Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 2 Review: Primary Search

A piece of advice from Mouch makes all the difference for Stella on Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 2, “Primary Search.”

Her impulse is to be tough on the new firefighter, Vasquez, who like many others, seems to go rogue and push back on authority. Twice in a row now, he’s made a risky move that could have put his own life in danger — a trait I expect will be explained a bit more in future episodes as we get to know this character.

Already, this episode offers a little more insight into what makes him so mysterious. Something has happened to land his father in prison, and whatever it was is the reason he’s no longer a police officer. 

What Stella sees right now, though, is someone who is reckless. There have been several of firefighters joining 51 who also had the tendency to go rogue, do risky things, and push boundaries. 

But for Vasquez, it’s clearly coming from a different place. He seems to be more mature and level-headed than other newcomers in that way.

And between Kelly asking Stella if she was punishing Vasquez by having him write an incident report, and Mouch telling her how much he learned from Ritter when he first took him under his wing, her attitude shifts a bit.

She realizes she might be able to learn a little something from Vasquez (who beats one of her records because of a technique he learned at another firehouse), but more than that, allowing him to show her what he knows in that way could be the way she can get through to him.

He needs a different type of leadership than those who came before him.

That same idea translates into Stella and Kelly’s decision to foster a fourteen-year old boy, which all takes place on this episode as well. They agree to take him in, and he’s closed off at first.

However, when Kelly takes the same approach — asking the boy to teach him something about a video game — he gets him to open up a bit. It’s an endearing moment that lets us see a new side of Kelly too, which I really enjoy. 

It’s still frustrating that this is the route Kelly and Stella’s storyline is taking, given that the Chicago Fire Season 13 finale ended on the news that Stella was pregnant.

To end a season that way only to pick up with news that she was no longer pregnant, then to move right into a fostering storyline feels like a disservice to her character — and frankly, to the audience as well. 

Foster and adoption storylines have also just been done so much on this show that it’s hard to feel any interest in it at all. 

Elsewhere on this episode, Violet and Novak answer two strange calls that they can’t help but think must be connected. It makes for unique mystery — two knife injuries that have a burning sensation because of capsaicin, caused by chopping peppers. 

They investigate the matter as best as they can, and utlimately learn that the first call was from the sister of a man with a mental health issue. She was trying to protect him, but after Violet and Novack talk with her more, they convince her that it’s time to get her brother more help.

In the process, we get a chance to hear a bit more about Novack and see her play to her strength of connecting with people. 

We’ve had plenty of time now to get to know Novack, and she and Violet have developed a partnership that’s become a lot of fun to watch. This episode cements that further.

Other thoughts:

Herrmann’s plan to trick his customers is frustrating. It’s as though this season is trying to find ways to make his character unlikable, and I can’t imagine why.

Mouch handing over his shares to Molly’s makes sense in a way, and it’s extremely kind, but is it too impulsive? Maybe even a little unrealistic? 

Ritter is leaving to be with Dwayne in New York, which is a nice, fulfulling way to write out the character — if that really is the answer. 

 

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

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