Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 4 Review: A Worthy Adversary
As much as I want to love an episode focused on Kelly Severide and Stella Kidd, Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 4, “A Perfect Arson,” just doesn’t land the way it should.
This episode is one with incredibly high stakes, and yet it manages to fall flat. Somehow it moves too slowly, but it’s also a mistake to have an episode like this that doesn’t include the rest of the main characters.
That said, it is nice to see Severide have a chance to be a part of a major fire investigation. This one involves a kidnapping, so it’s not just about solving the crime; it’s about doing so quickly enough to save the five-year-old daughter of a judge.
If that weren’t enough, this is also a murder investigation, since the girl’s babysitter was killed in the fire — and the way she died appears to be suspicious.
So, instead of Stella and Kelly being able to spend a solid 48 hours together as a couple, as planned at the start of the episode, they’re thrown into the high-stakes investigation. The FBI asks for Severide specifically because of his history with ATF Special Agent Calloway.
Severide has a reputation for this kind of thing now, and it makes sense. He’s shown time and again how exceptional he is at this kind of work, and he’s living up to his legacy — beyond it, even.
What this episode does well is to use the investigation to expand on Severide’s character a bit when it comes to his decision about working with OFI. Really, that’s something that should have gotten more attention before now, but having Van Meter reveal his disappointment, and then having Stella explain why Severide turned it down, is a really important detail.
It even suggests this decision isn’t set in stone. After all, 51 may have needed Severide to step up as a leader, but as Van Meter points out, there are other excellent firefighters at 51 who could step up. All of this suggests a possible turning point for Kelly Severide.
Stella also shows she’s willing to step in however she needs to, and, once again, she turns out to be an excellent partner to Kelly when it comes to fire investigation. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the two of them work together in this way, and maybe it shouldn’t be the last.
It allows for such a different dynamic between the two characters, and it’s one that’s far more enjoyable to watch than some of the difficulties with them at the firehouse.
The episode nearly ends with a simple conclusion to the case. Severide and Stella find the kidnapped girl, but then Calloway makes a bad move that gets him killed — which is also a close call for Severide.
All signs seem to point to Palmer, which was expected from the beginning — the connection to Calloway’s case from years ago. However, when Severide learns that Palmer’s death was suspicious, he realizes the case is far from over.
And after a conversation with Van Meter, it’s clear that Severide could be in danger from a different arsonist altogether. It turns out that this episode is ultimately about setting up a larger story for Severide moving forward.
What did you think of Chicago Fire Season 15 Episode 4? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!
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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.