There’s a lot we love about One Chicago shows beyond ships but, let’s face it, we can’t live without ships! And couples are important to the emotional development of the characters in Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Chicago Med, so we’re going to analyze the progress of our beloved ships each week in a roundtable.
All our feels about these ships will be summarized here and we’re only going to dedicate ourselves to them for, you know, reasons … but you can check our full reviews if you want much more. And now, let’s take a look at the love lives of our favorite firefighters, cops and doctors!
Here we go!
The Chicago Fire episode is the first episode without Matt Casey and we miss him already, but do you think this show is still investing in Brettsey? Do you think they’ll hold out until Matt gets back? Do you have faith in them and in this show? How much do you miss Matt and Stella and why is the answer “to infinity and beyond?” How has it felt to watch the show and Brettsey without half of the couple?
Raquel: Of course this show is investing in Brettsey! That is, it’s so easy to start to stop investing in them … for example, putting a call between them off camera, taking them out of focus but no, they did the opposite. We hear an “I love you.” And that is tremendously important because they’re still together even though we can’t physically see them together and the show is screaming at us that they’re far from finished.
Yeah, I think the plan is to keep this going until Matt Casey gets back on the show. I think the plan with Brettsey is to show the difficulties of a long distance relationship but the way they stick together despite the difficulties. I have faith in them, I always have it and also in the show.
Look, I never liked this show. And I started to like it, I started to watch it and to really go crazy for this show and not being able to miss an episode thanks to Brettsey in season 9. If Fire got me hooked on season 9 with this couple, damn, they have all my faith.
Probably “to infinity and beyond” is the biggest understatement of the century when it comes to how much I miss Stella and Matt. As Lizzie commented, I didn’t like that “thing” with Severide and another woman, either. Protect Stellaride at all costs, please and thank you!
The show felt a bit strange without Matt, somehow itself but somehow something totally different. As empty but… but having everything I love the most about the show right under my nose. It’s a strange sensation that we will have to get used to for a while.
Lizzie: How can anyone doubt the show is still betting on Brettsey when they literally recorded Jesse Spencer as Matt Casey telling Sylvie Brett he loves her so that could be the thing we heard in the first episode after he was gone? As I said in my review, this is just …unequivocal. If the show wanted to jedi mind trick us into forgetting Brettsey, they’d just be ignoring the elephant in the room. Instead, they’re choosing the harder path storytelling wise, that of keeping Brettsey’s relationship alive, of showing us Sylvie’s side of the story as she faces the challenges a long-distance relationship means. And they’re choosing to focus on her, on her friends, on what she is and what she can do …until the time comes where they can focus on the romance again.
So, I have faith. There are no certainties in life, but the last two episodes make it clear this show has every intention of keeping Brettsey together, and hopefully, bringing them back to our screens as a couple.
As an aside, because this wasn’t really the question, I need Stella back ASAP. I love her and I miss her and she’s my favorite, and also why is Wendy Seager inviting Severide out for drinks and why isn’t Severide telling her he’s engaged? No, I know the answer to the second is because he’s a man and he doesn’t think, and the answer to the first can just be because she’s friendly, but I’m very protective of Stella, and that means I’m protective of her relationship with Severide, okay? No one does anything to hurt Stella around here, or I fight.
Lyra: First of all, we are side-eyeing Wendy real hard. Girl, no. What are you doing? You are crossing the line and you know it. Tisk tisk. This is how you end up losing respect for a character and hopefully she pulls it all back and it never happens again. Because frankly, this is not what we want to see from the women on this show. Same thing goes for the men in Sylvie’s life, especially those that know that she’s in a committed relationship. No playing with anyone’s hearts and changing how we feel about other characters because there’s a need for drama and stuff.
Chicago PD focused on Adam and that finally created legitimate leads for Burzek. Be honest here, how many buckets did you need for drool over seeing these three being a family? Do you think this family dynamic is a prediction for the future for Burzek? Do you think it’s a message that tells us that Adam will always choose them and he will make them proud above everything and everyone? Did you need to see anything from Upstead, even if it was something like last week’s crumbs?
Raquel: I think I counted like about 4 cubes! I mean, they’re suuuuuper cute and I love them. Yeah, this is a sample of the future. I’ve been saying it since last year: this is the year, the season, for Burzek. There has come a point in the show that they couldn’t play anymore. They ended up with them forever or they started to bring them closer together and they decided to get closer, they decided to invest and bet on Burzek as a bet for the future.
Of course, having been separated for so long and both being on a different page of the book, investing in them it’s about them being on the same page, that they trust that the other is ready and on the same page and that takes time but we are already getting to that. I mean, it was very easy to get rid of this relationship, throwing it into oblivion, but they have not done that, they have given them a daughter to take care of. And that’s for a reason.
Adam always chose Voight because he was a bit of a father figure, an authority figure to him. His father is a policeman but he is not like Voight, his father is that type of policeman who doesn’t invest too much in work, who doesn’t care but Voight … Adam always felt that he cared about work and people. Yes, he had unorthodox methods but he did it because he cared and Adam always supported him. Because he cared too.
But now… there’s no way in hell Adam would pick Voight over Kim and their daughter. Never. Ever. This episode made it clear that they are his priority, because family always is. And if Adam feels them as his family, he is going to put them first even though a part of his heart breaks for having to choose between Voight and them, even though a part of him understands Voight, Adam is never going to allow him to harm Kim or their daughter in any way.
Kim never had this kind of loyalty to Voight so she always chose Adam above everything and everyone. Adam wasn’t ready to do it… until now. Why right now? Well, because, finally, they are on the same page of the book and from here on, Burzek can only grow… together.
I missed Upstead so much! We already know this show is out of balance and this episode was necessary for Adam and Burzek but I definitely needed an Upstead bone. Especially since they have us in suspense since that end that I’m hating more and more every week. We need to see them! Really see them. Although at least neither of them are sleeping in a hotel or the police station so that’s…a good sign? I hold on to that, but it is hardly a consolation.
Lizzie: I think this was a necessary episode for general build-up and also overdue for Adam’s character, and the show has clearly stuck to the whole balance what’s that of it all, so I’m not shocked there wasn’t much Upstead during it. And they are at least giving us more team scenes in episodes focused on a character, so I guess beggars can’t be choosers. But I adore Upstead, and I always want more of them, and when the episode isn’t focused on them, I hyperfixate on the little things, because that’s what fans do. And that’s especially what fans do WHEN THEY LEFT US HANGING after such a big moment, with nothing more than “we talked all night.”
But I have faith in Upstead. I’ve always had faith in Upstead. They’re still here, still together, and whatever the world, or Voight throws at them, I fully believe they’re going to face it together.
This episode, however, makes me hope that they won’t be alone. Maybe, maybe …if Hailey can confess to Kim, they can have Kim on their side. And if Kim is on their side …well, despite the fact that Adam always chooses Voight’s side, he’s not going to choose Voight over Kim. He’s not going to choose anything over his family. Not anymore. This episode made that pretty darn clear. Adam is a dad now. He is, even if the show hasn’t found the time to define the romantic aspect of the Burzek relationship, the truth is that they’re now an old married couple, and I mean this in the best way possible, with a kid.
And Kim was all in from the beginning. Adam is all in now. You don’t bring a kid into the picture, don’t commit to the relationship they have, and then just back down. This is it. This is the new Burzek standard. And I have to say, the new Burzek standard has me more invested than I’ve ever been.
Lyra: Usually episodes with general build-up bore me to deathhhhh. I understand that it’s necessary but I want the action, the drama, the meat of it all. This domestic nature of parts of this episode though…they made me stick around. Because honestly, who doesn’t like a fluff or domestic fluff tag over on AO3. I know I do. And now the more that I think about it maybe I don’t hate episodes like this, especially if they develop Burzek’s relationship into something with a strong foundation that can survive anything that comes their way.
At Chicago Med Will and Stevie feel like reflections of each other and this brings them closer together. Do you like that the show decided to do this? Do you love them together more now than before? Do you think they can help each other grow?
Raquel: Oh yeah, I love it!!!!!!!!!! I think it’s a perfect way to bring them together little by little. That is to say, right now they don’t see how their stories are parallel (I think they will realize it over time) and they are beginning to be in each other’s sphere, colleagues who collide a lot but who are in it to understand that maybe they do because they have many things in common. The show is trying to unite them, to make us take an interest in them individually and as a tandem and then take it further.
They got me. I feel like it’s the first time Med is really doing well from the second one with a ship. And yes, I definitely believe that when they realize that their stories are mirrored, that will help them grow because in some way they complement each other, and each one must learn a lesson that the other has already learned.
Lizzie: I don’t particularly love them together yet, is the thing. I think the show is clearly setting them up as mirrors of each other. I went on about that in my review, but I don’t think they realize this yet. The setup, so far, is just for the viewers. And that’s fine, it’s good that they’re getting us to invest before they even make them friends. Because they’re not even truly that yet. They’re just …two people who know each other, but who were always more antagonistic than anything, and who, perhaps, are ready to discover they have more in common than they realize. What the show is setting up is a friendship, and friendship has to be the foundation for …well, any relationship. So I’m happy about that.
Particularly because, whatever they are or aren’t or what they can help each other become, the thing the show is doing so well this season is allowing me to love them separately. And that’s more than Med has done in a while.
Lyra: Honestly? In my hearts heart, it’s a big ol’ shrug. I can see the beginnings of something there. But it isn’t enough for to want to invest…yet. Build up on the friendship and then we’ll circle back to see how I feel about it all.
Agree? Desagree? Don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments below!
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