‘Chicago Fire’ Recap: Kelly Severide Makes an Explosive Return to House 51

‘Chicago Fire’ Recap: Kelly Severide Makes an Explosive Return to House 51

‘Chicago Fire’ returned with an explosive Season 12 premiere that saw several cliffhangers resolved and new ones develop

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Amanda Bell

Taylor Kinney, Daniel Kyri and Jake Lockett on ‘Chicago Fire.’ Adrian S Burrows Sr/NBC

There was a lot of housekeeping to be done after the events of Chicago Fire’s dramatic Season 11 finale, and the Season 12 premiere episode — titled “Barely Gone” — kindly ties up all of those loose ends within the first five minutes.

First, what better way to make up for the unbearable absence of Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) than to kick off the new season with a steamy shower scene with Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo)? Looks like there was no love — er, at least, no lust — lost between these two while he was out investigating arson cases around the country. Ooh la la!

Even better news? Randall McHolland aka Mouch (Christian Stolte) is back safe and sound as well. After his very scary bleed-out in the hospital, it took just a few months of physical rehabilitation to get him ready to return to House 51 — which, by the way, is now crawling with House 17 refugees who are waiting out some kitchen fire-inspired renovations. What could go wrong with so many hotheads in one building?!

Meanwhile, Blake Gallo’s (Alberto Rosende) previously-announced departure is explained away in rapid succession: He’s moving to Detroit where’s got real-deal relatives and a new gig waiting. It’s a happy enough future that he can come back sometime down the road if the stars align, as they often do on this show.

Speaking of those Chicago Fire comeback kids, the biggest question mark at the end of last year’s finale was whether Sylvie Brett (Kara Kilmer) would accept Matt Casey’s (Jesse Spencer) proposal, and lo, her engagement ring getting caught on her locker answers that question right off the rip. Later, as Brett considers wedding dress options, she reveals that she and Matt are fast-tracking their nuptials — well, considering six months have passed since the proposal, it’s not too shotgun-y — and she and her baby are planning to move to Oregon to be together. (Hence, another expected cast exit is duly explained away.)

With all of our most burning questions tidily addressed at the outset, our favorite firefighters are free to do what they do best and put out some actual fires. Unfortunately for their first rescue subject, an exploded delivery truck has left its driver covered head to toe in very severe burns that they eventually succumb to. Purple smoke indicates this wasn’t just some hoverboard battery mishap, so it looks like our arson investigator extraordinaire came home just in the nick of time to get to the bottom of this mystery. As it turns out, House 17 had similarly-colored smoke coming off of its own devastating blaze, so Severide’s all ready to whip out his magnifying glass and look for clues… until Stella steps in to talk him down.

This is when we learn that their reunion hasn’t always been such a sexy one. Stella reminds him that in the hyper-extended off-season she had to drag him away from his hideaway in Alabama, and they’ve taken months to repair their relationship. Whoops. Kelly promises this time will be different and insists he just needs to solve this purple smokemonster case to save lives, so she gives him her very reluctant approval.

Detective “Firecop” starts by lining up enough chemicals to rival Walter White’s RV lab and combining magnet powder with glycerol to make a barrel go boom. That’s enough to convince him there’s a murderous chemist on the loose. (Cue the dun-dun-dun…) He meets up with his old cohorts at OFI and rifles through the delivery truck crispies to find a piece of a rat trap and a battery, which means this is a bona fide bomber, and he’s coming after firefighters.

A second review of the explosion scene reveals that the delivery truck was en route to the firehouse, and it was only stopped by a “Chicago-style pothole” — pour one out for the unlucky driver whose fate was decided by shoddy infrastructure. It doesn’t take long for Severide to realize the real target of our fuma-bomber is House 17, and thus, House 51 where its rigs are being stored.

Hermann (David Eigenberg) manages to thwart another deadly combustion by spotting an unexpected delivery at the door and throwing it away from the team. He takes a nice hit to the noggin, but he’ll be all right — we think — and Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) manages to stop the perp as good as any P.D. Turns out, this is a cold case of revenge brought by a disgruntled former employee. Case closed. Phew!

Elsewhere in the episode, Darren Ritter (Daniel Kyri) is forced to choose between lieutenants and opts for the rig with Hermann, who’s feeling extra sentimental these days. Violet (Hanako Greensmith) isn’t ready to see Sylvie off — nor is she excited about Brett’s haphazard attempt to set her up with Carver (Jake Lockett).

The real message of this season’s opening salvo comes when Boden addresses the worn-out crew and notes that while folks will come and go from the station, they’ll always be 51 at heart. This is, of course, a message that’s actually meant for audiences at home as the aforementioned character departures loom — even if he didn’t say it directly into the camera The Office-style because this isn’t that kinda show.

All this is to say, Chicago Fire is back and bringing some heat already.

Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.

‘Chicago Fire’ Season 12, Episode 1, ‘Barely Gone.’ Adrian S Burrows Sr./NBC