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!
Chicago Fire gave us Stellaride as a team in every sense. What did you think about the two of them? Violet and Gallo put their issues behind them, or so it seems. Do you trust that Gallo will not be a problem for Violet and Hawkami anymore?
Raquel: Stellaride!!!!! Pure love. It isn’t easy to work together and share life outside of work but they just make it look easy because there is no difference, they support each other at work and outside of it, and they choose each other at work and outside of it.
Both feel mutual respect and admiration for each other, for what they’re capable of doing, for what they have achieved, and for what they will achieve. So the two of them are side by side, holding hands. Together. To face whatever comes.
Chicago Fire is writing a decalogue of how to show a couple on tv and I’m happy about it. Now, we just need to see their wedding, just saying (wink, wink).
As for Gallo/Hawkami, I can trust Gallo to stay away for the time being though I don’t think that will last long because, clearly, there’re still feelings there on his part and that will inevitably come out again but I trust that he’s going to leave Hawkami alone for a while. And I’m excited to see how far Hawkami goes during that time.
Lizzie: This wasn’t really a ship episode of Fire, either, and again, it didn’t need to — it was a great episode nonetheless. It was an episode about family, and what that means. And though Cruz asked the ONE question we’ve all been asking, we sadly didn’t get an answer. Because …we need that Stellaride wedding.
And let me be clear, we don’t even need it to be a big, white puffy dress kinda thing (though give me Stella in white, please), we just want it to be a moment for the two of them, to celebrate their love. They deserve that, and we, the fans, deserve that. We have come a long, long way since Kelly promised to become the man Stella deserved.
As for Gallo, look, I would love for this to be the end, but …it’s a TV show, so I guess it’s something that might (and probably will) come back. For now, though, I’ll take it and smile. We can focus on Stellaride to close out the season, let Hawkami have some peace, come back next season with Jimmy Nicholas as a series regular (please), and then that’s just another ballgame, isn’t it?
Lyra: I’m in the mood for trouble. And because of that…I know that Gallo is going to become a problem like that stubborn chin hair that keeps coming back with a vengeance even though you’re sworn enemies with a blood oath to destroy the other. Not saying that’s happening on this show and…what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, ships. Do it. Bring it. Give me the stuff because it’ll just make my ships stronger. That is if the drama is done in moderation. You hear that? Moderation!
This Chicago P.D. wasn’t exactly focused on ships and there weren’t any big moments for either of them but we still had crumbs…and a lot of Jay Halstead, which we love. Did you enjoy that? Were you expecting more Upstead moments?
Raquel: I always need and want more Upstead (and Burzek) moments! However, this is Chicago PD and we know it’s not a show where balance is a thing so I was pretty much expecting what we had, although if there had been more Upstead moments I wouldn’t have complained at all (wink, wink). Seriously, I LOVE watching them. How can I like them more every time I see them? It’s just the comfort of trust, of true love.
And, yes, of course, I enjoyed a Jay-centric episode. I always enjoy Jay Halstead growing up and the way he embraces the place he’s meant to be.
Lizzie: Look …Imma engage in blasphemy right now, and I know it. And so let me preface this blasphemy by saying that I will 100% take like, entire episodes of my ships being domestic. I would kill for an entire hour or Jay and Hailey, like, cooking breakfast. Tiny moments for forty minutes? Sign ME UP. That being said …not every episode is going to be like that, and not every episode should be, IMHO. This was a pretty great episode for Jay and for the future of this show.
Plus, we did get the “crumbs,” aka the normal interactions between married couples, the way Jay and Hailey are so very aware of each other, how they work so well as a unit sometimes they don’t need to speak, and oh yes, the whole teasing, which is on point.
But …Jay and Dante, that worked. It worked especially when it didn’t, when Jay’s preconceptions got in the way, when he still tried to give the benefit of the doubt even when, to him, it was hard. It worked because Dante was, in so many ways, pulling an early-PD Jay, keeping everything so close to the vest. And it worked because there was better leadership from Jay in one episode than we’ve seen from Voight in nine seasons. And that’s the kind of thing I could invest in going forward.
Shana: I don’t think everything needs to always be focused on the ship for you to still get meaningful interactions. Maybe that’s just because I’ve suffered the slowest of slow burns and subsisted on crumbs of crumbs for so long, I don’t know what’s good for me…But I feel like there was plenty of Upstead, and the right amount of them, for what the episode set out to do.
You can support the person you love, maybe tease them a little bit, while they’re doing something that’s important professionally. Those ship moments are just as important as the Big ones because they’re the kinds of things, with the right chemistry, that got us shipping in the first place.
Watching Jay play mentor to Torres was really the highlight and the interesting part of this week’s Chicago P.D. That’s the type of thing that builds a character and shows the growth we’ve already had, and these kinds of non-romantic relationships are just as important as the ones we pine over. There’s a lot to be said for the way the episode framed Jay’s doubts and Dante calling him out on them…But overall, we saw someone who is ready to step up and become a leader—a much, much better one than what we’ve seen so far.
So, let’s just go ahead and keep shipping Voison, and that way, when that ship sails, Jay can take over and make Intelligence far better than ever—with giving guys like Torres a chance while not letting sketchy shit fly.
At Chicago Med, Hannah starts to become more prominent. Do you see a future where she and Will are a thing? What are your feelings about Dylan’s new relationship? And — how much did you miss Dr. Blake?
Raquel: I can’t see Hannah and Will together, they don’t fit or complement each other, they’re…too much alike. The first time they were together was a mess and I don’t think putting them back together is going to be any better. They make many decisions based on their hearts, without a voice to reason-giving them another perspective or showing them that this is not the way.
They both need that voice of reason and, right now, they can’t be that for each other. So it’s better if they’re just friends. Can they get to that point? I don’t rule it out, but the show will have to work very hard.
Dylan’s new relationship is a meh for me. Honestly, the thing with Chicago Med is that I invested way too much in Hamstead and now my ship is gone, so it’s hard for me to watch the show right now without rolling my eyes, let alone in the mood to invest in a new ship. It’s not the same anymore. Surely, I will stop feeling this way in a while but not now. So I don’t find this relationship interesting or something to invest in at the moment.
I missed Blake! She’s one of the best things on the show right now and I needed her on this week’s episode, maybe she’d put some common sense into everyone’s brains.
Lizzie: I’m going to start with Dylan just so I can say that, at this point, I’d take Carmen. That’s it. He needs better romantic storylines than he’s gotten this season, I said what I said.
And yes, I missed Dr. Blake. She’s my light in the middle of the darkness right about now, and any time Sarah Rafferty is on screen I’m happy. That’s just the way it is. I understand she’s not a series regular, so she won’t be around every episode, but my question is …why is she not a series regular? Give the woman whatever she needs.
Then, Hannah. I …did not love Hannah before. I have mostly enjoyed Hannah in her return, though. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a looong way to go there, and it absolutely doesn’t mean I want to see her with Will. The problem with her storyline the first time is that it never felt like it was about her, and the show has a chance to make that better. And that doesn’t involve Will. Can you imagine the two of them actually being together considering how they acted in this episode? Who’s gonna offer common sense?
Shana: Ok, so…I did not car about Hannah the first time she was on Chicago Med, like, at all. In the first place, Will was in his stupidest era—which is saying something—and she was part of that. And second, I am truly not on board with stories having to deal with addiction that are done more as a device for something else than on their own. It’s a serious illness, people really struggle, and addicts aren’t here for your shock value, your superficial nonsense that fundamentally misunderstands the point, or…just…a dumb man’s rebound.
With that being said.
Since Hannah has been back these past two episodes, I’ve adored the way she’s stood up for her patients’ wishes and body autonomy. She seems to be doing well in her recovery, and that’s something we desperately need to see on TV. Setbacks are, realistically, to be expected…But I don’t want them having anything to do with Will.
I think both characters are way better when they’re not together in that way, especially considering the “swap out blondes” aspect of Stevie’s disappearance and Hannah’s reappearance. So…I mean, a future is always possible, I guess? Especially on a show that loves to dive into the soapy? But I’d need a lot of work, growth, and change for that to exist.
Dylan’s new relationship bores me to tears. I can’t find it in myself to even have thoughts on it because I generally zone out, or tweet, or whatever during this completely undeserving storyline.
I missed Dr. Blake the way a drowning fangirl misses air. Sarah Rafferty brings far more to the table than this show seems to want to realize. She’s the reason I decided to watch it—from the beginning so I understood it all!—and she’s the reason I keep coming back, even when certain things (see also: WTF, with the women being interchangeable) piss me off.
We’ve learned so much about this character in so little time, which is 100% down to the performance quality of Rafferty, and now…We had to go a week without her? Why. If we don’t see more of her again soon, I’m calling my favorite hot corporate lawyer with mommy issues to sue.
One Chicago airs Wednesdays on NBC.
