SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 14, Episode 14.

Chicago Fire Season 14, Episode 14 makes a strong argument against the TV spoiler world that viewers live in. “Hit and Run” would have been more emotional if Dermot Mulroney leaving the NBC show hadn’t been reported back in January. Despite that lack of suspense, it still is able to honor Mulroney’s contributions to the series, which is the point.

The A-story, as it should be, is Chief Dominic Pascal announcing that he has been fired by the Chicago Police Department—and he’s leaving at the end of the shift (or episode). It’s abrupt for sure, a quick escalation after the events of the One Chicago crossover, but Mulroney gets his goodbye scenes with the characters Pascal needs to have last words with. This is helped along by the fact that three main characters aren’t even in the episode, presumably for budgetary reasons: Sal Vasquez and both paramedics are said early on to be elsewhere.

It’s fitting that the most animated scenes are between Pascal and Mouch, since Mouch’s recurring theme for years now has been this idea of whether or not he should retire from the CFD. He’s the perfect person to weigh in on Pascal’s situation, and Christian Stolte delivers Mouch’s impassioned arguments perfectly. How Mouch got back to 51 feels a little bit handwaved (there’s just a reference that Annette Davis pulled some strings), yet that’s a forgiveable sin because nobody else fighting with Pascal would have been as effective. Plus, everyone knew Mouch was going to find his way back home eventually.

There are also limited scenes between Pascal and Kelly Severide, and Pascal and Stella Kidd—limited because Severide and Stella have the episode’s B-plot, but still significant. Pascal’s encouraging words to Severide are more convincing than his telling Stella that the reason he was an early jerk to her is because he saw her potential. It would have been perfectly fine to just admit he was wrong instead of coming up with a quasi-retcon. The Pascal and Severide material opens the door to a place Chicago Fire has to eventually go: one of its lieutenants in the big chair. That won’t happen right away, since the episode also names Pascal’s replacement, but the stage is definitely set.

Even more interesting is the presence of Cross star Jeanine Mason as Lucy, the new administrative assistant. No one will ever surpass the late DuShon Brown as Connie, but Mason has been doing fantastic work on Cross, so she’s an excellent choice. She’ll be able to make the character more than a paper-pusher, and hopefully the writers use her as much as possible, given that she’s over on Prime Video stealing a whole show.

The Severide story that gives “Hit and Run” its name is the weaker story, because Chicago Fire has done this kind of thing before. This is another subplot where Severide becomes single-minded and gets in his own way, especially when Stella is concerned. This episode shows how he still has moments of immaturity—ironic when he’s also being held up as the new de facto leader of Firehouse 51. Severide has grown a lot, but this episode suggests he still has some habits to break; at least that will give the writers something to mine when he becomes the boss on a more regular basis. He might not be all that great at it, and that’s where the drama will come from.

This is where the series has to head after so many seasons. It would be strange if Severide wasn’t put in a further leadership position, and if Matthew Casey were still around that would have been a question for him, too. Plus, fans aren’t that far removed from the idea of Christopher Herrmann becoming chief. The clear leaders of the show deserve to climb to the top. Otherwise, they just get stuck in place. This episode wraps up so much (but not all) of the CFD drama that’s run through the season, and puts Severide in a position that fans can get excited about even if it’s not ideal.

It should be noted that the media reports announcing Mulroney’s exit left the door open for him to return by the end of the season; while that feels a bit implausible given the circumstances of Pascal’s departure, it’s possible this episode isn’t his last. If it is, though, it’s a decent way to go out. It’s not as emotional as Eamonn Walker’s goodbye, but Mulroney wasn’t with the show as long and Pascal didn’t have the same kind of impact as Wallace Boden. “Hit and Run” is fitting for Pascal and also keeps fans interested in whatever comes next.

Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Photo Credit: Courtesy of NBC.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.