.
- Meet your new paramedic field chief.
- You broke protocol. The only question now
is, does this warrant suspension,
or termination?
- That pilot program I was telling you about?
They call it paramedicine.
I have a project that I want to present to the brass.
- You're gonna have to go through your chief.
- You mean Paramedic Chief Hawkins?
- Cruz!
Cruz, where are you? - [panting]
- I need to know if you're okay.
- I'm good, Lieutenant, 100%.
- Good to hear.
- Night shift at 51.
- Tougher than I thought it'd be to pack it up.
- That's Andy Darden, a good friend of mine.
- He was my dad.
- Griffin?
- Good morning!
- Shh!
- [whispering] That two-hour Oregon-to-Chicago jet lag
is serious business.
- I'm having flashbacks to Annual
when we were at the Academy.
Guy didn't leave my couch for a year.
- He said he just wanted a break from home.
Told him to stay as long as he needs.
- Wish Ben and Heather could have made it.
Would have been good to see them.
- Do we need to tell him we're heading out?
- He said he'd come by 51 later.
Let him sleep.
- Let's go. - Okay.
Here.
[soft music]
♪
- We run drills like a house,
not companies.
That means, Engine, you're gonna be racing the aerial.
Truck, you're gonna run holes lead outs.
Look, as deputy district chief, I want the houses that
I oversee to be filled with firefighters,
not specialists.
We make that happen, the fourth district
will be the best in Chicago,
and I intend it to be.
Okay,
we will start with ladder raises.
I want 38-footers up in 50 seconds or less.
[soft electronic music]
♪
- Both lieutenants
showing no signs of fatigue.
It's the age-old showdown, Truck versus Engine.
- Good form! - Look at that old man!
- Good form! - Come on, you wanna get at me?
- Come on! - Whoo-whoo!
- How long they been going?
- Almost five minutes.
- You got this, Lieutenant!
- Yeah, I know I do.
- He was talking to me!
- Hey, Lieutenant, I've been--I've been thinking
about that balcony collapse.
If I wasn't able to get that guy's foot out
with the pry axe, what would you have done next?
- Probably the hydra-ram,
or an airbag through the second-floor window.
- Hmm. - Oh, hold on.
- Do I see shaky elbows?
- No.
- No, not from here. - No, no, no.
- You do this kind of thing a lot?
Post-gaming calls, trying to figure out
alternative solutions?
- Doesn't everybody?
- Hey, you're decide you want to try out for Squad,
come talk to me.
- Yeah. - All right! All right!
Take a seat.
- Never say quit.
Damn, come on!
- Yes. [cheering]
- Come on!
Listen, hey,
if you're going to be...
if you're going to be filling in for Chief,
you can't be playing favorites!
- I'm just making the announcements.
All right. [alarm sounds]
- Squad 3, person trapped.
Douglass Park. 2813 West.
- Go get 'em.
[dramatic music]
♪
- What's the problem? - Over here.
She was chasing a loose ball and then just fell in.
- Back up, ladies.
[woman hyperventilating]
- Help, help, I can't hold on!
- Hang on! We're coming to get you!
- Hurry, hurry!
- All right, Capp, Tony, get me two roof ladders
and a rope bag!
Cool to go down there? - Hell yeah, I am.
♪
- [hyperventilating]
♪
- What's your name?
- Grace! Grace!
- Hang in there, Grace. We're almost there.
♪
[suit respirating]
- Okay, invert him.
♪
Take him down.
- [gasping]
♪
Please hurry!
- [grunting]
[heavy breathing]
- Cruz, what's wrong?
- [groaning, gasping]
- Help, help.
- [groaning, grasping]
♪
.
- [gasping]
- All right, get him out of there.
- [shouting]
- Come on.
- [moaning]
- Help me, please!
Please...
[dramatic music]
♪
- What happened? Where's Grace?
♪
- Go!
♪
- Please, help me.
- Yeah, faster!
Speed it up!
- I can't hold on. I can't hold on.
- Yes, you can! - No. No.
♪
- Hang on!
- [hyperventilating]
- Grab my hand!
- Please.
♪
- I got you!
Pull us up!
- Thank you. Thank you.
- Bring him up!
- Hang on.
♪
- Okay.
♪
- Yes, yes!
[music relaxes]
♪
- Thank you. Thank you so much.
- Hey, you did great. - Thank you.
- Hey, Lieutenant.
I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened.
I just...I got a leg cramp, and--
- Hey guys, let's get the plywood and cones out.
We don't need anyone else falling in.
♪
- [laughs] But it was
when Andy was quiet that I start getting worried.
I would be looking over my shoulder all shift,
paranoid.
Once, I made it through
until I got to my car,
and your dad had jacked up the axle in my truck
with cribbing so that the rear tires
would only spin when I tried to leave.
I was out there cursing my transmission
for 20 minutes until I figured it out.
- And he was the only one
brave enough to prank the chief.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, we had an a laugh or two.
I still made him wash every window
in this damn house.
[laughter]
He was definitely one of a kind.
Look, it's that time. I gotta get back to 90.
- How are they treating you over there, boss?
- Coffee is a little something to be desired.
Hey,
definitely tell you mom I said hello.
Ben too.
- I will.
- Okay. And if you can,
keep this crew out of trouble.
[laughter]
- All right, Chief. - Okay, see you later.
- Cruz.
I'm relieving you.
- Lieut--
- Don't argue with me.
I asked you a direct question
last shift, and you lied to my face.
You tried to do it again back at the scene.
I've only got a four-man team, Cruz.
Everybody's got to be on their game, and you aren't.
[melancholy music]
♪
- Hey, Cruz, you got a sec?
- Not really.
- I just wanted to ask you a quick question.
I know that you came up on, you know, truck 81.
I mean, obviously,
but what was it like transitioning to Squad?
I know it's more training, higher expectations, all that.
So I guess I'm asking, how did you know
you were up for the challenge?
- Are you trying to be funny?
- Uh, no, Severide said
I should think about going for Squad,
so I wanted to, you know, pick your brain.
- That's great, but do me a favor, Gallo.
Wait 'till my body's cold.
♪
.
- What about a morning?
Really?
Not a single open slot. Okay.
The thing is, Charlotte,
Chief Hawkins specifically told me
to get this meeting with him on the books, so...
Yes, and he said that it was urgent
and that you can make it happen.
He speaks highly of you, by the way.
Thursday works. Yes.
Thank you.
- Chief Hawkins.
The guy who almost suspended you.
- Yes. - Hmm.
Just out of curiosity, is this the first time
that you've ever lied? Because you are
seriously sweating right now.
- Maybe.
- You. You told me
you'd be out here to help me 20 minutes ago.
- Why are you sweating?
- Well, I had to--I had to fudge my way
into an appointment with the chief to present
my paramedicine idea,
and now I really got to nail it.
- You want a practice audience?
- Seriously?
- Hell yeah. Give us the pitch.
- I'm gonna go get my binder.
- Come on, girl.
- I'm gonna say it.
The session ale was better than the IPA.
- Mm-hmm. - The stout was damn good.
- Oh, I was feeling that too.
- I will keep tinkering with the IPA.
- We should call it Bluthund or something,
make it sound German.
- What's this now?
- We have started our very own micro-brewery.
- And you didn't consult me?
The guy with the best bar in Chicago, the kingmaker, huh?
- You'll sell our beer?
- I will taste your beer.
If I'm impressed, we could talk
about a mutually beneficial arrangement.
- It's really cool being back here in Dad's firehouse,
hearin' all the stories about him.
- There's a million more where they came from.
Your dad was something else.
- Yeah.
- Come on,
I'll buy you breakfast.
- Part of the reason I came to Chicago...
There's one more story I want to hear.
I was hoping you could tell me how it happened.
- How...
- How my dad died.
The thing is, I was only six when it happened.
Nobody told me anything, just that he was a hero.
- He was. - Yeah, I know.
But it still feels like a mystery to me,
like a secret that's been kept from me
my whole life, you know?
- There are no secrets,
just a terrible fire
that took away your dad, and my best friend.
But if you sure you want to hear how it happened,
I'll tell you.
- I'm sure.
- Okay.
Let's go for a ride.
[warm music]
♪
- So when I said I hoped we would meet again soon,
your next move was to bluff your way into my office.
- I'm really sorry about that.
I just--I deeply, deeply believe in this program.
- I can tell.
Your passion is evident.
Unfortunately, now is just not the right moment.
- Oh.
- You're right, shortening response times is a priority,
but I'm still getting my footing here,
and we're fighting with the city
over money for basic operations.
- Yeah, but this program would cut costs.
- Bring it to me again next year.
The landscape might be different.
- But Chicago needs this now.
- My answer is no.
I'm sorry.
- Thanks for your time.
Nice balance between the caramel sweetness
and bitterness of the hop.
Body is full, texture is...
smooth.
- Damn.
- You have a fine stout.
- Oh!
- We have a session ale, too.
- And we're still tweaking an IPA.
- Now, how's your scalability?
[quiet hopeful music]
- We--we're brewing in my kitchen.
- If you're going to enter the big leagues,
you're going to have to be able to satisfy demand.
- That's what I've been saying. - Yeah.
♪
- [grunts]
- This is Charles DeWitt.
- Brewmaster.
- He took Bear Moon IPA from his two-car garage
to taps all over the Midwest.
- I love Bear Moon.
- He owes me.
I will arrange a meeting.
- [claps table]
♪
- This is it.
- Wow.
- Fire started in the basement.
Bad water heater, apparently.
It was cooking when we rolled up.
There was a woman out here, worried about her brother.
Said he lived in the attic and he hadn't come down yet.
That's all your dad needed to hear.
He was first up the aerial ladder
while Squad went in through the back.
- I'll get him!
- But...
there was a...
misunderstanding.
Squad went right into a primary search
without opening a vent,
and I didn't know that
until I sent Andy through that window.
[window shatters]
Fire moves fast.
It's on a constant hunt for oxygen.
So with that rear door open, the fire raced up the stairs.
- Get down!
- Darden! - [yells]
- [sighs]
- It was over very fast.
- What about the brother?
He make it?
What?
What's wrong? [sniffles]
- That is exactly
what your dad would have wanted to know.
[melancholy music]
♪
The brother wasn't home after all.
And that's what makes your dad such a hero.
He didn't need to know there was someone in trouble.
He only needed to know there's a chance there was.
♪
- [sobbing] - I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry, Griffin.
- I miss him every day.
- Yeah.
Me too.
♪
.
- Wow. [phone dings]
Gallo says to go on without him.
Unprofessional.
Well, you know, he's got...
Uh, hey, we are supposed to meet
with the brewmaster, Charles Dewitt?
- [snorts] It's Dew-itt.
Ah! Right.
What's--what's-his-name...
just wanted me to talk with me
with--yeah.
You're brewing beer!
- Uh... - Um, yes,
we are opening our own microbrewery.
Okay.
Mr. Dewitt.
We were hoping you could...
[hums disapprovingly]
Well, that went great.
What did?
Mr. Dewitt was impressed.
He asked if you would like some brewery space
to expand your capacity.
- He said that?
Just now?
- Yeah.
- Can I ask you something?
How did he, you know, become...
- Oh, his dad's a billionaire.
- Ah. - That explains it.
[nervous laughter]
If you'll come with me...
♪
- You getting stood up?
- You think I bring my dates to Molly's?
- Where else are you gonna take her?
- No other bar's gonna let you run up a tab.
- Supposed to meet Cruz here. You haven't seen him, have you?
- Nope.
What pressing business you get with Cruz?
I told him I wanted to buy him a beer.
I really stepped in it earlier.
- Yeah, how so?
I started hitting him with questions about going out
for Rescue Squad two minutes after Severide sent him home.
- That was stupid.
- Well, I didn't know.
- Yeah.
Squad, huh?
- What?
You don't think I could cut it?
- No, maybe.
You sure got the ego for it.
- Listen, if you're serious about it,
Cruz is the guy to talk to.
It's just, it sounds like he's working
through some stuff right now.
Yeah.
- Now is not the right moment?
Next year the landscape might be different?
Are those sentences a normal person would say?
- He's making a mistake.
It's a great idea. - I know it is.
Maybe there's some way I can do this privately.
I'm gonna look into that. - Good.
- Okay, that's not where I was standing.
- I know it wasn't. You were up here. See?
This is exactly where you were standing.
- He was--he was a little farther back.
- What are you, the mini-hoops police?
- Wow.
- Griffin's a great kid.
- Yeah, he is.
- All right, next.
- You ready, Sylvie?
- Oh, way ready. You don't scare me.
- Play with her. No, go ahead.
- I don't scare you?
- Hey, it's all yours. - Come on, bring it.
Let's do it.
- Good game, babe. - I try.
- [laughs]
- Hey, have you checked on Cruz?
- No.
- Ah, tight spaces seem to really be setting off
his panic switch, huh?
- Did he say what's giving him trouble?
- I wasn't in the mood to talk.
He lied to me, and he put a victim in jeopardy.
- Maybe he thought he was getting better.
- I did the same thing last year.
Kept my head injuries secret longer than I should have.
Ugh.
I just wanted to be on shift, ignore the rest of it.
That didn't work.
- Well, you got by.
- I had Sylvie.
She was with me every step of the way.
Only reason I stayed sane.
[pensive music]
♪
- Maybe you should talk to him.
- He's already talking to a CFD counselor.
I made sure of that.
- Good.
You're his lieutenant.
It wasn't the injury that almost got me.
It was trying to get through it alone.
♪
- Oh, hey. Um...
how'd it go with Hawkins?
- He passed.
- No. - Yep.
- Oh, partner. I'm so sorry.
[alarm sounds]
- Ambo 61, person down.
818 East Ames Street.
[dramatic music]
[engine turns over]
[siren wailing]
♪
- I really thought headquarters might be open
to fresh ideas now they've got some new blood.
- Hawkins is hardly new blood.
I heard his father had the job years ago.
- Main to ambo 61. What's your ETA?
- 61 here. We're en route.
We're four minutes out.
- Be advised, the previous company
was delayed.
♪
- Copy.
- How long you think they've been waiting?
♪
[siren wailing]
♪
- Come on, hurry up!
What took you so damn long?
- Give us some room.
♪
His breathing's agonal. Let's get him hooked up.
- Okay.
♪
- He's lost a lot of blood.
♪
[heart monitor beeping]
- He's crashing. - Right.
I'm gonna intubate.
♪
[siren wailing]
- I tried, man.
Stayed as long as I could.
- Hey, hey!
- Uh-uh. There's no time.
♪
- I'm in.
[heart monitor flatlines]
- Breathing stopped. He's asystole.
- All right, get an IV. I'll start compressions.
- Okay.
♪
- Okay.
♪
Anything?
♪
[cell phone buzzing]
♪
- [sighs]
♪
.
- Hey, Captain, you looking for me?
- Ah. Close the door.
So...
apparently, you've been talking to everybody in this house
about gunning for Squad except me.
- Captain, I wasn't trying to go behind your back--
- Duh-duh-duh.
I think it's a great idea.
I knew the first time I saw you in action
that you had Squad potential,
and Severide would see it too.
If you want to start studying for it,
taking classes, you've got my full support.
- Wow.
I--thank you.
But I want to stay on 81, if that's okay.
- You aren't interested in Squad?
- No, I--I am.
Might be cool to end up there,
eventually.
But, Captain, I still have a lot to learn from you.
I'm not going anywhere.
- Okay,
well, good.
As you were.
Hey.
[melancholy music]
♪
- So Dewitt's offering us
our own brewing area with a malt well,
fermenting vessel, a kettle, steam boiler.
- Wait, I don't understand.
- What are we giving up? - A tenth.
- Of our company?
- Of our product.
- Uh, he--he likes to...
- He's a drunk. - He's gonna drink it.
- Whoa.
- Are we sure this is a good idea?
- Gallo, we need money flowing in the right direction,
and the only way to do that is to scale up.
- I don't know.
- Can we meet over at your house tonight
and discuss it?
I can't tell you how much I need this distraction.
- Rough call?
- Just trying to put it
in the rearview mirror. You know.
- Yeah, for sure, let's do it.
My place at 8:00?
- Great.
[metal clang]
- Did you just hear that loud bang?
- Yeah, that was me slamming my locker.
Oh, come on!
- Whoa, hey.
- It's broken.
Just the bag, CFD, all of it.
- Let me try.
They said no to paramedicine?
- If Hawkins was on any of these calls,
and saw kids die who might still be alive
if we'd gotten there five minutes sooner...
- That's the new paramedic chief, Hawkins?
- Yeah,
and he's--he's real concerned
about delayed response times.
Just not enough to actually do anything.
- Guys get that white shirt,
they can forget what it's like on the ground.
- I've looked into going private,
and it's a long road.
It's way more complicated.
[quiet music]
♪
I'm not going to give up.
♪
Thank you.
- Anytime.
♪
- Lieutenant.
- Meet me at the Fire Academy tomorrow at 4:00.
- Yeah, yeah, of course.
Tomorrow at 4:00.
- And check into your flight 24 hours before takeoff.
Don't want to get stuck in the middle seat again.
- No way.
I don't want to leave.
- Come back whenever you want.
- It's been so great.
Stella is really cool.
So is Sylvie.
- Yeah. I think so too.
- Severide's a lot funnier than I remember.
- [chuckles]
All right. If you say so.
- You guys have been so nice to me.
- You're family, Griffin.
Always will be.
Hey, you okay?
What is it?
Talk to me.
[quiet dramatic music]
♪
- Everything's a mess, Matt.
- What do you mean? What is?
- My mom's back in jail.
- What?
- Another DUI.
She keeps dragging us from town to town for a fresh start.
Then she starts drinking again.
And this time, she's going away for a while.
And Ben is spinning out, like, off the rails.
And I thought that if I could just get
out of there for five minutes and come see you,
then maybe I can figure things out.
That time we lived with you--
that was the last time we ever felt normal,
like we were standing on solid ground,
and it's been going to hell ever since.
And now...
[scoffs] I don't know what to do.
♪
.
- Her fourth DUI?
- I guess she never recovered from Andy.
Just bounces from one bad relationship to another,
dragging those poor kids all over the country.
I think that's why Griffin wanted to hear
how his dad died.
It's ground zero, when their lives started falling apart.
- So Heather's off to jail, and she didn't make
any arrangements for the boys.
- Well, there's an aunt looking after them,
but it seems like she's in over her head.
- Yep. Ben's a real handful.
Shows up to school maybe half the time,
stays out till four in the morning.
Griffin's trying to help, but it's a lot to deal with.
I need to...
I don't know.
- He'll want to see me. I'm telling you.
- I'm not falling for that one again.
- Charlotte, can you...
- McHolland.
- Hey, hey, hey!
- Come on in. - All right.
Okay.
Something's different.
- The orange carpet from when my dad was in here
was put to rest.
Well, congratulations on your promotion, Evan.
- Thanks.
How have you been? I haven't seen you in years.
- Things are good. But I'll get right to it.
Sylvie Brett.
I think you should reconsider her paramedicine plan.
- That's right.
You two work at 51 together.
- We do, and I know HQ is gun-shy, but--
- Like I told her,
maybe we can look at this down the line.
But you know how this bureaucracy stuff is.
After I focus on the issues I was hired to deal with,
then I can bring in a program like Brett's.
- With respect, Chief, that's a cop-out.
Your dad used to say
his first and only responsibility
was to the citizens of Chicago.
- Yeah.
He told me that a couple times.
- So what's all this garbage about timing and politics?
If you don't think Brett's program has legs,
fine.
But your dad would have pounced on this idea
and dealt with the fallout later.
- "Nice balance between the sweetness
and the bitterness of the hops."
- Was that Herrmann? - Mm-hmm.
[laughter] - That's terrible!
- Oh. Oh God.
Okay, okay, okay. Look, look, look.
We gotta get serious and get to work.
We don't have a business plan or billionaire parents,
and we keep drinking the inventory.
I'm not kidding around.
This can't be our future.
We do this right.
Or we don't do this as small.
- [laughs]
Did you just say "as small"?
[laughter]
- Yes.
[laughter]
[stopwatch beeps]
- Better.
- I'm out again.
- You counting your breaths? - Yeah.
Four-second intervals.
- How's it feel?
- Like stepping into your favorite pair of Air Jordans.
[resolute music]
♪
- All right, good. Break's over.
♪
[stopwatch beeps]
♪
Go!
♪
- It still says he's three minutes away.
- Traffic shouldn't be bad at this hour.
You got plenty of time.
- Thanks again, Matt.
For the couch to crash on, and...
you know, listening.
- I want to come see you and Ben.
Would that be okay?
- That would be awesome. When?
- Soon.
I just have to get my furlough approved
and deal with a couple of loose ends.
- Okay.
I know I made things sound really bad,
but you don't have to worry about us.
You've got a lot going on here, so...
- Griffin, I'm coming to see you guys.
- I know.
- Griffin.
I ever lied to you?
Have I ever shined you on?
I'm coming to see you, not someday.
My very first flight I can book.
I'm not turning my back on you guys.
That's a promise.
[solemn music]
♪
- Hey.
♪
[wolf howls]