Why This Chicago Fire Storyline Has Some Fans Fuming

NBC’s Chicago Fire, which began in 2012, is known for intense fires, big explosions, and daring rescues. The show also tells powerful stories about finding family, overcoming obstacles, and falling in love. It’s the love stories that fans tend to gravitate to, and Chicago Fire has had plenty of really great ones — from paramedic Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) and fire captain Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer) finally getting together to firefighter Randall “Mouch” McHolland (Christian Stolte) finding love later in life with Trudy Platt (Amy Morton), a police sergeant from Chicago P.D. — so it’s always tough when a couple fans love starts to struggle in their relationship.

Chicago Fire finished airing its 12th season on May 22, 2024. Cut short due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023, the season only had thirteen episodes. Over that short span, viewers saw cast members come and go and watched as characters dealt with both work and personal obstacles that pushed them out of their comfort zone. Most of what happened in Season 12 was enjoyed by viewers, but when Joe Cruz (Joe Miñoso) and his wife Chloe (Kristen Gutoskie) began to have marital problems, fans really struggled with it.

Who is Joe Cruz on Chicago Fire?

When Chicago Fire first began, Joe Cruz was the driver for Ladder Truck 81 under Matt Casey’s leadership. Eventually, after completing additional training, he transferred from the truck to Squad 3, where he is part of the team of heavy rescue experts led by Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney). In Season 11, when Severide went to Atlanta for arson investigation training — because Kinney was taking a hiatus from the show — Cruz became the temporary lieutenant for Squad 3 and impressed everyone with his leadership skills.In the early seasons of Chicago Fire, Cruz dated Zoya (Larissa Polanski), the bartender cousin of Cruz’s best friend, Brian “Otis” Zvonecek (Yuriy Sardarov), and even offered to marry her so that she could stay in the country. He also briefly dated Sylvie Brett, though they decided they were much better as friends. In Season 7, Episode 2, “Going to War,” Cruz met Chloe Allen in an apartment building fire. After he saved her life, Chloe went to the firehouse with cake pops she made for Joe, and he asked her out on a date. The rest, as they say, was history.

Joe Cruz and Chloe Cruz Have Had a Beautiful Relationship
Outside of Chicago Fire, Kristen Gutoskie has appeared in Beaver Falls, Containment, The Vampire Diaries, and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Gutoskie is also a talented singer and is working on her first album.

Once Chloe and Joe started dating, things seemed to be going well for the two of them, but in Season 8, Episode 5, “Buckle Up,” just as Joe was going to propose, Chloe ended things. After the death of Otis at the beginning of the season, Chloe watched her friend and Otis’s girlfriend, Lily, struggle with his death and began to worry she couldn’t handle dating a firefighter. A conversation with Sylvie Brett changes her mind, and by the end of the episode, Joe and Chloe are engaged. They get married in Season 8, Episode 19, “Light Things Up,” with most of Station 51 in the audience or standing up at the altar with them.

Though Joe and Chloe hit a snag early in their relationship, much of the rest of it has been picture-perfect. After their beautiful wedding in “Light Things Up,” Chloe got pregnant in Season 9 and gave birth to their son, Brian “Otis” Leon Cruz, in Season 10, Episode 5, “Two Hundred.” It was one of the only Firehouse 51 births that didn’t have some kind of complication, which surprised characters and fans alike. Then, in Season 10, Episode 16, “Hot and Fast,” Joe builds a connection with Javi (Carlos S. Sanchez), an orphan he meets at a fire who comes to stay with Joe and Chloe. In Season 10, Episode 9, “Nemesis,” Joe and Chloe are finally able to adopt Javi, officially making him part of the family.

What Happened in Season 12 of Chicago Fire?

Chicago Fire’s Season 12 saw the return of Taylor Kinney from his hiatus at the end of Season 11, which fans were thrilled about. It also saw the departure of two fan favorites — Kara Killmer, whose character Sylvie Brett married Matt Casey and moved to Portland, and Eamonn Walker, whose character Wallace Boden was appointed to a higher level position, making it impossible for him to stay at Firehouse 51 any longer.

Though audiences didn’t see Chloe until Season 12, Episode 12, “Under Pressure,” she is a topic of conversation for Joe and Christopher Herrmann (David Eigenberg) throughout the season. Cruz reveals to Herrmann that he’s been taking fewer shifts because Chloe has been traveling for work and wanted him to spend more time at home, and that they’re talking about couples therapy. Herrmann tells him to do the therapy to keep his marriage, and Joe does, but things come to a head in “Under Pressure” when Joe is taken to the hospital after collapsing at the scene of a fire. Though he’s completely fine, the hospital trip scares Chloe, who finally admits that she’s been struggling with the risks he takes at work and has been pulling away from Joe and the firehouse.

Though some fans found their relationship problems plausible, many struggled with the episode because of the return of Chloe’s old fear that had seemingly been resolved before they got married. The episode promo led fans to believe that Cruz might be leaving, which certainly didn’t help, nor did so many of Chloe and Joe’s relationship problems happening off-screen. Perhaps if fans had seen Joe and Chloe having trouble at home or even attending couples therapy, it would have felt different, but instead, their marital strife felt abstract and unnecessary, and centering an episode around it felt forced. Joe and Chloe have long been solid as a couple, and fans didn’t want the writers to do anything to change that.

What is Next For Joe and Chloe?

Filming for Chicago Fire‘s 13th Season is already underway, and the show is slated to have 22 episodes. It will return, along with Chicago Med and Chicago P.D., on September 25.

At the end of Season 12, Episode 12, “Under Pressure,” two positive things happened for Chloe and Joe. First, Chloe made the effort to show up to Firehouse 51 to say hello to Joe’s colleagues. Joe was thrilled to see her because it meant she was willing to meet him halfway when it came to his job. The second thing that happened was that Chloe ended up speaking to the woman Joe had saved from a fire before he collapsed earlier in the episode. She’d brought a thank you gift for Joe — a sketch of him in his firefighter’s helmet — and shared with Chloe how grateful she was. It was a moment that obviously reminded Chloe how important Joe’s work is, and it seemed to help her understand why he does what he does a little better.
With Season 13 on the horizon, there’s plenty that Joe and Chloe could go through, and it’s likely they’ll continue to navigate this snag in their marriage. Time spent with Joe and Chloe outside the firehouse will also likely include their two boys, Javi and Otis. Though fans don’t yet know what’s in store for the Cruz family, there is great potential ahead. After having led Squad 3 while Severide was out, Joe knows how it feels to take on a leadership role, which could continue to change how he does his job at Firehouse 51. Though he opted out of taking the lieutenant’s test in Season 12, that could also change in Season 13. Fans are hopeful that Joe and Chloe’s marriage woes won’t continue, and that they’ll get to see them return to the happy couple they were, and maybe will even get to see Chloe present at the firehouse more. Joe and Chloe’s relationship has always been strong, and fans hope it can continue that pattern in the coming season.