‘Chicago Fire’: [Spoiler] Might Die & Mouch Prepares to Fight for His Job

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 8 “A Man Possessed.”]

The title of the Chicago Fire midseason premiere, which aired on Wednesday, January 7, may very well be an apt description of Severide (Taylor Kinney) during this ongoing arson arc, which lands someone close to him in the hospital — and it’s not looking good!

The episode picks up where the fall finale left off, with the fire raging in the stairwell below while Severide and Van Meter (Tim Hopper) talk to Mr. Cole, the principal who was the target of a fire at a high school. Severide sees someone in a hoodie walking away outside, then after the smoke alarm goes off, he discovers the fire creeping up to the apartment. They hurry to escape out a window, using bed sheets as a makeshift rope and harness system, as the flames start engulfing the room. Cole goes out first, then Van Meter is badly burned and Severide immediately sends him out next. Once on the street, and just as the ambulance is pulling up, however, Van Meter collapses. Once Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) learns what happened to Severide, their foster son, Isaiah (Hero Hunter), immediately is ready to pack, though they were supposed to meet with his mother’s doctor the next day.

At the hospital, Severide refuses to get a chest X-ray (just in case) before he checks on Van Meter. Archer (Chicago Med‘s Steven Weber) explains he’s in acute respiratory distress and suffered significant lung damage; he’s on a vent to improve his oxygen saturation, but if his levels don’t stabilize soon, he might not make it through the night. As always, 51 shows up at the hospital to rally around their own. Kidd and Isaiah also arrive, and after a family hug, Severide updates them on Van Meter’s condition. He then sees Detective Gerard (Isaac Stephen Montgomery), who assures him CPD isn’t going to take over, just help, because everyone knows how personal it is.

And so for most of the episode, Severide and Gerard work together, looking into the Facebook group for those who hate Cole and focusing on its creator, Lily, who had been at former person of interest Wyatt’s after the school fire. But as Van Meter’s conditions worsens and he’s put in a medically induced coma because he went into hypoxic respiratory failure, which Severide has seen before and the person doesn’t come out of it, he gets emotional. “I’m going to find who did this, and I’m going to make them pay,” Severide swears.

Related

'Chicago Fire' Scoop: Severide in Danger and Pascal & Mouch's Challenge

He also insists on being there for the Zoom with Isaiah’s mother’s doctor, even with both the kid and his wife saying he can skip it, but he does end up missing it as he and Gerard follow another lead: Someone posted a video of the fire at Cole’s apartment. That person isn’t the arsonist but did capture the person who did — and that person was heading towards Wyatt’s. However, he has an alibi for the school fire. Once again, they look to Lily as a potential suspect, that perhaps she went to Wyatt’s again like she had after the first fire, but she does have an alibi (though one she lied about).

But one person doesn’t have an alibi: Wyatt’s father. Severide is convinced he wanted revenge for Cole going after his son, and he makes sure he knows it in the interrogation room — hey, he’s upset about his friend being in the hospital in critical condition! — to the point that Gerard kicks him out. What’s worse is Gerard then reveals that the district commander wants to shift focus to the school fire since everything on Wyatt’s father is circumstantial — and Severide’s being benched. Uh-oh.

Elsewhere, Annette (Annabeth Gish) tells Pascal (Dermot Mulroney) that the call for which rigs to decommission, which includes Mouch’s (Christian Stolte) engine, as part of budget cuts, came from the CFD. Pascal’s ready to make calls, but she tells him it’s already in motion and nothing he does will stop it. Pascal then has to tell Mouch and promises him they’ll fight it. Mouch knows this could also mean his job being cut, and Pascal doesn’t sugarcoat it: With the cuts, there are calls for early retirement and it’s unlikely that they’ll find a place for him at another house. And unfortunately, budget cuts mean that there’s “just cause” to cut him. But there’s an option: With Herrmann’s (David Eigenberg) help and while keeping everyone else in the dark, he begins going through his old performance reviews to get an appeal ready for the civil service commission.

Pascal tries to call in the favor he’s owed because he took in Vasquez (Brandon Larracuente) at the beginning of the season, but that’s how he finds out that the request for which rigs to decommission came from the mayor’s office. Pascal confronts Annette, who tries to deny it, but he knows she thought he wouldn’t push back because of their personal relationship. She tries to bring up his future beyond being a battalion chief, offering to help him reach that and think about what they can do for the city together, but he refuses to do that at the expense of his people. But she leaves him with something to think about: It’s not about winning every battle but rather about winning the war. Again, uh-oh.

What did you think of the midseason premiere? Let us know in the comments section below.

Chicago Fire, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC