‘Chicago Fire’ season 3, episode 21 review: The crossover begins amidst new arrivals, rumors

Tonight, “Chicago Fire” kicked off what will become a lengthy crossover event with this show, “Law & Order: SVU,” and “Chicago PD,” but the irony here is that despite all of the hype going into the hour, the crossover element really felt almost like after afterthought to everything else that was going on in the episode.

First and foremost, there was the issue of dealing with old business. Mills exited to go back to North Carolina, and nobody was particularly keen to accept the notion of a new person joining … especially Brett, who is dealing with it the hardest. She’ll change her tune in time (she’s already starting to), but it is hard. Nobody wants change, especially when you are in a profession where stability is essential to being able to properly do your job.

Meanwhile, tonight also brought us more of the Rice dilemma: Does the Firehouse trust him, or not? It is a matter of rumors about him being the fireman version of a deserter, coupled with not actually really knowing either him or what he is capable of. You have to be familiar with your other team members to survive within this world. This goes back to the story with Brett in that way. Eventually, the arson case that Rice allegedly left is the same one that is tied to what the PD and SVU are now working on, so we will learn more about it.

Casey’s story tonight was more on the business end of things, and by this we mean actual business. He learned that Nesbitt was not exactly the right sort of guy to get in business with … and yeah, he probably should’ve realized that sooner. However, Casey’s human. He cannot be Mr. Perfect Firefighter all the time, though the downfall of his relationship with Dawson and a dozen other thins already proved that.

For now, we’ll reserve judgment on the crossover part; the rest of the episode was solid in its own way. Grade: B.

If you want to preview further the next new episode of “Chicago Fire” (i.e. not the crossover), head over here! Also, sign up now to score some other TV updates on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)