“We’ll pull a lot of bodies out of there, Chief.”
The One Chicago crossover proved to be a captivating three hours of television—it was a stellar outing for Chicago PD, solid support from Chicago Med, and a promising start for Chicago Justice. The Chicago Fire hour of the crossover gave us the determination and heart from its characters and stories it always does, and perhaps fittingly as the flagship series, felt more like a launching platform for the second and third hours of the crossover. The three hours connected seamlessly with one story, so it makes sense that Fire was just there to get things started. Chicago Fire wastes no time in jumping right into the action. Firehouse 51 heads out on a call in the opening scene—little do they know what this one call will entail…
A large warehouse is burning badly when the crew arrives as Casey remarks, “We’re gonna need every company in the city.” Casey takes the reins outside, where Ambo 61 prepares for triage. Inside, Herrmann and Severide lead the search. And with numerous people trapped inside, the search proves to be a difficult process. As the building literally goes up in flames, Boden calls for his team to evacuate. But right at that moment, Chicago PD’s Detective Olinsky runs up to Boden, crying that his daughter Lexi is inside. If you watch Chicago PD, you know that Olinsky is not one to show a lot of emotion. He is the calm to Voight’s violent temper, though he can be just as terrifying. To see him so broken up about his daughter was heartbreaking, and it was a side we haven’t see much of from Olinsky. Knowing what it is to be a father, Boden goes in to find Lexi and carries her out himself. She’s alive, but not in great condition.
Thankfully, no one from 51 is seriously injured with, perhaps, the exception of Mouch. His seemingly-minor injury wasn’t a focus, but the fact that it received the screen time it did makes me think it could be a persistent one. He was caught beneath a collapsing balcony, but managed to escape with a limp. At Chicago Med, he insists the burn victims take priority, and I wonder if that decision will be a costly one. What if he has something serious going on? Could this end his career? Or am I just paranoid?
At Chicago Med, Will takes lead on Lexi’s treatment with help from Natalie. The outlook is grim for Lexi, as she was badly burned and suffered severe smoke damage to her lungs. But she has to pull through, right? I was a bit surprised that Burgess was the one at Olinsky’s side at the hospital. While I’d argue that Burgess probably has the biggest heart of the Chicago PD crew (with perhaps Platt as the exception), she’s only recently been partnered with Olinsky. Where was Voight? Platt? Ruzek? Or literally anyone else from the unit, as they’ve all been there longer than Burgess? It might seem insignificant, but it bothered me.
Back on scene, 51 deals with the aftermath of the fire, something we don’t normally see. It was a sobering moment to see body after body lined up on tarps outside the building as Boden asked Casey, “How does something like this happen?” In the nearly five years now of Chicago Fire, I don’t think we’ve ever seen a fire that claimed this many victims. Voight and Commander Crowley arrive on scene as well, where they learn the owner of the building, Gary Kimble, is somewhat unaware of the goings-on in his building. Though Gary Kimble wasn’t responsible for setting the fire, he knew his building wasn’t up to code. Feeling tremendous guilt, he shoots himself in the bathroom at the firehouse— “A tragic ending to a tragic day,” as State's Attorney Mark Jefferies (Carl Weathers) puts it.
“You are not the only one who gets to decide when it’s someday.”
Because of the massive crossover story, I almost forgot about the brief screen time Severide’s story with Anna received. After the brutal fire, Severide leaves Anna a voicemail. She does him one better than a call back—she shows up at the firehouse! And shocker, she put in a transfer to Chicago Med! I knew it. The transfer itself isn’t surprising, it’s how she’ll be featured that I’m curious about. Will we see Anna on Chicago Med? Or will she solely make guest appearances on Fire? Perhaps we’ll see her on both? Either way, this romance is just getting started.
The Chicago crossovers, in all honesty, have always fallen short for me. But the first hour of this one blew me away. Could this finally be a successful crossover? (Spoiler alert: it absolutely was.) It also amazes me that Chicago Fire continues to be so darn good. In its fifth season, I'd say the show is having one its best yet. Anyway...
Between the wedges found under the doors that barricaded the people inside and the source of the fire found by Severide, OFI suspects arson. Sure enough, the Chicago PD hour of the crossover kicks off with Boden confirming arson to Voight...
Chicago PD - "Emotional Proximity"
“We can mourn when the scumbag who did this is in cuffs.”
Before Voight and the team can move forward with the case (now that it has officially been rule arson), Lexi takes a turn for the worse. Will and Natalie temporarily stabilize her, but she’s in critical condition. Olinsky’s wife/ex-wife Meredith arrives at the hospital, and all I can think about is the fact that I can’t for the life of me remember what last transpired between her and Olinsky. Are they separated? Divorced? Someone clarify, please.
While Olinsky and Meredith sit with Lexi at Chicago Med, the rest of the Intelligence Unit hits the ground running with the case. Thanks to ASA Peter Stone (aka the Chicago Justice lead) and Antonio, the Intelligence Unit has the full support of the justice department. Severide is also on scene to let Voight know about metal wedges placed under the door to prevent the people inside from escaping. And so, the case builds…
Platt volunteers to help upstairs, which was honestly the best way to keep her involved now that we don’t see much of her at the front desk (thanks in large part to Burgess’ move upstairs and the subsequent ax on the patrol storylines). Ruzek kicks off the suspect pool with Nathan Delano, a gem who did time for setting his family on fire. Ruzek and Atwater don’t find Nathan at his known address, but they are introduced to Lane Cromwell and a shotgun shot through the front door. Lane spends some time in the cage, but alas, he’s not the arsonist. But thanks to Burgess running Nathan’s stolen license plate, Jay and Erin trace the car to suspect number two. The guy attempts to shoot Jay when he’s cornered, but that earns him two shots in the chest. “Do not move!” Jay yells—yeah, I think it’s safe to say he’s not going anywhere…two shots in the chest tend to immobilize a person.
While that proves to be a dead end—literally—Burgess and Ruzek get some much-needed help from someone who recovered video footage from the night of the fire. The estimated height of the suspect, per the video, rules out Delano. But on the plus side, the unit has an image (albeit unidentifiable) of the arsonist.
Back at Chicago Med, Olinsky asks for Will to be straightforward with him regarding Lexi. She’s in multi-organ failure and won’t pull through. Olinsky and Meredith saying goodbye to their daughter as she flatlined was easily the most heartbreaking scene of the night, and made the case more personal for the unit. In the moment, I couldn’t help but think about all the criminals Olinsky has put away over his long career—his work has saved countless lives, but in the end, he couldn’t do anything to save his daughter.
Later, one of the victims (Tamara) at Chicago Med wakes up. Though the fire left her blind, she clearly recounts the events of the night, including a full description of the arsonist. At the candlelight vigil for the victims that night, the team finds a man matching Tamara’s description—Dylan Oates. On top of that, Ruzek and Jay find metal wedges at Dylan’s apartment—the same wedges found under the doors at the fire.
Naturally, Dylan is sent to the cage. In a bit of a role reversal, Voight shows some restraint regarding Dylan while Olinsky wants him dead by his own hands. Olinsky brings up a solid point when he asks, “When Justin was killed, what did you do?” Well, Voight killed the guy. But in this case, it’s not just Lexi. Thirty-nine families are involved this time, and Voight plays by Peter Stone’s rules…mostly. When Antonio arrives at the district and Olinsky claims Dylan confessed (he did not), Voight doesn’t dispute it. Based on the “confession”, Antonio transports Dylan to the department of justice, where Chicago PD concludes and Chicago Justice begins.
Elias Koteas easily wins the MVP across all three shows for the night—he was stellar. But an honorable mention to Joslyn Jones, who played eye witness Claire Burke. She hilariously stunned Erin and Jay in what was a much-needed lighthearted moment after Lexi’s death. Is there any way she can make another appearance? She was incredible.
Another note: I loved having Rixton as part of the unit, and honestly, had a case of “out of sight, out of mind” with Ruzek. But I must admit, I do love having Ruzek back. I didn’t realize until this episode how much his presence, especially his partnership with Atwater, was missed.
Chicago Justice - "Fake"
“Having a right and doing what is right—there’s two completely different things.”
In the opening moments of Chicago Justice, Dylan is denied bail. This is also the first of likely many courtroom scenes to come on this series, and it’s clear right away that ASA Peter Stone has a reputation. Speaking of Peter, Here’s a brief rundown of the Chicago Justice characters: Peter is clearly talented, confident, but is still trying to prove himself—as State’s Attorney Mark Jefferies tells him, this case could make his career. These two are clearly going to butt heads. Flanking Peter nearly the entire episode is Anna Valdez, another lawyer in the State’s Attorney’s office. She doesn’t have a huge role in this episode, but from what I can tell, she’s newer to the scene than Peter and is eager to learn. Of course, there’s Antonio, a familiar face if you watch Chicago Fire and/or Chicago PD. Antonio is the new lead investigator in the State’s Attorney’s office, and working with him is fellow investigator Laura Nagel. Antonio, sadly, didn’t see much screen time this hour. I’m hoping that he finds a solid role on this show, as his pushout from Chicago PD was a bit disappointing. Now, into the case against Dylan…
So far, I like the partnership between Antonio and Laura. Antonio is put in a difficult position when Olinsky claims Dylan confessed to him. Antonio’s no dummy—he knows Olinsky, and therefore, has serious doubts about the supposed confession. But when confronted by Laura, she tells him, “I’m a team player is all. I just like to know which team I’m on before the game starts.” She’s clearly willing to cross lines, but she’s also loyal. Ultimately, Antonio does come clean to Peter about the false confession, but Peter already guessed as much. That throws a wrench into the case, though, because the team is forced to let the defense suppress the confession.
No matter, Peter will find a way! Though finding a way against Albert Forest, the defense attorney, proves to be quite the challenge (also, nice job by Chicago Justice for snagging Bradley Whitford for this guest appearance). Anna finds an article written about the Kimble Factory that suggests it was used by pedophiles targeting underage teens. Peter sets out to use it as motive—as a common consequence of child abuse is pyromania—but ultimately plays right into Albert’s hands. After Peter introduces the article, against Mark’s orders, mind you, Albert uses it to play Dylan as the victim with the jury. Not only that, but Albert completely shatters Tamara’s credibility when he forces her to admit she had been drinking and taking drugs the night of the party and Voight’s credibility with the false confession.
“Trials: It’s All a Con” happens to be the title of a chapter in Albert’s book, and Peter realizes he’s Albert’s mark. The courtroom is a chess match, a psychological game. The truth doesn’t matter—what matters is the reality you create. As twisted as that is, it’s also fascinating to watch. Albert is a force to be reckoned with, but he soon finds out that Peter is as well. When Albert put Dylan’s mom on the stand to testify regarding the child abuse, Dylan had a few outbursts. Peter then uses that to his advantage to force Dylan to testify.
In their twenty-four hours for research, Laura and Antonio find that Tamara met Dylan months before the fire. And with that, the pieces fall into place. Dylan asked Tamara out on a date, and she declined. He couldn’t handle it, and began stalking her online. His anger and frustration led him to set the factory on fire while she and all her friends were trapped inside. In Peter’s closing arguments, he masterfully chooses his words to antagonize Dylan. “Dylan couldn’t let her get away with that, so he set fire to the world that didn’t want him, and then watched it burn.” With that, Dylan bursts out in anger, basically sealing his own fate. As the scene fades to black, we hear the jury’s verdict: guilty on every count.
If this first episode is any indication, Chicago Justice is going to be fantastic. Which is kind of a shame, because I didn’t want to like it. But darn it, I do! Oh, well. What’s one more show, right?
What did you think of the One Chicago crossover event? Will you tune into Chicago Justice? What was your favorite moment from the crossover? Share your thoughts below!
