‘Chicago Fire’: Is It Finally the Right Time for Casey & Brett? (RECAP)

Meredith Jacobs November 18, 2020, 10:10 pm

Brett Casey Chicago Fire Season 9 Episode 2 Mack Gallo — Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 9, Episode 2 of Chicago Fire, “That Kind of Heat.”]

Brett (Kara Killmer) and Mack’s (Adriyan Rae) first shift as partners on Ambo 61 was quite eventful, leading to a terrifying crash at the end of the premiere. But was that what Brett or Casey (Jesse Spencer) needed to make a move and stop the will they/won’t they dance in Episode 2?

In one word, yes. But it’s more complicated than that and, first, the rest of the house has to find the paramedics. Casey’s the first one to reach them (they’d already climbed out of the rig), after jumping out of the still-moving truck. (They actually end up saving the guy who caused the accident because they’re good people, and, well, it’s their job.) Later at the house, Brett questions how Casey got to her so fast, and he lies and says everyone else was there at the same time.

“It’s always been you,” she says, leaving him utterly gobsmacked as she then babbles, “I just mean that you’re always the one who’s there for me in a crisis. That’s all I mean. I guess I’m just trying to say thank you for being such a good friend.” Of course they’re then interrupted.

“I basically just told Casey that I’m in love with him,” Brett blurts out to Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) moments later and blames it on the accident. Kidd, however, wonders if it’s so bad if Casey knows how she feels. The problem is “I can’t feel that way,” the paramedic insists. “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t say what I said, then everything can go back to normal.”

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Then it’s Casey’s turn to stumble over himself a bit, acting like he’s back in high school — they’re in the locker room at the time, so it sort of fits? — asking his crush out when he checks if Brett’s going to be at Molly’s that evening. When she shows up, Gallo (Alberto Rosende) blows Casey’s cover when he details just how the lieutenant freaked out and jumped out of the truck. After Brett and Casey stare at each other for a very, very long time (in the very definition of everything else fades away), she makes up an excuse and leaves.

At the end of the episode, however, he shows up at her apartment to call her out for avoiding him, and she kisses him, finally. But once they’re on her couch, jacket and sweater off, both admitting they’ve wanted this for a long time, she has one question for him before they continue. “The reason that I’ve been so scared of this happening, the thing I need to know,” she says. “If Gabby came back to Chicago, right now, tonight, and asked you to leave with her, would you go?”

Casey doesn’t give her the answer she’s looking for, instead just telling her he hasn’t talked to his ex-wife (and her best friend) in a long time. “I don’t know,” he then admits but adds, “it’s more complicated” than his feelings for Gabby. In Brett’s mind, though, “It’s really not. I’m sorry, I think you should leave.” And he does. So close, so frustrating, and so understandable. After all, Gabby and Brett were close, and as we saw the last time Monica Raymund’s character was in town, she and Casey couldn’t stay away from each other…

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Meanwhile, Severide (Taylor Kinney) takes it upon himself to track down the wrecked rig and hop a fence,since he doesn’t have the proper paperwork to get the door with the dedication to Shay (who died on a call). Their friendship will always be one of the best parts of all of One Chicago. With help from Casey and Gallo, they attach the old door to the new rig.

“She was part of the DNA of this firehouse,” Severide explains to those who didn’t know her. “She was our friend.” And he knows that one day soon there likely will be even more people at 51 who didn’t know her.