TV Review: Chicago Fire Season 2 Episode 17 "When Things Got Rough"

Chicago Fire is back.

The main story involved the first call 51 went on - a fire in an apartment building. When they cleared it, they found a badly burnt unconscious man shielding his 3 children from the fire, who were all still alive.

After getting everyone out, CPR and other lifesaving measures were attempted with the man, but he was dead before they even arrived.

Things take a turn for the worse after 51 learns the wife was slapping a wrongful death lawsuit on the firehouse. Everyone on the call ends up in an early deposition, where Casey and Severide recount the events of the call.

This puts the wife in tears, especially after Casey tells her even though he works with firefighters everyday, what her husband did for their children was the bravest thing he'd ever seen. She ends up dropping the lawsuit.

My immediate reaction to seeing where the wife was going to go with this lawsuit made me roll my eyes.

Not in a bad way, I just thought to myself: "wow, one of these people..." That really only means one thing.

The woman thinking immediately trying to find meaning by bringing on a lawsuit is a recognizable reaction that someone in her situation could possibly have.

Severide this week finds himself trying to help a former Firefighter they save pinned under a car trying to help a girl. There was a danger of the former firefighter losing his arm, but 51 saves him just in time. The fact that he is a former Firefighter, and also a chronic pain patient who is constantly having to medicate like Severide used to with his injury, makes Severide go over to his mobile trailer to check on him.

After inviting him to the station anytime, the man shows up. The stay doesn't last long, as he is spooked into leaving after hearing a gruesome story about the first call in the episode.

After Severide goes to check on him again, the man accuses him of looking for an "easy save", claiming he doesn't need to be saved.

Clearly this is a lie, which leads into what is looking like a nice little arc for Severide for a couple episodes.

This is some comedy this episode surrounding Shay helping Mouch find a new girlfriend after his long distance one falls through, and Cruz and Otis stealing the apartment Casey and Dawson were looking at.

Dawson and Shay deal with Ramsay, which intersects with Jones and her story quite nicely. Last episode Dawson was approached awkwardly by the EMT dispatcher who helped her and Shay escape the gang shootout.

He came looking to cash in on the free beer Dawson offered. You could already tell by her shocked expression that the offer was merely a nice gesture, and she wasn't expecting him to take her up on it.

The creepiness continued this episode. First Ramsay got personal with Dawson over the EMT dispatch while Dawson and Shay answered a call.

Later, he called her cellphone, telling Dawson how connected she was with him.

This causes Dawson to eventually file a complaint, which Jones goes to her father for.

Boden ends up getting angry that Dawson didn't bring it directly to him, telling her Ramsay is one of the top dispatchers and only got a warning.

Things got creepier when Ramsay showed up at night and confronted Dawson outside the station. He explained his actions: she reminded him of someone he used to know who looked like her, who wanted to go to medical school but didn't have the money.

That woman he knew died in a car crash, which Ramsay couldn't do anything about. Ramsay wanted to protect Dawson in a way he couldn't with the other woman he knew.

Obviously this is still creepy, maybe misplaced creepy at best. Still Dawson saw that he was just a weirdo who couldn't express his feelings well.

That's why when he told her he ended up getting fired, she wanted to help him out.

Meanwhile, Casey was trying to convince Boden all episode it wasn't worth wrongfully firing Jones just because her Chief father said so. Eventually this kicks in at the end of the episode in Molly's when Boden finally agrees. After the audience thinks the conflict of Casey telling Dawson and Dawson perhaps telling Jones is over, it comes back quickly in a big way. Dawson asks Jones to talk to her father again for Ramsay, and Jones says she will citing the fact that her father has been very helpful lately. It was a nice subtle way of nodding to the fact that of course her father would be helpful, he's trying to get her stuck with a desk job.

This comment makes Dawson blurt out her father's plan, making for a great cliffhanger for this week. Again, the way this was done allowed for maximum impact on the audience.

Fake out like the threat isn't there (Boden agreeing with Casey), and then BAM, pull the trigger on the treat from a different angle (Dawson telling Jones after Jones agrees to help her). Nicely done.

Photo Credit: NBC.com