Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 6 Review: Broken Things

An incredible save during a traffic jam is the highlight on Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 6, “Broken Things.”

That moment is done really well, and it’s the best part of an episode that is otherwise a fairly lackluster hour. That’s because, once again, we have an episode that omits part of the cast — and this time, it’s a pretty large chunk.

This isn’t to say there haven’t been great bottle episodes or episodes that focus on just a few characters. There have. But at this point, it’s become too common to have episodes that don’t bring everyone together.

Someone is always missing, which is presumably because of outside factors, but it hurts the story and the energy of the show.

This episode has Severide shadowing Pascal in an administrative fashion, which feels important and is nice for Severide’s character, but also makes for quieter moments. Pascal introduces Severide to the Mayor’s chief of staff, Annette Davis, whom he notes is an important contact. 

Severide asks if this is the woman who asked Pascal out, which also shows the friendship that’s formed between Severide and Pascal. I hope that’s something we continue to see more of. 

Meanwhile, Stella is focused on helping Isaiah, whose mother needs better care than she’s getting. As much as I appreciate seeing her character in this kind of role, I can’t help but think Stella’s character is being underutilized. 

The story with Isaiah leads to a nice crossover moment with Sharon Goodwin on Chicago Med, but it also offers a way for Stella to exit the series for an unknown number of episodes, which leads me right back to my initial complaint. 

There’s also a heavy focus on the newest member of Firehouse 51, Sal Vasquez. He’s reluctantly trying to help his father, which means reaching out to the widow of a woman whose case he tampered with — ultimately landing him in jail. 

That meeting reveals new information that makes Sal even more reluctant to help his father. There’s a discrepancy in that case with what the widower says about who was first on the scene the day his wife was murdered. He says it was Sal’s father, but Sal’s father has always insisted that the medics were first.

Now, Sal is less interested in trying to get this man to make a statement on his father’s behalf and instead just wants the truth.

His father’s reaction to being questioned about what happened, and to the fact that Sal didn’t ask for that statement, isn’t pretty. Knowing that he has influence over Sal’s career suggests things are about to get even more complicated. 

All of this is a way to help us become invested in Sal’s character, and it works, but it also feels a bit disjointed from the rest of the story. 

The other thing that helps us to be more invested in his character is seeing how good he is at his job.

The moment when the characters all come together on this episode — the ones that are on this episode, that is — is when Violet and Novak are blocked by a traffic jam while trying to get a critical patient to the hospital.

As I said earlier, this is the highlight of the episode, and the way it all comes together is particularly well done. Even the fact that Severide and Pascal are with the Mayor’s chief of staff when Violet and Novak put out a call for help plays a key role.

Because they’re with her, they’re able to find out quickly what’s causing the jam — a water main break — and get help in setting a plan in motion to get to the patient. 

It winds up being a unique save that involves bringing the patient up and around the overpass, all while Vasquez has to hold perfect pressure on her neck.

He’s calm and steady in the process, taking clear instructions for Violet and Novak while Stella and the others steadily carry them. This is the kind of scene you hold your breath during, and it’s the kind of thing Chicago Fire does really well.

That’s on top of seeing Violet and Novak in action with this patient, and at this point, I don’t think there’s ever a time I don’t enjoy seeing them work together in situations like this. 

It also winds up being a learning experience for Novak, who allows the patient’s daughter to ride in the ambulance with them despite her obvious anxiety.

She winds up being in the way when things become more difficult, making it harder for Violet and Novak to treat the patient. Luckily, everything works out okay, but it does make their jobs harder.

At the end of the episode, Violet gives Novak that feedback in her “PIC voice,” which Novak says is scary. She takes the feedback well, and they return to celebrating. It’s a nice balance of Violet being a mentor and a friend at the same time.

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

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