Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 21 Review: Dom Pascal’s Secrets are Revealed

The mystery surrounding Dom Pascal has kept viewers intrigued about his character all season, and on Chicago Fire Season 13 Episode 21, “The Bad Guy,” his secrets are revealed.

Although it turns out that he’s never been “the bad guy,” all signs point to him being guilty of attempted murder before Severide can help clear his name.

The victim is the same man who’s responsible for Monica’s death, and it doesn’t take long for OFI — with some help from Severide — to determine that the victim’s car was tampered with.

More than that, they find a tool that’s branded with “Chicago Fire Department,” which suggests that the person responsible must be someone who works for the CFD. It’s not a leap to assume this was Pascal, especially given the anger he felt after Monica’s death, and how badly he wanted to find someone to blame. 

Thankfully, Severide isn’t so quick to make assumptions. Part of that is because of his investigative skills, part is his integrity and loyalty, but I think part of it also has to do with the bond he and Pascal have begun to form. 

Severide immediately suspects Robert Bishop as someone who would want to frame Pascal, and though Bishop makes a pretty good case against Pascal in that conversation, it seems Severide is right.

Severide confronts Pascal directly, which again says a lot about their relationship. And this is when Pascal reveals everything. We learn how Pascal was involved with Hendricks, the shady things happening in Miami, and why Monica came to Chicago.

It all makes sense and explains a lot of their behaviors throughout the episode, even right up to Monica’s death.

Unfortunately, it’s also explained too quickly. Blink and you’ll miss it, really. Considering how this mystery has been the undercurrent of the entire season and Pascal’s arrival at 51, it deserved a bit more time than it’s given. 

That said, it’s impressive that right up until the moment where Pascal tells Severide all of these details, we as the audience have to wonder if Pascal has been lying. So when his secrets are revealed, it’s satisfying nonetheless.

With Monica gone, though, there’s only one other person Pascal thinks can vouch for him, and it’s the same guy he punched in the face at the beginning of the season: Lieutenant Stephen Vale. Vale tells Severide that even though he and Pascal have had their differences, the one thing he can say for certain is that Pascal has always been honorable. 

Hopefully, he’ll still have a chance to say that to OFI, but the episode ends with Pascal being taken away by officers — an agitated Van Meter.

Meanwhile, Stella is working to uncover a mystery herself on this episode. Natalie is back again, and this time she’s asking for money. She reveals that she wants to get away from her sister and that she thinks she could live with her mother, who has previously been MIA.

Rather than give her the money for travel, Stella decides to do her one better and drive her to her mother’s place herself. 

Everything still feels a little off, but Stella’s willingness to help isn’t surprising. The way she bonds with Natalie shows a lot about her character too, and it’s fun to watch them have a little banter. 

What Stella won’t do, though, is drop Natalie off without some indication that she’s okay. Natalie sends a quick text to tell Stella she’s inside with her mom and that her mom says thanks to Stella, so Stella starts to drive away.

Her “firefighter’s intuition” makes her turn around to check later, only to find Natalie crying and walking along the sidewalk. Her mother wasn’t even there — and Natalie feels abandoned and unloved.

Considering that Stella and Kelly have already been trying to adopt, it’s not hard to imagine where this is going. I’ve said it before — it’s redundant. At the same time, at this point, it would be odd if it didn’t go in the direction we expect, which is for Stella and Kelly to take Natalie in.

As much as Stella has been focused on mentoring teen girls, it fits with her character and could make for good storytelling moving forward. It’s just a shame that something similar has been done so, so, so many times on Chicago Fire. 

Other thoughts:

• This episode is once again missing Sam Carver, and that’s disappointing, especially since we know the actor is leaving the show soon. 
• Violet’s break-up with Finn is tough, though her anger over the meeting he sets up for her feels entirely valid. What hurts is that she says she’s “in love with someone else,” and that person is a character we know won’t be around much longer.
• Herrmann is put into an awkward position by needing a letter from his chief to take the chief’s exam, and Pascal shows so much grace by going ahead and writing it — sparing Herrmann the need to stress over asking him much longer. Pascal also indicates here, though, that his desk may open up sooner than he planned. Given the circumstances at the end of this episode, he might be right.

 

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

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