SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 14, Episode 20.
Chicago Fire Season 14, Episode 20 feels like a finale, rather than the lead-up to the finale. The only thing that stops “Speak of the Devil” from being a finale is that it doesn’t have the giant flaming disaster that always happens in every Chicago Fire finale. But this script ties up loose ends, providing the viewers will plenty of satisfaction an hour ahead of schedule.
This is overwhelmingly a Kelly Severide episode—so viewers will be disappointed when Miranda Rae Mayo is once again missing, with her character Stella Kidd said to be out of state visiting her and Severide’s former foster son Isaiah. But at least Joe Cruz is brought in to fill the space as Severide’s sidekick in investigating, allowing fans to enjoy another Cruz and Severide team-up. What’s surprising is how much headway they make in the ongoing Chief Hopkins subplot. “Speak of the Devil” wraps that whole storyline up emphatically, so what will actually be left for the Chicago Fire Season 14 finale?
To wit: Severide and Cruz use the files that Lucy slipped Stella to deduce what actually happened between Hopkins and Benny Severide all those years ago. Severide reported Hopkins and now-Captain Jean Williams for conduct unbecoming after believing that they stole a very expensive watch from a jewelry store during a fire, and Hopkins blames Benny for tanking his career as a result. When it’s spelled out like that, Hopkins’ story is a lot more relatable beyond just another outsider who wants to ruin 51. If he’s innocent, he has a real reason to hold a grudge.
The resolution of this plotline is a mixed bag. On the positive side, Hopkins being innocent adds a lot more nuance than him being an out-and-out villain, which he might have been on a different show. On the other hand, it’s fairly obvious to the audience watching at home that Williams is the thief because she’s the most expendable character. Viewers hardly know her, so they’re not going to care what happens to her. Hopkins, on the other hand, is somewhat necessary and it won’t be Benny because as Hopkins points out, what use is it to besmirch the memory of a dead man? So there’s no surprise, but at least this story doesn’t take the most obvious way through.
Elsewhere, paramedic Lizzie Novak gets a shock when Ambulance 61 is called to a house party where Novak finds her sister Heidi unconscious. This story allows actor Jocelyn Hudon to have some wonderful emotional beats, but it feels more like it’s a sideways setup to resolve the ongoing Novak and Violet Mikami and Sal Vasquez love triangle. That’s because Vasquez shows up at the hospital worried about Novak, and Violet telling him how great Novak is sounds kind of like her conceding that Vasquez and Novak will end up together. (If so, that’s a big pivot from when Chicago Fire was leaning hard into Violet and Vasquez.)
There’s also a subplot about Mouch deciding to rewrite his book, which is fine but feels like more of a time-filler. Most of “Speak of the Devil” is about Severide and Hopkins, and it’s a surprise when Hopkins packs up his office and leaves Firehouse 51 with an apology to Severide. It’s a very well-written and well-acted scene, with a mutual respect that finally exists between the characters. It’s also clear that actors Taylor Kinney and Rob Morgan already have a mutual respect for each other. But with Hopkins literally out of the way, there’s no villain for the firehouse to battle in the finale. The sole issue is whether or not Severide will take over the Office of Fire Investigation.
And here’s the problem with that: it’s false jeopardy, in two ways. Firstly, fans know Severide can’t actually leave Firehouse 51 because then Taylor Kinney would be leaving the series, at least as a regular. If and when he does decide to do so, this would be the perfect exit for Severide since he has such a skill for arson investigation. But there’s no indication that the actor is going anywhere, so it’s hard to get worried about the character.
And even if Kinney was about to pull a Josh Charles on The Good Wife kind of move, Van Meter actually makes the biggest argument against Severide moving to OFI by pointing out how much he fights for 51. He’s praising Kelly for his loyalty and leadership to the firehouse and then asking him to leave it. That’s unintentionally highlighting why Severide is right where he belongs. The only ending that makes reasonable sense is Severide sitting behind Boden’s old desk. (And perhaps finding and re-hiring Lucy, since she did him a huge favor, and since actor Jeanine Mason is too good to lose.)
Plus, Severide’s decision isn’t enough for a Chicago Fire finale. Series co-creator Derek Haas set the bar incredibly high for finales by practically burning down Chicago and/or almost killing off characters every season. The fate is one character, even if it is the show’s co-lead, is not on that epic level that this audience expects. So does “Speak of the Devil” satisfy fans with a strong end to the Hopkins story? Absolutely. But it’s also a very risky gamble overall, because it largely empties the show’s plot tank right when viewers will be expecting the biggest episode yet.
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.
