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It's Herrmann's first day as Lieutenant at 51. Will he be good? Here's a recap!
It's Herrmann's first day as the engine's Lieutenant. It doesn't go as well. He gets a beef with one of the firefighters who's not pulling his task and making jokes. Herrmann comes to Boden for advice and tells him to do what he thinks is best, which is to get that guy's transfer papers ready.
Mouch gets a visit from Ritter and learns he decided to leave the firehouse. Mouch asks Ritter to come on to 51. Herrmann and Mouch begged Ritter to join; they told him why they thought he was a firefighter who got back up and kept going. He accepted.
Severide meets Stella's blast from the past friend, who feels he may not be over her. After Severide tells her what he thinks, we see it too. After she turns down his offer to go to a party at his cabin, he comes over to look for her to change her mind.
Casey and the team deal with grenades going off in the city. They learn that the widow of a Vietnam soldier had kept them; they tried to sell them, thinking that they were just toys. They were the real thing. Searching around the neighborhood, Casey gets a sighting of kids playing with grenades for a movie they're filming. Just as he gets there, the kid pulls the pin. Just as he lets go, Casey, in a split second, throws it in the pond.
And Brett sees what Foster is capable of. They get a call of an accident at a gym where they know a girl who has broken a part of her shoulder. Foster thinks that the kid is taking PEDs. She thinks the mother is the one doing it. Foster asks the doctor to run a drug test, but he disagrees. Brett tries to help Foster move on, but she won't. Foster gets a call from the mother and finds that she's on PEDs. Foster and Brett headed to the gym to confront the coach, who admitted he did even though he called them vitamins. Brett apologizes to Foster for not backing her up and mentions that her former partner would jump through hoops, too.
"This Isn't Charity" was an excellent episode with good character development for Foster, Herrmann, and Stella. The grenade storyline was a thrilling plot, but also I think the bigger storyline was watching Brett and Foster's partnership grow and Stella and Severide's relationship takes an awkward turn. I don't think it's over with that guy. He'll be back.
Overall, I give this episode an 8.5/10.
You can catch Chicago Fire on Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC.