Chicago Fire Season 12 Episode 4 Review: The Little Things

Ah yes, it’s the little things that matter. Unfortunately, it’s also the little things that make Chicago Fire Season 12 Episode 4, “The Little Things,” yet another mediocre hour of television.

Too many details don’t add up, making the episode feel thrown together in a hurry. However, the budding romance between Violet and Carver and the visit from Boden’s son are enough to push things forward. 

Violet and Carver

I’ve said before that Violet and Carver feel like the default option for an in-house romance. Granted, this also started before a new firefighter joined the time, so maybe that’s not entirely the case anymore, but it still feels obvious.

That would be a problem, if it weren’t the fact that Hanako Greensmith and Jake Lockett are playing this so very well. 

Their chemistry is oozing off the screen, and knowing that we’re now post-hookup with Violet insisting it was a one-time thing makes it a different type of storytelling than we’re used to on the series.

Plus, it feels incredibly realistic, down the way Carver approaches Violet with a confident “‘Sup” before making sure she knows he’s free that night.

Violet is still affected by Hawkins’ death, which means she has her guard up, which makes perfect sense. It still hasn’t really been that long. since that happened. Seeing Carver interact so well with Julia, though? It looks like he might be able break down that wall just a little.

Boden’s Family Drama

Quite frankly, I’m here for it any time Boden gets a storyline of substance, and this one affects him in a major way.

When his stepson Jimmy shows up asking for help with his mother, who (he believes) has been set up and is now in prison for it, Boden doesn’t hesitate. He’s a loyal protector, and he sees the best in people. 

So when asked to help his ex-wife with a drug-trafficking charge, he assumes Jimmy is right that she was ultimately innocent. 

It’s another time when a crossover with Chicago P.D. could have worked out great, but instead, Boden visits Mike Knowles to ask for help.

Then when he goes to see Shonda, she reveals that he can’t help her — at least not how he wants — because she’s guilty of everything she’s been charged with. She just didn’t want her son to know it.

That news devastates Boden, who decides he has to tell Jimmy the truth since he can’t offer help. Jimmy takes it out on him, accusing Boden of not wanting to help in the first place.

While that feels like a stretch if you know anything about Wallace Boden, it makes sense considering how long it’s been since Boden has seen Jimmy or his ex-wife. (So long, in fact, that maybe you forgot they existed…)

It actually feels uncharacteristic of Boden to have lost touch with them for so long, but the guilt he clearly feels over it is potent. Thankfully, Jimmy comes back around pretty quickly, and Boden makes sure he knows that he has a home in Chicago. 

For a long-running show, I do really enjoy that this detail about Boden’s life has come back up, years later. And with so much change to the cast, centering a good complex storyline about Boden feels like a way to keep things grounded.

Who’s Playing Fire Cop This Week?

The answer to that question is Kidd and Carver. It’s too bad Severide isn’t around for this one, actually.

A troubled child is starting fires, which Stella pieces together based on a few clues and the world’s fastest internet search by Gibson.

Rather than hand this over to anyone else to deal with, Kidd determines they must do it themselves.

However, the little girl’s mom pushes back, and with good reason. It’s a complicated issue that could have serious consequences when it comes to custody of her daughter.

But not listening when she has the chance becomes even more dangerous, just as Stella warns.

It’s an entertaining and emotional storyline, but the show relies on this kind of fire investigation/string of fires/getting involved in personal lives kind of plot so often that it became old hat a long time ago.

Plus, the emotional moment of the girl’s mom hitting the ground loses its power because it’s hard to tell if we’re meant to think she fell or that she willingly just flung herself to the ground.  

Stella manages to save the little girl, with the help of Gibson in a suspenseful moment, but the mother winds up in the ICU, which makes for real emotional stakes that make things just a bit more interesting.

Severide’s Future with OFI

Stella is also occupied this week with worries over her husband. He’s off on an arson investigation again, but she doesn’t have much trust that he’ll come back when he says he will.

More than that, she’s worried, for whatever reason, about Severide working toward being able to have a place at OFI full-time when he’s older. 

This whole thing continues to feel like a forced conflict for the sake of having conflict, and it makes Stella look petty in a way that doesn’t feel fitting for her character. Her interaction with Van Meter doesn’t help matters, either.

What’s even more frustrating is that there’s such an obvious way to have a conflict between Stella and Severide now that Stella is lieutenant on truck.

Two leaders in the same firehouse being married to each other has so many possibilities, and those could still be explored with the assumption that Taylor Kinney is taking episodes off and, therefore, his absence must be explained — because he could still be traveling for arson investigation without letting that be their conflict.

Wedding Invitations Gone Wrong

Cruz is almost always the one to play this kind of part — a foil for feeling like he’s being left out, overlooked, and undervalued. It’s certainly in his character to think he’s not invited to the wedding when he sees everyone else with an invitation, but he doesn’t once think that perhaps a mistake was made. 

It is a good excuse to remind the audience, and everyone else, that he and Brett dated once. 

The bigger issue, though, is that this is another sloppy conflict. Small wedding or not, would there really not have been names written on those invitations?

I’ll accept that they weren’t sent in the mail or even just hand-delivered but instead thrown in lockers. But are the envelopes really blank? 

Perhaps we’re supposed to believe that Brett is just this bad at wedding planning — she also has a baby to take care of, after all. But that sort of detail is ultimately pretty illogical. 

Also illogical, is not choosing your officiate before sending out wedding invitations. Still, it’s a sweet moment when Brett asks Boden to officiate, and that fact has me very much looking forward to a wedding episode. He really does feel like the perfect choice, and his emotional reaction to being asked is incredibly endearing. 

It’s just too bad this all feels so hastily done. Hopefully, the wedding itself will make up for that.

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What did you think of this episode of Chicago Fire? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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

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