ONE CHICAGO Fall Finales Round Up

With no fresh episodes until January 8 now, the ONE CHICAGO world didn’t hold back when going into their fall finales this week. For the most part, a lot of storylines ended with a somber or shocking note; happiness was pretty fleeting. With no crossovers within the ONE CHICAGO universe this week, we figured that it would be fitting to shake things up with our regular recap and break down events per show rather than our usual themes. Read on for the rundown on CHICAGO MED‘s “I Can’t Imagine the Future”, CHICAGO FIRE‘s “Best Friend Magic” and CHICAGO P.D.‘s “Absolution”…

CHICAGO MED

CHICAGO MED — “I Can’t Imagine the Future” Episode 509 — Pictured: (l-r) Yaya DaCosta as April Sexton, Dominic Rains as Crockett Marcel, Brian Tee as Dr. Ethan Choi — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

Is it just me or was the fall finale of CHICAGO MED hella depressing?

At the start of the episode, April’s doctor informs her that she has early onset menopause, which affects her ability to conceive. It doesn’t completely rule out her chances of getting pregnant, it just makes them harder. Nonetheless April writes off her chances of being able to get pregnant and doesn’t tell Ethan. After she sees his book about being an expectant parent and he then casually comments that he might go get himself checked out in case, she snaps and tells him she’s not even sure she wants a baby now. Oh the good old deflection tactic. Of course at work, she and Crockett are working on a case and then Ethan is working on a case and the two cases intersect and there’s even more tension between the fighting lovebirds. This is why you can’t date and work together, folks. Did we mention that Ethan’s about to be shipped off for six weeks on some navy business? Let’s just say that she and Ethan aren’t exactly in a great place by the end of the episode. Oh and April went and kissed Crockett! He even asked her before she leaned if she was sure she wanted to do that – she still went for it anyway. Oh boy.

CHICAGO MED — “I Can’t Imagine the Future” Episode 509 — Pictured: Torrey DeVitto as Dr. Natalie Manning — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

Another example of why you shouldn’t date someone you work with – Natalie and Will. Throughout the episode, she has flashes back to the night of the accident. It’s triggered by the fact that baby Sophie is undergoing another procedure in the present, much like she was that night. The difference now is that her doting father Phillip is nowhere to be seen – Phillip’s sister and her husband have brought her in because Phillip has done a runner! The bitter brother-in-law remarks that Sophie is too much work so in typical fashion Phillip has bolted. Natalie tries to defend Phillip, unable to match the man they’re describing with the doting father she’s seen over the last couple of months. The brother-in-law drops the truth bomb that now Natalie has dumped Phillip, he sees no use for Sophie because he’s not getting anything out of being the doting father anymore. Even moreso, he puts a DNR on Sophie, leaving Natalie horrified. Sophie thankfully pulls through, but wow this storyline got dark! Anyway, Natalie ends up remembering everything from that night and goes to Will and apologizes to him and tells him she loves him. He tells her that she told him to get out of her life and so he did and he’s happy now. He finally feels free. Natalie pleads with him and in what is probably the smartest thing in a long time, he stands his ground and tells her it’s over and that things are better off this way. They are no good for each other. I was cheering at that point. Don’t get me wrong – I did ship Manstead at one point, but their relationship has just become toxic over the last couple of seasons. I think distancing themselves away from each other will do them some good. Maybe somewhere down the track once they’ve grown on their own, maybe then will be the right time for them. Or maybe they’ll find happiness with other people.

CHICAGO MED — “I Can’t Imagine the Future” Episode 509 — Pictured: (l-r) Paula Newsome as Caroline Charles, Oliver Platt as Dr. Daniel Charles — (Photo by: Elizabeth Sisson/NBC)

The heartbreak didn’t stop there. We had hints last week that CeCe wasn’t doing so well, but this week we saw with our own eyes that her health was deteriorating. Watching Dr Charles put on a brave face and then leave the room and break down was heartbreaking to watch. Then he soldiered on and carried out her wishes – a bon voyage party with their family and friends so that there’d be a chance to say goodbye before he and CeCe went away where she would pass away without loved ones having to watch her health deteriorate even more. Watching Sharon and Robin’s respective reactions was also hard to watch. Then if that wasn’t enough, we still had Maggie by new beau Ben’s bedside and his time was looking even more limited. Just when it looked like the time had come, he slowly began to improve – that was probably one of the few happy moments in this episode. Whether that means he’ll make a proper recovery or is just prolonging his time, we don’t know.

CHICAGO FIRE

CHICAGO FIRE — “Best Friend Magic” Episode 809 — Pictured: (l-r) Monica Raymund as Gabriela Dawson, Jesse Spencer as Matthew Casey — (Photo by: Adrian Burrows/NBC)

The big event for CHICAGO FIRE this week was that after leaving at the end of season six, Gabby Dawson was back in town! Last we saw her, she was in Puerto Rico on an aid relief mission. She is still working with them and is in town for their fundraising event. Her first stop when she arrived in town was the firehouse where she paid her respects to the monument honoring Otis and then reunited with her Firehouse family. She also invites Casey to the fundraising event. He’s a bit hesitant but Brett convinces him that he should go otherwise he’ll regret it. Considering that they were best friends, it would have been nice to see Brett and Dawson have a scene together, especially with the whole Brett/Casey slowburn that is happening but no such luck. In an interesting turn of events, Casey and Dawson dance at the fundraiser and then end up in her hotel room. He leaves the next morning while she’s still sleeping and she leaves him a voicemail. Casey has spent the past season getting over Dawson and it seemed like he had closure. Is this going to throw out all the progress he has made? Although she left town, it did leave their story pretty open ended…

CHICAGO FIRE — “Best Friend Magic” Episode 809 — Pictured: Joe Minoso as Joe Cruz — (Photo by: Adrian Burrows/NBC)

Speaking of blasts from the past, the guys find an old drone that Cruz and Otis used to play with until it broke. They intended to fix it but never got around to it, so now Cruz is determined to carry out their mission. He hits a few roadblocks at first and then newbies Gallo and Ritter step in and offer their assistance. (I love their dynamic! It always brings me joy when we get scenes with these two newbies learning from the more seasoned firefighters or just teaming up together.) After helping Cruz get replacement parts, the drone still won’t fly but when he plugs in a cable connecting the drone to his computer to try and troubleshoot the problem, old footage from the drone starts playing. Crotis forever sure tugged at the heartstrings!

CHICAGO FIRE — “Best Friend Magic” Episode 809 — Pictured: Eamonn Walker as Battalion Chief Wallace Boden — (Photo by: Adrian Burrows/NBC)

Cruz wasn’t the only one having a trip down Otis memory lane this episode. After Kidd accidentally crashes into another car after being exhausted from juggling the academy with 51, Boden stops her from apologizing by telling her that he is the one that is sorry. He struggled after Otis’ death and took on moulding Kidd into a leader as his pet project to distract himself and he admits he pushed her too far and should have been better at mentoring her. She thanks him for giving her confidence and believing in her. She was honored to be his pet project and isn’t opposed to him helping her in the future.

Now before you get too relaxed and caught up in the feels, the closing moments of the episode then threw a curveball at us. As we know, Severide has been working at OFI (Office of Fire Investigations) and isn’t one to let a case go if he thinks the facts don’t add up. With the latest case he is looking into from the backlog, a man is in jail for it and Severide is sure he is innocent. He’s correct but the real culprit has gone dark. That is until Severide comes face to face with him with lit match in hand surrounded by drums filled with seriously flammable liquid. May we remind you that now that Severide is OFI, he’s not in firefighter gear, he’s in suit and tie. One move and uh-oh!

CHICAGO P.D.

CHICAGO P.D. “Absolution” Episode 709 — Pictured: Jesse Lee Soffer as Det. Jay Halstead — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

CHICAGO P.D.‘s fall finale was focused on the abduction of one of their own – Jay Halstead. Jay had been watching out for the partner and child of Marcus West, who was the guy that they sent to jail because of the facial recognition technology they were using. Marcus was attacked in jail and died and then it was revealed that the technology had a glitch and Marcus was innocent. Jay being the good guy that he is, has been looking out for Marcus’ family in his spare time and using a fake name. When Jay leaves a scene after getting a mysterious text and then goes MIA, colleague Upton is worried and Intelligence is on the case. While they’re trying to find out what has happened to Jay, we discover that Angela, Marcus’ partner stole some drugs and the guys she stole from want it back and think Jay is involved. The guys beat both of them up and chain them up. As the episode progresses on and their situation is looking worse, Jay reveals to Angela who he really is. She is really pissed and ready to rat him out, but he convinces her for the sake of their safety that the smart thing to do would be to keep her mouth shut. She begrudgingly does. At some point, Jay manages to break free from his restraints and attacks of their captors. He leaves Angela in the room to find the other captor just as Intelligence have figured out where he is. He gets into a tussle with the other captor but Upton arrives just in time. He then tells her he has to go get Angela. When he goes back into the room, Angela pulls a gun on him (she must have grabbed it from the captor that Jay knocked out). Just when we think he has convinced her to lower it, she raises it again and shoots him! He falls to the ground and that’s how the episode ends. Surely Upton would have heard the gunshot and can save him right? We’re staying positive!

CHICAGO P.D. — “Absolution” Episode 709 — Pictured: (l-r) Jesse Lee Soffer as Det. Jay Halstead, Vicky Jeudy as Angela — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

CHICAGO MED, CHICAGO FIRE and CHICAGO P.D. all return January 8, 2020 on NBC.

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