goes rolling down the street.
He’s fine, somehow… But when they catch up to him, he reveals his situation with medical bills and prescription costs.
That’s a message that needs attention, even though it is a little too convenient that Brett is able to solve his problem so easily and so quickly by offering him a spot in her program. I’d at least have liked more focus on the patient — just something to give that part of the story more attention.
Cruz, Chloe, and Javi:
Cruz having this happy family is one of my favorite developments on Chicago Fire overall, and I really enjoy getting to see anything involving Javi. So to have a storyline focused on Cruz and Chloe officially adopting Javi is probably the best part of this episode.
It means there are a lot of sweet moments that feel especially satisfying for Cruz’s character, such as Javi asking if he can start calling him “Dad.” There’s also the moment between Cruz and Herrmann when he asks for a character reference.
Unfortunately, there’s a snag in what is otherwise perfect adoption paperwork: Leon.
This is a heartbreaking realization, and even though Cruz has good answers about his brother, it’s a lot to take in, and he now has to revise the application.
Hopefully, the revised application will be enough. What I do appreciate about this detail is that it calls back to earlier seasons of the series, which is something Chicago Fire seems to have gotten a lot better about lately.
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Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.
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Ashley Bissette Sumerel
Ashley Bissette Sumerel is a television and film critic living in Wilmington, North Carolina. She is editor-in-chief of Tell-Tale TV as well as Eulalie Magazine. Ashley has also written for outlets such as Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and Insider. Ashley has been a member of the Critics Choice Association since 2017 and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. In addition to her work as an editor and critic, Ashley teaches Entertainment Journalism, Composition, and Literature at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.