Chicago Fire season 6 premiere review: Casey, Dawson, and the ghost of a ghost

Going into the Chicago Fire season 6 premiere, it didn’t take all that long for the producers to completely punk you. For a good 20 seconds, we actually thought that Matthew Casey had died in the factory fire. However, on the other side of that there was some good news: Now only did he survive, but there was actually a medal of honor coming in his direction.

In the aftermath of Casey’s celebration ceremony, we started to see everyone at Firehouse 51 start to move forward. Dawson’s father left their place, and they immediately celebrated that in a way that felt appropriate for them.

Following this, we immediately learned that Mouch was also somehow still alive. He recovered from his heart attack; not only that, but he decided to go back to the firehouse rather than taking on his new position. Given that Severide and Herrmann were also still around, it seemed like everyone made it through that cliffhanger okay — not that there weren’t some other problems that the time had to deal with. There were some other crises that were coming for many different characters.

Stella – After a contentious relationship with her landlord she found herself getting evicted. With that, she is now serious considering stayed in a cot at Molly’s while she figures out where she wants to go from here.

Brett – Tonight, we met her new friend Hope, someone who is coming to the big city for the first time and seems very eager to get back in the swing of things. How eager is she? Well, let’s just say that she was immediately interested in dating Severide … so much so that she put her number in his phone.

Dawson – Clearly, she was still struggling with what happened to Casey and didn’t want to discuss it with Chaplain Orlovsky or anyone else. She almost lost her husband and wasn’t willing to do anything about how she felt after the fact.

Now, let’s get to some other serious business

It wouldn’t be Chicago Fire if the show made you feel comfortable. After nothing happened to the major characters at the start of the premiere, you may have started to feel that way. This is when the show decided to give you another shocker close to the end. There was another enormous fire, and we thought from here that we were going to see Donna or someone else die within the school. That didn’t happen, but the death watch probably will continue for a long time still.

As we neared the end of this episode, some other characters started to pick up the pieces. Mouch insisted that his new health craze was more than just a diet, and he was intent on combining this with being a full-time firefighter once more. Meanwhile, Stella decided to move in to Severide’s place part-time, and Dawson finally admitted to Casey what she was going through — the fear of hearing him say goodbye to her again. He was doing what he felt was right in the moment, but that doesn’t make it any less painful for him. This was a powerful moment for the two of them, and we hope that Casey doesn’t have to break this promise anytime soon.

Basically, there are no physical ghosts that Casey and Dawson have to combat, but there is something else: Dawson being haunted by the idea of Matt being dead. That may not be as terrible, but it is a consuming sort of fear.

The end of the episode proved to be the big cliffhanger moving into episode 2. Remember that fire? Well, it just so happened it was arson. It just so turns out that NOBODY MAJOR DIED (woohoo), and to think we were so worried for most of the episode that someone did. (Granted, having an arsonist out there isn’t all that much better.)

What’s next on Chicago Fire season 6 episode 2?

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