SPOILER ALERT: The following contains spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 15, Episode 3.
Chicago Fire Season 15, Episode 3 is exceedingly functional. The plots of “Take the Hit” are obviously designed to simply push certain characters to the next stop in their development. But it’s to the NBC show’s credit that even when the storylines are relatively obvious, the performances are still well worth the audience’s time.
The main storyline in “Take the Hit” revolves around the four candidates at Firehouse 51, after one of them makes a mistake that leads to Tony being injured during a rescue. The script follows Stella Kidd and Kelly Severide as they try to find out who, and wants the audience to guess along with them. But any viewer who’s kept up with One Chicago casting news can suss this out. Only two candidates, Burke and McCaffrey, have been developed enough for the audience to care about their fate. And actor Matthew Daddario (who plays McCaffrey) is only billed as a recurring guest star while actor Da’Vinchi (who portrays Burke) has already been announced as a series regular. Therefore, McCaffrey is obviously the responsible party and the odd man out.
There’s meant to be some additional tension as Stella and Severide worry about the consequences of dismissing McCaffrey, which are represented in the person of guest star Doug Savant (Desperate Housewives) as the latest “white shirt” to remind Severide he’s the captain now. But the whole idea of optics vs. reality was already discussed in Episode 2, so there’s nothing here that feels fresh. It’s asking Severide to consider a conflict he’s already made up his mind about. Daddario even gets stuck with McCaffrey delivering the cliche “this isn’t over” threat on his way out the door of Severide’s office.
There are two subplots in the hour, which are both clearly looking a few episodes down the line. The first and most important is another check-in with Joe Cruz, who has hit a wall in his recovery and is struggling with anger and depression as a result. When Cruz comes to Firehouse 51—initially just to yell at Christopher Herrmann for reminding him of his late best friend Otis—he rediscovers his firehouse family and is motivated to go back to physical therapy. Actor Joe Miñoso delivers a wonderful performance in both Cruz’s highs and lows, as Chicago Fire moves closer to his last episode. And it’s appreciated that the episode remembers the close friendship betwee Cruz and Severide in ways both small (Severide reflexively calling for Cruz on the radio) and big (Severide asking for Cruz’s input on how to handle McCaffrey).
The second addresses the ongoing romantic tension between Lizzie Novak and Sal Vasquez. Even though they’ve spent two episodes moving on, it’s been glaringly clear Chicago Fire wasn’t serious about that. A random guy giving Vasquez his phone number to pass to Novak is trying too hard, but Bryan is not the point. This is another example of Fire introducing a third wheel to get two characters to admit their feelings. Vasquez accidentally ruins the paper the number is on, and goes to considerable lengths to find it again so Novak can set up a date. But viewers won’t be surprised when the end result is Violet Mikami calling Vasquez out on his unresolved feelings for Novak. This subplot isn’t any more convincing than Jacob being thrown out as a new love interest for Violet.
“Take the Hit” has a to-do list it checks off, from moving toward Cruz’s eventual departure to wrapping up Matthew Daddario’s guest star arc (unless McCaffrey does follow through on his temper tantrum by coming back for a short-lived full villain story). There’s no plotline in this episode that’s particularly memorable, and only one significant reveal: that Burke has a hospitalized brother. But the actors are good enough all around to hold the viewers’ interest even as the script goes through the motions.
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.
