‘Chicago Fire’ Season 10 Finale: Who’s in Danger? Who May Be Breaking Up? (RECAP)

Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide, Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd in Chicago Fire
Spoiler Alert
Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

Chicago Fire

The Magnificent City of Chicago

Season 10 • Episode 22

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Chicago Fire Season 10 finale “The Magnificent City of Chicago.”]

The Chicago Fire finale should be a happy event, with Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer) and Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) back in the city for Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) and Stella Kidd’s (Miranda Rae Mayo) wedding. But “Brettsey” has to figure out what to do about their long-distance relationship, with her still living in Chicago, and there’s always the question of whether or not a couple will say “I do.”

Plus, there’s the matter of Emma (Caitlin Carver) trying to take Violet’s (Hanako Greensmith) position at 51, to the point that she’s blackmailed Chief Hawkins (Jimmy Nicholas) and demands he make it happen ASAP. So where does the NBC drama leave those storylines in the finale? Read on.

The Stellaride Wedding

The bad news: Severide’s mother may not make it. But “this wedding is for us, not her,” he tells his bride. The (very) good news: Kidd finds them a wedding venue on short notice and they don’t even have to pay a deposit because the couple that canceled their ceremony, freeing up the day, already did.

Firehouse 51 does what 51 does best and works together to make this last-minute wedding happen, dividing up the responsibilities. The best part? Gallo (Alberto Rosende) telling Emma she doesn’t need to worry about helping because she won’t be around. Don’t mess with one of 51’s own. Kidd has her maid of honor in Brett (and a fun bachelorette party in her office, complete with questions like “What is the bride’s favorite position … in the CFD?”).

Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd, Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide in Chicago Fire

Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

Plus, she asks Boden (Eamonn Walker) to walk her down the aisle in one of the episode’s best scenes. Most of her “real family is here in the firehouse,” she tells him. “Truth is, you’re the closest thing I’ve had to a father in my life and I was wondering, would you give me away?” Boden looks so touched. “That would be my greatest honor,” he says. “The wedding would be yesterday and on the moon and I’d still find a way to walk you down that aisle.”

But will the groom make it down the aisle? He’s planning to testify in the drug case he’s in the middle of after the penultimate episode’s call, and one of Campbell’s men is keeping an eye on him … to the point their fight involves the guy pulling a knife and eventually going out a window. It was clearly self-defense, Detective Pryma (Troy Winbush) assures Severide, insisting he have police protection until Campbell is handled. “This wedding is happening, I promise. I don’t want anything overshadowing it,” so only she and Boden need to know, Severide insists to Kidd. And things are looking up when it seems that Campbell is shutting down his Chicago operation and leaving town.

So, with Casey back after finding someone to cover his shifts — everyone’s happy to see him, and there’s even a “Cap” from Gallo when he first walks into 51 — everything’s in place for the wedding to go off without a hitch … right? Of course not. Sure, Severide and Kidd are “meant to be,” as Casey says when nothing how much his best friend has changed, but they run into a major problem at the venue: The other wedding is back on, and the deposit came from that couple. Herrmann (David Eigenberg) tries to pay the other groom to change his date (“they’ve got serious commitment issues,” he says of Stellaride), to no avail.

Jesse Spencer as Casey in Chicago Fire

Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

Fortunately, Casey finds a solution: renting out a tour boat, with a captain who can marry them. Even better: Severide’s mother FaceTimes him, having tried to make it only for her flight to be delayed. Despite what she thinks about Severide men and marriage, she knows he deserves the happiness he’s found with Kidd. And after Boden walks Kidd down the aisle to John Legend’s “All of Me,” it’s time for the vows.

“Kelly, the simple truth is that you are magic to me. Whenever I’m at my lowest, you lift me up, you never leave my side. You are the goodest of men,” Kidd says. “Yes, we are taking a huge, crazy leap into the unknown, but we’re doing it together and when I need to hear, you’ll tell me, ‘You got this, Stella Kidd,’ and I’ll know that everything will be OK because it always is when I’m with you. I love you with everything I got, Kelly Severide, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Then it’s Severide’s turn: “Stella, I decided a long time ago that if I was going to be with you, I needed to be worthy of you, which seemed impossible. How do I become worthy of someone brave enough to show who they are, inside and out? What makes me this better person that I keep hearing about is you keep me from locking things up. Instead, you made sure you really knew me, and by some miracle, you still love me. Stella, I might never be worthy of you, but I promise to spend the rest of my life trying. I love you.”

It’s all happiness and love, so of course something has to go horribly wrong in the final moments. As Severide and Kidd begin their honeymoon in the cabin, someone drives up and parks outside …

Kara Killmer as Sylvie Brett, Jesse Spencer as Casey in Chicago Fire

Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

Brettsey’s Future

Pretty early on, we know that Casey’s happy in Portland, having found a new joy in being a dad and fighting wildfires, as Brett tells Violet. But the paramedic also says that she’s happy to be back at 51.

It’s not until they’re dancing at the wedding reception that they address the problem. He wishes that she could’ve stayed forever with him, but “you’ve made a beautiful life for yourself in Oregon, Matt, but it’s your life, not mine,” Brett says. “My 51 family is here, my work is here, my life is here. How much longer can we keep this up with so much time apart?” Casey doesn’t know, “but we’re together tonight.” Uh-oh, sounds like Brettsey’s breaking up.

Ambulance 61’s Emma Problem

On the day of what could be Violet’s last shift, Hawkins isn’t very optimistic they can do anything about Emma given she’s covered her tracks. And when Brett returns to 51, Emma makes it a point to introduce herself (after witnessing how beloved the PIC is).

Caitlin Carver as Emma Jacobs, Miranda Rae Mayo as Stella Kidd, Hanako Greensmith as Violet in Chicago Fire

Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

While Violet tries to pretend that everything is “OK, fine,” thanks to Gallo and Ritter (Daniel Kyri), she fills Brett in on what’s going on. “We’re going to stop this somehow, right?” Brett asks. Violet admits it doesn’t look good and warns her she can’t let on she knows anything. But the four of them are determined to figure it out.

But how will they do that? Hawkins offers to take the hit, whether it be a transfer or resignation,  for Violet, while Brett makes sure Emma knows just what Violet means to her (calling her her best friend and “one in a million”) and that she should be thinking about her next assignment.

Fortunately, Emma signs her own pink slip — after insisting that the others will come to like her when Violet calls her out on her delusions that her plan will work with all of 51 against her — by running out of a fire and leaving Violet, Kidd, and Gallo to help a pregnant woman in labor. As Hawkins puts it, with everyone seeing Emma for who she is, “you’re not cut out for 51.”

But it also sounds like Violet’s seen the end of her relationship with Hawkins. As she sees it, he didn’t do enough to help (seems she doesn’t know what he was willing to give up) and it’s just another reason dating your boss is a bad idea. So it sounds like we could be seeing a return to Violet and Gallo in Season 11…

Chicago Fire, Season 11, TBA, NBC