Chicago Fire season 5 episode 16 review: Hostages and a ‘heart attack’
The hour started with a premise that was ultimately pretty simple, and in some ways, it stayed that way — a local gang took over Firehouse 51, initially to try and hide away for a certain amount of time in the midst of a street war. Yet, the thing here is that the firefighters didn’t exactly trust them there, and people like Severide opted to fight back. Things quickly took a turn for the worse, and several different people within the firehouse ended up getting guns pointed in their face. We saw that with Boden, with Severide, with Casey, and with Herrmann over the course of the hour.
Specifically, it was after this moment with Herrmann where we started to get creative. He faked a heart attack in order to ensure that he was able to get out of there, and after that happened, what we ended up seeing was him helping to organize a plan to extract many of the hostages from the situation, knowing precisely where some of them were going to be. Severide within the firehouse took matters into his own hands, and fought to save Stella, who found herself at one point hiding in the bathroom. The police on the outside and the firefighters on the inside eventually made it clear that there was no escape for the gang other than surrender.
The entire episode was about the heroism of Firehouse 51, but also the tragedy that exists within the gang world. While the leader was eventually stopped in arrested, in the end it was JP, an innocent kid who just got himself mixed up with the wrong people, who found himself the one with his life in jeopardy. Dawson was able to pull out the bullet and save his life, but it was extremely touch-and-go. Anything could’ve happened, and this was another sad reminder of the presence of gang activity in the city of Chicago.
Overall, this was an interesting episode to review just because it was so slowly-paced and concentrated within one setting, and there weren’t all that much in the way of sideplots. It was unorthodox for Chicago Fire standards, but incredibly gripping and well-written nonetheless. This was a reminder of why Chicago Fire five seasons in remains the crown jewel of the One Chicago franchise. Grade: A.
Want to see where Chicago Fire season 5 is going moving into next week’s all-new episode? We suggest that you head over here and check that story out now. (Photo: NBC.)