SkimIt
Love is in the air at the station with Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) and Gabriella Dawson (Monica Raymund) finally getting the chance to spend time together. And Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) tries to determine if a 14-year-old boy is a serial fire bug.
Chicago Fire starring Eamonn Walker and Lauren German airs on NBC Thursdays at 10:00 pm ET.
The Fire Bug Strikes Again
There is a fire in a dumpster behind a small manufacturing company. The building is nearly empty but it is filled with flammable tanks and potentially dangerous chemicals. As the firefighters tackle the fire they spot Ernie from Thanksgiving dinner watching the fire. Vargas and Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) are on the roof and when they break open a window Vargas is overcome with fumes. After Vargas is transported to the hospital Severide confronts Ernie. The kid runs away but it’s clear this is just the first part of the story. Captain Boden shows up at Ernie’s house and confronts him. A call comes in and he warns Ernie to be at the station by two.
The squad believes someone is stuck in an express elevator somewhere between the first and 10th floor. When Casey locates the elevator it is empty except for a large safe. Looking up, he spies a man crouching in the corner of the elevator shaft whispering, “I didn’t do it.”
A Quick End to a Long Career
The man in the elevator tells Casey he doesn’t want any help. It turns out he tried to steal the safe and its weight stalled the elevator. The man starts to fall, Casey saves him and gets him lifted out of the shaft. Leslie Shay (Lauren German) tells Casey that Gabriella Dawson broke her window at home and he offers to fix it. She’s carried a torch for him for a long time and it quickly turns into a date. Considering that he broke up with his fianc'ee about an hour or two before that, this is past a rebound romance. Vargas returns to the station but it turns out that his lungs are damaged and he is being placed on long-term disability.
It Turns Out That Some People Don’t Want to Retire
Severide and Casey tell Vargas he’s going on disability. He’ll get 75 percent of his pay but you can tell it’s breaking his heart. After Vargas leaves Casey confronts Severide about his shoulder and he’s told that there’s no problem. The squad is called to an accident where a woman is trapped in a car surrounded by live power wires. Gas begins to leak and they use ropes to move the wires so she can escape. Vargas packs up and leaves the station. The squad gives him a helmet autographed by everyone. As he leaves they all say goodbye but you can’t help wondering if he’ll ever recover from this setback.
He’s a Good Kid But He’s Going to Kill Someone
Ernie doesn’t show up at the station so Battalion Chief Wallace Boden visits the arson squad investigator and tells him about his suspicions. It turns out Ernie’s dad is doing 30 years in prison and his mom died a year ago from an overdose. There’s another dumpster fire and while it’s put out before there is much damage, Chief Boden spots Ernie riding his bike away from the scene. Boden finds out that while the grandmother is Ernie’s legal guardian, he’s living somewhere else. He’s been staying with his uncle and the Chief wonders if there’s more to the story. Boden discovers the man isn’t Ernie’s uncle and he had previously done seven years in prison for arson.
At Gabriella’s apartment, Casey fixes her window and she makes him dinner. They come close to kissing but Casey gets a call. Vargas is on a rooftop, ready to jump. Severide and Casey talk him down and he collapses in their arms.
