TV Review: Chicago Fire Season 2 Episode 15 "Keep Your Mouth Shut"

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Chicago Fire is back with a rather uncomfortable episode. Let me explain.

I didn't know how to feel for the majority of this episode. Most of it dealt with Jones being the new candidate.

Like other candidates before her, she was borderline berated into doing remedial chores given to break her spirit and learn her role on the bottom of the totem pole.

At first glance, it seemed sexist. I mean for one - I consider myself to have a photographic memory. Without watching it again, I can almost guarantee Mills or other candidates on the squad weren't treated as badly. When you think about it though, a lot of this perceived harshness was warranted. They know she's got a high ranking father.

They have to press her (while at the same time reassure that they'd press no matter if she was male or female) to make sure she can do the job. A job which in the beginning between breaking a saw blade and not being able to cook for the squad, she isn't particularly good at.

Casey is demeaning, only later to stick up for her in front of Herrmann, Mouch, and Cruz.

There is also nods to the audience (as well as Dawson and later Casey when he's told) about her cheating through the academy. The hell with her right?

You could always throw in the fact that she is jealous of Casey and Dawson and threatens to drive a wedge (or something worse - herself) between them.

A lot of reasons to not care about how badly Jones seemed to be getting treated. She tries to bust balls, she gets told to shut her mouth.

She does a chore ahead of time, she's told to do it again anyway. Why was it so uncomfortable?

Part of it is just my own bias with that kind of workplace structure. I would not last long in a situation like that. Part of it is Daisy Betts and her ability to find sympathy in a cheating potential homewrecker of a character.

The boys prove to be fair, however. It's important in some sense - can't have any people skating by on this job.

Make it through a fire, and become that much closer to being one of the group. Jones made it out, and has evidently progressed to the next stage of being accepted.

After Dawson tells Casey about Jones confronting her about using her relationship with Casey, something amazing happens.

Casey gives Jones a cookbook Mills put together, and tells her hopefully she can decipher his handwriting, adding "I understand you have dyslexia." Aka the reason she gave Dawson for cheating on the test (besides proving her father wrong).

It was a delicious way of letting Jones know that he (Casey) knows the whole story.

Mouch and his war with Connie was hilarious. "What are you, a dentist?" He's definitely one of the best comic relief characters on the show.

Dawson still tells Casey she wants to be a firefighter after getting "a taste for it". Sigh.

The B story involved Severide mulling over whether to pursue his own version of justice against Keeler, who had been cut free by Lindsay and the Chicago PD because of his "hook" in a bigger fish. Lindsay comes over and tells Severide she's working on it, and threatens to lock him in the drunk tank if she catches him doing anything. Meanwhile Severide, Otis, Clark and Capp seemingly scheme their own plan. Of course, this ends with Lindsay confronting Severide in Molly's telling him Keeler has gone missing.

Now what I am anticipating here is whoever is involved will be targeted to the point where it's almost impossible to see a way out - and then they'll find one. Many arcs on a lot of shows will bend characters, but not break them.

With this story however, I would like Severide's character to have done it. It would be game changing and arguably justified depending on who you ask. Bonus points for them if they can involve the Jones character.

All in all, still a great episode. The Jones hazing/commanding/whatever made me think about how I truly felt about it. The truth is I felt everything - didn't care, cared, rooted for, rooted against and so on.

I think that's probably the point, no? Each one of those viewpoints has examples to back them up and are valid.

Any uncomfortable feelings I had were offset by the Keeler story that seems to be growing, as well as Mouch's couch war with Connie. Looking forward to next week as usual.

Photo Credit: Spoilersguide.com