TV Review: Chicago Fire Season 2 Episode 22 "Real Never Waits" Season Finale

Chicago Fire Season 2 finale is here.

There was some good comedy in this episode with Boden having Herrmann plan his wedding at his church. As the secret that Herrmann couldn't secure the church started to leak out, it was funny to watch him squirm.

Severide has a pretty self-contained story this episode. During a secondary search of a boarding school fire, Severide discovers a child in a room that he cleared who has been badly burned. Obviously this tears him up - especially since the kid was in a room that he cleared.

He checks in on him at the hospital and it looked like he wouldn't make it. He also visits Lindsay, which is an interesting progression of their relationship.

Here are two emotionally unavailable people who now go to each other for comfort.

There was a nice fake out at the end of the episode when Severide checked on him again and walked in on his parents crying tears of joy. It was also the right story choice - everyone was assuming the kid was just going to die because Severide messed up and didn't find him. It also filled a type of story I think the show hasn't explored yet.

Sometimes the Firefighters do make mistakes - it doesn't always mean lives are lost.

Oftentimes people do die due to human error, but it would be disingenuous to suggest that all Firefighter mistakes lead to innocent people dying. Sometimes they get lucky too.

Shay's criminal ex-fling/girlfriend is still around. Severide got into it with her, because now she's apparently staying at their place.

To me, Devon is too close to Shay's other ex who was pregnant who was also clearly not good for her.

I guess it's true sometimes you're with someone who isn't good for you and only you can't see it, but Shay's love interests are starting to feel familiar.

I'm interested in ditching Devon and getting a new love interest with a new story angle for her.

I'm really interested in the Newhouse/Mills story that is developing. Newhouse is looking into Mills' father's side of the family with his private investigator side gig. That's probably one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to next season.

Dawson passes her firefighter test. She refuses Casey's offer to transfer to a house without the sexist leader. She also gets tipped off about his upcoming proposal plan.

Boden ends up getting married in front of the firehouse and Casey proposes to Dawson afterwards. OF COURSE there is a call and they all run out. That would turn into the cliffhanger for the season finale.

Everyone heads into a building that was described as a "rubbish fire". There are some eerie moments that pass when the radio goes out.

The other firefighter with Boden says that the radio could be malfunctioning because of the concrete walls.

After several moments (which felt like forever) passed by, Boden approaches the front of the building as it explodes. We end the episode unsure of the fate of everyone on the show except Boden.

This is a tricky and bold choice. Like I hinted, this explosion took way too long. There was a few perfect beats where I wasn't sure what was going on, and then I suspected the building was going to collapse or explode. The longer it went on, the less and less it wowed me.

Explosions should be unexpected. It terms of surprise, Chicago Fire tipped their hand - even more than the bomb episode.

The screen time between the radio going out and Boden saying "I don't like this" should have been cut at least in half.

Otherwise you get what you have now: long moments passing where it's obvious something bad is going to happen -> cut to wide shot and...yeah.

That's a tiny issue, but it isn't. I think the average TV viewer would know the building was going to collapse or explode a good fifteen seconds before it actually did.

Here is where the cliffhanger puts them on a major make or break track for next year. Let's think about this.

Did the explosion kill everyone inside? No. But they cannot come out of this next season without some serious injuries. I'd argue they need to kill off a major character.

That might seem harsh, but it's all about being realistic. If the audience is to believe this cliffhanger is as bad as it was portrayed, then there needs to be some serious consequences. All I'm saying is that since Chicago Fire decided to go down this path with that cliffhanger, they have an enormous responsibility to make it pay off.

All great shows do and I have all the faith in the world in Chicago Fire to pull it off.

It was a great season and they show no signs of slowing down yet.

Hopefully during the hiatus more people will see that there is a level of acting, writing, and directing that puts this show above the majority of shows out today on network or cable television.

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