Critic’s Rating: 3.6 / 5.0
3.6
After five years, One Chicago finally came together for an epic crossover event, and it played out like a three-hour, plot-extensive action movie.
Was it everything that One Chicago fans hoped for and more? It depends on who you ask and what you expect!
However, while the three-part event strived to incorporate all their series organically without attempting to separate one hour from the next, one show prevailed most: Chicago Fire.
The Crossover Event Pushed Chicago Fire to the Forefront (for Some of Us)
Even amongst our One Chicago TV Fanatics, this isn’t a consensus. Our resident Chicago Med Fanatic, Jack Ori, felt the hour heavily focused on the Fire component.
Jack said this felt like a three-hour episode of Chicago Fire. Pretty much every story tied back to Fire, which was annoying because he doesn’t watch Fire regularly.
The three-hour event centers on Chicago Fire characters, and the rescue, in its nature, heavily relied on Truck 81.
Also, this was essentially Stella Kidd’s event.
It’s a spotlight she primarily shared with Ruzek as the bulk of the crossover revolved around the series of disasters in that underground car and the dogged attempt to rescue people stuck in that train while nabbing one of the bad guys.
Perhaps that’s why Carissa Pavlica contests that this was less about Fire and more about Chicago PD.
She thought the Fire characters were underutilized because they were the victims of the disaster. Of course, that could say more about their vitality compared to those on PD. She thought PD characters were the heroes of this installment because that’s their job.
Ultimately, crossovers always come down to the distribution of characters and their utilization, and it’s evident that Fire and Chicago PD dominated the night.
We opened with Stellaride and ended with Voight and Pascal shaking hands after saving the city, so you can determine who prevailed.
Chicago Fire’s Leadership Took Precedence On Scene
The catastrophic event resulted in a gas explosion that took down many people in a city building, and the Fire crew spent most of their time trying to rescue and assist those individuals while dealing with the ramifications of gas leaks and a trapped train car underground.
For the most part, characters like Violet and Novak eventually faded into the background, but that was mostly to allow Med characters with superior medical knowledge to step to the forefront.
Overall, this event served as a colossal test for new Chief Pascal. He handled this mass casualty event and delegated as best he could. Unsurprisingly, he rose to the occasion.
We also saw how it tested the limits of what leadership looks like for Herrmann.
He has never been the person who can sit idly by or delegate, so the notion that he’d stay attached to Pascal’s hip to run a cataclysm like this didn’t sit well.
Herrmann is always the boots-on-the-ground type of person. One of their squad was in a structurally unsound train car with a perpetrator, losing oxygen by the second.
Meanwhile, his best friend was searching for his wife. Herrmann couldn’t simply sit by and watch all of that unfold when the Chicago Fire crew is always about loyalty, family, and running headfirst into danger for the sake of it.
I wonder what this will mean as far as Herrmann’s attempts to climb up the ladder when, at his core, he’s too hands-on to want to be in Pascal’s position. It takes moments of crisis like this when that reality hits.
The Crossover Leans into Notable Qualities of Each Series
Every series has its own vibe, and something that forever stands out about Fire is the strong sense of family, loyalty, and bravery that oozes out of all its characters.
The event highlighted that well, as we saw Herrmann setting aside captaincy and putting himself first on the front line to save some of his own and support each other.
It’s something that was of note for Mouch, too, as he risked everything to get to Trudy, knowing that his fire family would have his back regardless. Even after Trudy’s harrowing fight for her life, she encouraged him to head right back out there to save Stella.
We expect this from this crew, and events like this put that into focus. Severide alone was willing to move heaven and earth, rubble, and metal to get to Stella, too.
We know how Severide is. Nothing ever deters him or gets in the way, and placing Stella in danger tests Severide to the max.
He’s relentless about people he cares about, and it was great to see his passionate side again directed at his wife. He was going nuts not being able to get to her in time and handled the situation worse than anyone else, especially Kim.
For Med, the crossover wanted to emphasize the notion that the characters at Gaffney tend to act as a moral center.
Ironically, Med deals with about as many moral and ethical quandaries as PD and with varying results.
However, the three-parter felt keen on centering the Med characters as the moral, ethical brood who keep their heads during times of crises while simultaneously ruling with compassion.
We especially saw this clashing with the rigid depiction of PD as the franchise’s resident hotheads, who run on impulse, high emotion, and the ends justifying the means.
Whether Ruzek’s high emotions clouded his judgment with Stella on the train, Voight threatened to drop a perp if he didn’t give them information, or he and Kim clashed with doctors, the crossover leaned heavily into Intelligence’s cowboy qualities.
PD and Med’s Ethical Conflict was Compelling But Limited
It resulted in a clash between characters like Lenox, Goodwin, Dr. Charles, and others against Voight and Burgess. There was something irksome about that.
It’s frustrating how Chicago Med plays fast and loose with her likability as a character when, based on a recent episode, it’s likely that she may be neurodivergent.
Her robotic delivery about patient care or why she couldn’t wake up Margaret to allow them to interrogate her went out of its way to make her seem callous and unfeeling and push the narrative of Intelligence playing fast and loose with rules.
Lenox and Goodwin were right, although it wouldn’t feel that way when characters you care about and others’ lives hang in the balance. It’s a realistic and compelling conflict to depict; however, there wasn’t enough time to flesh it out.
As frustrating as it was that they stood fast in honoring their oath, their goodwill in doing so also went out the window when Lenox still violated HIPAA to assist the investigation anyway because Burgess understandably made her feel guilty about the other lives being on her.
It also didn’t resonate as true to what I’ve come to expect from Lenox, but we’re at a turning point for the character that likely gets lost in this crossover.
Med’s attempt to further their storylines amid the crossover results in another hint at a neurodivergent revelation and newfound awareness of her effect on others. However, it may get lost in translation for those who don’t regularly tune into the series.
The situation with Charles and Frost and young Ellie was similar. Ellie wanted to see her mother, and sometimes, kids need a reality check about their parents.
I understood and related to Voight’s frustration over their attempt to shield this child when so much was at stake. But then, this is where the Gaffney portion of the franchise misses out on the stakes.
Chicago Med Suffered the Most from the Crossover
The crossover mainly highlighted Med’s newest characters. Violet had some weird smoke for Frost, but presumably, after all of this, she’s come to recognize he’s one of the best.
His compassion with Ellie was endearing. Unfortunately, the crossover reduced him to her babysitter.
But then, it was generally frustrating that they dragged on the “twist” of her relationship with the burn lady victim, who was also one of the “bad guys,” when it was obvious.
Lenox had the lion’s share of the Med portion as she faced off against Voight multiple times while simultaneously saving Trudy’s life and Ripley’s, whereas Archer stepping up as he did made more sense.
He was great in the field, and he fit in perfectly with some of the “old heads” running point on Fire. His medical and military expertise was suitable.
He was also the perfect person to devise things like Morse code to communicate with Stella and Ruzek and walk them through what felt like standard emergency procedures in One Chicago World.
Stella came through in a clutch by following his orders and saving the young boy twice, even though I still cringe at using all of these random bits found on the train with no sanitizer.
Was it a bit unrealistic? Sure. And there are some quibbles about that.
Jack really dislikes when doctors have to advise non-doctors over the phone about how to do procedures and/or they have to MacGyver it because they don’t have real medical instruments on hand.
Yet, he admits, Med does this ALL the time. But he found this one particularly annoying because he doubted that some random passenger’s knife was clean enough to be sanitary.
But sometimes, a girl is here for the high stakes and ridiculous drama. The crossover gave ’90s action popcorn thriller energy, which is my jam. Sue me.
Med struggled to establish relevancy, and they should’ve saved some moments for a regular episode.
We saw Goodwin returning to the hospital after her attack, which warranted bigger fanfare and more time to flesh out the experience, but it got buried in the crossover action.
They also casually hinted that Asher and Ripley had come from attending Sully’s funeral. After so much space that particular storyline sucked up, it was a bit underwhelming to toss in his funeral like that.
The Crossover Event Places Three of its Own in Peril, But Was it Redundant?
The crossover aimed for some high stakes, and they tried to throw down the gauntlet with this massive event that impacted so many characters.
It resulted in Stella and Ruzek being in danger, trapped in that train car with an unknown bad guy, as the air quickly ran out. However, we also had one of the franchise’s most beloved characters, Trudy Platt, fighting for her life.
Only one person’s fate felt like it could reasonably hang in the balance during all of this, and it was Trudy.
It never felt like Ruzek or Stella would ever face any real danger.
For the pair of them, it was another Wednesday where they faced grave dangers but would inevitably come out of it on the other side after being total badasses.
Jack thought the Trudy/Mouch story was really well done and emotional. However, he found the repeated beat of Severide, Burgess, and Mouch all being concerned about their loved ones’ survival to be unnecessary.
He knew Ruzek would be fine and didn’t know Fire well enough to know if there was a reason to be concerned about Kidd, but he was doubtful. For Jack, it felt redundant. He knew they needed high stakes, but Trudy was enough.
However, given that we’ve complained for multiple seasons about how underused and misused Trudy has been, she could have reasonably died during this event and shocked the masses.
I’m eternally grateful that isn’t the case. However, it was still concerning, as Ripley and Lenox had to get creative to save Trudy’s life.
Freezing her body so someone could stop the bleeding from her three gunshot wounds and then hope her heart restarted again was out there, and it’s no wonder Mouch was terrified and ready to lash out.
Trudy is the heart of PD, but she also has that type of connection to Fire, so if anyone could have been a casualty with impact across the franchise, it was her.
Alone, her situation worked at bringing the high stakes emotional fodder.
Whereas Stella and Ruzek mostly served as catnip for the shippers, as the event delivered on little moments that made fans of their romances squeal in delight.
Stellaride and Burzek Benefitted from the Crossover
Stella and Ruzek were the perfect pairing down on that train.
They were unexpected on paper, as I can’t say I recall them ever having much interaction before, but they had great chemistry, and the ripple effects of their entrapment worked.
We are typically used to Severide endangering himself and ending up in some hairy situations. The event went out of his way to acknowledge that when a concerned Stella advised him to be careful.
Meanwhile, Burgess notoriously takes a licking and keeps kicking on PD. Hell, she had her own train car mishap not too long ago.
Putting their spouses in harm’s way put the shoe on the other foot and tested these two strong couples who always overcome adversity well.
Of all the twists they tried to introduce into this event, Duffy’s role as the bad guy was one of the worst.
It was actually grating that they went front an awareness of three men on the car fitting the description to only side-eying the selfish guy with the knife and immediately assuming Ray was the person they found.
As a side note, Ray’s reaction to Ruzek’s mea culpa was hilarious, and I can’t even blame the man for still being pissed off.
It was obvious Duffy was the bad guy. He had curly hair, inserted himself into everything too easily, and was too helpful and eager to get out of there.
By the time we got to the Morse code bit, I was gritting my teeth, knowing that he was in direct control of their communication.
But thank goodness for Becca, who was a wealth of information and help, from assisting with her friend’s medical crisis to the electrical panel to recognizing that Duffy was shady.
Nevertheless, Ruzek and Stella were fantastic together as a pairing, and I genuinely enjoyed their sparks of partnership, respect, and friendship.
Ruzek was great at owning up to gatekeeping valuable information and taking over the comms, and once he did that, he viewed Stella as his partner in an unpredictable situation.
They were able to tend to everyone, keep things under control, and trust each other instincts.
Stella was great at calming Ruzek when some of his hotheaded qualities almost got the better of him, and the effects of the oxygen deprivation took hold.
One of the more endearing moments was when Ruzek passed along the message that Severide said Stella was right.
On the one hand, it sucked that we didn’t get a direct Stellaride scene, especially since a teary-faced Severide was beside himself the entire time she was beneath the ground.
However, Stellaride had a happy reunion and discussed their future trip to Cancun.
If anyone deserves a vacation, it’s those two, and for a while, it was becoming worrying that Stellaride spent more time apart from each other than together.
And Burzek had a great phone call with each other and even exchanged “I love yous,” and it was a truly special scene.
They were constantly communicating with each other as much as they could, and I loved watching Burgess wrestle with her fear and concern while also trying to keep a level head and solve the case.
We knew we were getting a big Burzek wedding this season, so the stakes weren’t high for this pairing, but the angst for those who adore that for their favorite ‘ships was there.
Their reunion when it was all said and done was a great scene.
The One Chicago Crossover Case is Eerily Timely
The case itself got needlessly convoluted throughout.
At some point, it clicked that the crossover event could have been wrapped up in half the time and didn’t need to stretch to a full three hours.
But while the case itself wasn’t all that compelling, it still was timely and resonant.
We’re in an era where people are more cognizant of the divide between the “haves” and “have nots. The division between big businesses and companies versus the people is at an all-time high.
The concept of vigilantism and the desire to do whatever it takes to make a point or buck up against a harmful system is ever-present around us with fascinating reactions, as the Mangione situation has shown.
Sadly, a bunch of poor and sick individuals who got screwed over plotting something this huge isn’t that alarming or implausible.
Margaret was a dying woman who was denied treatment. Baker was a 30-year veteran cop and still had to take on a security gig after healthcare denial.
Voight was right that she took an oath when she swore to serve and protect. It was her choice to take on the job, knowing its effects and the possible consequences.
However, you also sympathized with these people, especially when we saw the lack of basic empathy from the man who only wanted the crypto drive.
Thousands of people’s pensions toyed around with like Monopoly money is disturbing. All the people who died because of coverage denial — it’s vile.
It’s also how the country works, so it was fascinating to see the catastrophic damage and destruction that resulted in the end and how the blame extends in this complicated web.
Baker shooting Trudy was a special type of horrific.
She willingly almost killed a woman just like herself, possibly even damned her to the same system Baker had a beef with in the first place.
She certainly damned the poor, young security guy whose legs are amputated now to it. Then, when it was all said and done after all the lives lost and people in jeopardy, she wanted to take the cowardly way out instead of owning up to her actions.
The city is safe thanks to One Chicago’s finest, but we all know the quiet is only temporary.
Over to you, Chicago Fanatics.
What did you think of the first big crossover in years?
Was it too action-oriented for you? Did you wish there was more or less of something? Sound off!