TV Review: Chicago Fire Season 2 Episode 9 "You Will Hurt Him"

I love Chicago Fire. I went into "You Will Hurt Him" knowing several stories I was very invested in would be either concluding or expanding.

I was not only supremely satisfied with them, I was again amazed and surprised by the other stories as well. Something I've grown to be accustomed to with this show.

First, let's get the one 'meh' out of the way - McLeod uses the destroying of the trash compactor that saved a guy to shut down 51 at the end of the episode giving everyone "one last shift" together. Now again, will this happen? No. But I can't be snobbery and point that out for the casual fan.

As far as tensions go, I can't predict yet how they will get out of this - which is good enough in my book. At least they're committing to it.

I'll withhold further judgement until I see how they resolve this. Okay, back to the good stuff:

Cruz played a big role in this episode, which I liked. With a huge ensemble, some characters can get lost in the fray and not get many of their own stories. Cruz has definitely been one of those characters.

Cruz's story with his brother Leon escalated last week with Voight and Detective Lindsay convincing Leon to go back to his gang as a CI undercover. Immediately we see Cruz not being able to keep a distance - almost blowing Leon's cover.

This allowed the introduction of Detective Olinsky (Elias Koteas) who was almost unrecognizable as an undercover bum.

This gets me very excited for Chicago PD - I've loved Elias Koteas in almost everything he has been in, especially when he guest starred in the season two finale of House (my all time favorite show).

Leon turns out to be quite good at going undercover as he gets the new gang leader to admit to the kid shooting on tape. As Antonio, Cruz, Voight and the team listen from a van behind them, Leon and the gang are shot at by a passing car with an automatic rifle. Luckily Leon was in the middle and the gang members on either side absorbed a lot of the bullets. However Cruz still blows Leon's cover by running in and hugging him in front of the head gang member.

This causes Voight and Antonio to recommend Leon leaves town indefinitely. Combine that with the fact the woman he was going to marry, Zoya, ends up leaving without telling him - and you have a lot of heartache in one episode.

I'll be interested to see how he deals with it moving forward. He just wants to be loved!

Mills had quite a bit of development this episode as well. As I predicted/hoped, Isabella was properly phased out so she didn't end up overstaying her welcome.

The whole is she using Mills for his race/Mills helping her get the job running the Senator's campaign was a little odd but since it phased her out properly I didn't mind it.

I didn't not like her/the actress. However, when it's your time to go, it's your time to go.

Casey and Dawson spent a huge amount of time banging this episode, which is fine. The big last scene last episode was their first kiss so the honeymoon phase here wasn't unexpected. However I'll be glad when some sort of drama is introduced now that they're dating. There's a reason the build up with Casey saving Dawson's life and getting closer was more compelling - it was dramatic.

There's a reason characters rarely say what they mean and do what they feel in the moment - it rarely has any tension. This is a big reason why other shows that hinge themselves on one relationship can fail when the tension deflates out of the room the moment they get together.

I like a lot of tension so moments like what we saw in this episode feel that much more rewarding. Hopefully it is full steam ahead here, and things progress as well as they have so far.

Onto my two favorite stories: Shay as well as Severide's sister Katie. Katie bounced back from being so hesitant and cooked for the Firehouse. Her inability to pick up Herrmann's sarcasm told the audience she still had a little ways to go. It rang true to me that Severide had to find out about her graduation through her mom.

Of course, the graduation with his surprise appearance along with surprising her at Molly's pulled right at your heart strings. The actress who plays Katie did a great job showing the emotions of a neglected daughter who was never shown an outpouring of love before from family or strangers.

I expected nothing less with Severide proving he wasn't Benny, and I was very satisfied with the result. When Chicago Fire does "family" it does it well.

Shay of course spiraling out of control was my other favorite story this week. Her disappearance prompted a great scene with Severide and Dawson where he pleaded with her to understand that it's her that Shay needed, not Severide. The end of his speech - "whatever went on between you two...just fix it" - could be a great piece of advice for any two characters going through things on the show. They're family, so they can move past anything and stick together no matter how hard that may seem sometimes.

And of course, Dawson reaching out and helping Shay near the bridge was as perfect as you'd expect. Which goes back to my point about Dawson and Casey - all the tension Shay and Dawson went through made their making up/coming back together all that much more emotionally satisfying.

That's what I look forward to for Casey and Dawson. With the most stable relationship on the show being battered and almost broken for weeks now, I'm glad Shay and Dawson will be back to normal for the time being.

Words fail to describe how perfectly the Katie story and the resolution between Shay and Dawson was written, shot and performed on the show. I defy anyone to find a better ensemble drama on television today.

(I'll save you some time, I've looked - there isn't one)

Photo Credit: Examiner