‘Chicago Fire’: Did Cruz & Chloe’s Wedding Go off Without a Hitch? (RECAP)
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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 8, Episode 19 of Chicago Fire, “Light Things Up.”]
Cruz (Joe Minoso) is getting married and has already suffered enough this season — RIP Otis! — so Chicago decided to give him an easy day, right? Wrong.
“Shift is just what I need to keep the wedding nerves at bay,” Cruz tells Boden (Eamonn Walker) at the beginning of the episode, but what follows is not a regular day at work. Instead, 51 finds themselves chained inside the house when they try to respond to a call; as they learn once they go out the back door and find protesters securing themselves to their rigs with PVC pipes around their arms, they want Firehouse 87 reopened.
“We’re tired of being the last priority, so we’re not going anywhere until we get our house back,” the leader, Louis, explains. And while Herrmann (David Eigenberg) initially threatens to drive off with the people still attached, he understands where they’re coming from (just not the way they’re going about it). “We’re scared for our families, our kids,” Louis later insists. (He has four kids.)
CPD sends a couple officers to help out, but then a large group of people show up in support and walk right into 51; their ringleader is the loudest. Eventually more cops show up and set up a barrier outside to prevent anyone else from joining the crowd. Casey (Jesse Spencer) tries to talk to the alderman of 87’s ward; he and CFD Chief Carver’s response is the house was closed down for budgetary reasons. Neither is any help.
(Adrian Burrows/NBC)
It’s not until Louis collapses — he shows signs of compartment syndrome in his arm — that Squad can step in and remove the pipe and free him from his chains. To save him, Foster (Annie Ilonzeh) performs a fasciotomy before he’s transported to Med. When she checks on her patient later, Will (Nick Gehlfuss) praises the job done by the “trauma surgeon” in the field. Upon finding out it was her work, he tells her, “You missed your calling.” Will that get Foster thinking about what might have been again?
There’s also good news for the protesters; Gallo (Alberto Rosende) and Ritter (Daniel Kyri) film at 51 all day, and the video they put together — and on the house’s Instagram — helps encourage the right people to look into reopening 87.
However, during a fight that breaks out after Louis is taken away, Cruz suffers a head injury. “I feel like I got hit by a firetruck,” he winces upon gaining consciousness. “No, a firetruck got hit by your face,” Mouch (Christian Stolte) corrects him. Though Cruz protests he has his wedding to get to, he has to make a quick visit to Med. Fortunately, he’s on time for the ceremony (at the Firefighters’ Church, one of only a handful of structures to withstand the Great Chicago Fire of 1871), and his brother Leon is even there!
“It was a shelter for survivors and a light of joy in the midst of tragedy,” the priest says of the building. “I pray that your marriage grows to be like this church: a safe house on your best and worst days, a place of love and warmth, and a best friend to call home.” And with that, they say “I do,” exchange rings, and kiss. Cruz and Chloe are married!
(Adrian Burrows/NBC)
“Light Things Up” also takes a moment to honor Otis. During the protests, Cruz is upset when he sees someone climbing on his best friend’s memorial to get a better view. Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) tries to cheer him up, but all Cruz can think about is, “I just thought he’d be here, standing behind me, up on that altar.” She assures him, “He will be.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Brett (Kara Killmer) mourns for her mother while trying to get in touch with Scott. To her surprise, he shows up at 51 with a request: “I can’t take care of that little girl. I need you to take her.” Since Julie said she and Brett were alike, he thinks the paramedic will know how to take care of the baby.
Casey finds her, upset, in his office, and she fills him in. She barely knew Julie, she insists, before crying, “Except that I did. I knew her as well as I’ve ever known anyone. and I miss her already so much. I was supposed to have more time.” He promises that he’s there for her whatever she decides.
Brett is able to get through to Scott when she finds him outside his baby’s hospital room. He’ll always wonder “what if?” if he lets someone else raise his baby, like Julie did, she tells him. “She deserves a father who loves her. The kind that shows up and paces outside her hospital bed, worrying over her, wanting what’s best for her. The kind who can teach her who her mother was. Answer all those questions I had my whole life,” she explains. “That’s what’ll keep Julie here with you and that little girl. You can’t let her go, Scott. She needs you.” She’s right, and he knows it.
(Adrian Burrows/NBC)
Let’s hope it’s smoother sailing in the personal lives of 51’s heroes — and at the firehouse — after this.
Chicago Fire, Wednesdays, 9/8c, NBC
