Chicago Fire season 12 finale: How did Chief Boden leave?
Entering tonight’s Chicago Fire season 12 finale, it was abundantly clear that we’d be losing Eamonn Walker as Wallace Boden. Yet, there were still questions.
What was a big one? Well, that’s rather simple: How the character ended up departing the show. It felt entering the episode “Never Say Goodbye” that he could actually have a chance to move up the ranks in the fire department. We did not anticipate that there would be some sort of tragic end for the character — why would there be? This character, perhaps more than anyone else, has been the father of Firehouse 51. He’s been a shoulder to lean on and a symbol for hard work paying off. He’s someone who has taken on authority time and time again and stood up for what he believed in.
Also, given the reports out there that Walker could still appear here and there down the road, it certainly felt like the writers weren’t going to do anything terrible. Can you imagine the revolts online if they did?
Well, here is the good news: Close to the 50-minute mark of tonight’s episode, Boden found himself with a promotion to Deputy Commissioner. All of his work and loyalty paid off, and it meant that he would have a much larger say in things.
The best thing about the send-off
Well, it really wasn’t that much of a send-off at all! Instead, this was just a chance to celebrate what’s happened for the character, while at the same time recognizing that there is more to come for him. It’s one of the reasons why it is easy to be so happy at this point rather than sad.
The most emotional part of the episode, at least to us, was Herrmann and Mouch reminiscing in the truck. After all, they know Boden better than anyone.
Related – When is Chicago Fire season 13 going to premiere on NBC?
What did you expect to see entering the Chicago Fire season 12 finale?
How much are you going to miss Boden moving forward? Share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, remember to also come back — there are a lot of other updates.