Chicago Fire season 5 finale review: Did Casey, Mouch, anyone else die?
The main event (at first) looked to be a big potential change within Firehouse 51. It appears as though the time for Mouch as a firefighter is coming to a close. After everything with Cruz, coupled with his recent struggles with his work in the field, he decided that the sales job for him was too good for him to pass up. He informed Herrmann that his final shift would be him running into a burning building in order to save more lives, but here is the tragic twist: He may not come out of this shift alive. Suddenly, the “main event” of a job change feels less significant.
The final fire for Mouch was all sorts of dangerous; the rescue was hard enough, and then as things started to turn desperate, he suffered a heart attack and fell on the ground. Herrmann tried to perform CPR on him, but eventually found himself in a position where the fire jumped and he, in turn, was surrounded.
Ultimately, this forced Boden into a tough situation, one where her and Cruz himself were willing to go into the fire to rescue the two. This is when things went from bad to worse given that entrances were blocked and it was becoming increasingly hard for Casey, Herrmann, or anyone else to find their way out of that alive. As a result of this, the cliffhanger at the end of the episode put the characters in a situation where so many different people were in jeopardy. If the show was going for the emotional gut-punch in the finale, this delivered. It’s hard to figure that anyone will be able to save them, but this is TV and sometimes, crazy things do happen.
Unfortunately, one thing feels fairly clear: Mouch is the one in the most danger, and right before he was set to move on to a new, exciting chapter. What will the Firehouse look like without him? It’s a devastating thought. (Fingers crossed that we’re wrong and he somehow makes his way out of this.)
A similar sort of fear goes for Casey, without his mask, telling Gabby how much he loves her. The sadness surrounding the possible death of Casey has a sense of tragic irony to it, given that he just resigned his post of Alderman earlier in the episode in order to ensure that there were no conflicts of interest, and some of the measures he was fighting so hard for would end up being passed in the end. Now, his wife could end up being a beneficiary if he passes.
Final Verdict
This was a painful, devastating hour of TV, and it’s still possible that Herrmann is dead, too, in the aftermath of the fire. (The same goes for Severide and Jason.) All of the carnage overshadows completely the inspiring little cameo from Jake Arreita and Kris Bryant as the Chicago Cubs helped to make a little boy’s day after he lost his baseball card selection in the episode.
Wipe away the tears as best you can; unfortunately, there is a long wait over the summer until we get to new episodes and some answers as to who is alive and who is gone. Grade: A-.
Want to look ahead to Chicago Fire season 6?
Ultimately, all you have to do is head over to the link here, given that this is where you can see a piece that is all about some further premiere-date speculation. (Photo: NBC)