The Chicago Fire’s newest recruit is in trouble. In this Wednesday’s fall finale (airing at 9/8c on NBC),
Firehouse 51 is called to a rescue on a bridge, in which the newest crew member Carver “has a little conflict
with a city employee,” co-host Derek Haas previews, “and when you mess with a city employee who files
a complaint, it not only results in Boden being able to easily solve this problem and say, ‘Hey, you two, let’s work it out.’” Unfortunately for the firefighter, the incident “took place internally, at headquarters. The entire apparatus of the Chicago Fire Department was activated. And let’s just say that might bring out some people we haven’t seen in a while,” Haas teased. Although there has been tension between Carver and Stella since he first joined Truck 81, the lieutenant will stand by her firefighter’s side after the rescue incident. “He and Stella definitely, in this particular episode, came closer to each other than they had before,” Newman said. However, that doesn’t mean Carver has officially found his way into the fire station family and all is great now that he has Stella’s support.
“This is going to be a journey for Carver. I don’t think it’s that simple,” Newman cautioned. “He’s probably one of the more complex characters [that we’ve] put on 51 in terms of knowing how to blend in correctly. He and Stella have a complicated relationship, and he also has a complicated relationship with the house, because he’s not used to the level of intimacy and family that the 51st have. So this is going to be quite a journey for him. It’s not as simple as they are now that they’re stuck together.” And in classic Chicago Fire tradition, viewers can expect a cliffhanger that “leaves a few characters in the balance,” Newman previews. “And it brings a lot of stories together. So that’s an interesting thing.” But while fans of the show are used to life-or-death endings in fall/season finales, this one is a little different because who isn’t in danger. “So many times, we met Severide, like on a sinking boat. We’ve got Severide and Casey stuck on the roof of a building. But we rarely have Severide on the outside, almost helpless because bad things are happening to other people,” Haas explains. “It’s really going to be three long weeks until you can see what’s going to happen.”