Overview

• The opener centers on a personal setback for Stella Kidd and Kelly Severide that complicates their plans for starting a family.
• Andrea Newman describes the storyline as exploring guilt and distance while steering the pair toward a different vision of parenthood.
• A returning social worker reintroduces an option to support an older child, setting up a new parenting arc.
• A new firefighter’s conduct clashes with Firehouse 51’s culture as Chief Pascal decides to keep him on the job.
• City budget strain brings brownouts and longer runs across the CFD, and the episode charts a temporary departure to New York for Ritter.