Could 51 be about to lose yet another member of its team? That was the question on the minds of fans as they watched the fourth episode of Chicago Fire season 13, “Through the Skin,” which saw Violet at risk of losing her job after she took drastic measures to save an unborn baby.
Warning: Spoilers to come from Chicago Fire season 13 episode 4
Early in the episode, we see Violet and Novak responding to a call to a woman in need. When responding to a call, the victim flatlines but their sister runs in and begs them to save the baby. Violet detects a heartbeat but they know the only way the baby will survive is if they take drastic action which Violet takes when she performs a c-section in the field despite it being outside their realm of treatment as a paramedic.
While the procedure is a success and Violet is able to deliver the baby successfully, when they transport the baby to Med, Violet is met with some disappointing news.
Chief Robinson and Sean Turner from the state medical board inform her that her license is being suspended and Chief Robinson informs her she’ll be placed on desk duty until the board reviews the case.
Back at 51, Chief Pascal tells Violet she’ll be on desk duty and he asked she be able to do it at 51 to help take some of the sting off of things. He tells her that EMS licensing is out of the jurisdiction of the CFD and Violet worries they’ll revoke her license. He suggests that if she must know someone in the medical world who could help force them into seeing the optics of what they’re doing to her, it could go a long way so Violet goes to meet with Goodwin over at Chicago Med.
When meeting with Goodwin, Violet explained that she’s in need of an advocate to help make her case to the medical board. Goodwin reminds Violet that the board is made of up doctors who aren’t exactly going to want to hear someone like her arguing medical facts, and suggests that Violet instead find someone who has some weight at City Hall who can help remind them who they answer to.
Violet tells Novak about Goodwin’s recommendation to find a heavy hitter to make her case and she seems ready to give up, but Novak gives her a push to start making calls to try to find someone to come to her aid. During their conversation, Chief Pascal overhears them and Violet mentions that her contact at Med suggested she find someone with political sway who could help.
Later at Molly’s, we learn Violet’s attempt to get a politician to come to her aid didn’t exactly go to plan and that she made no headway at all.
Chief Robinson meets with Violet before the trial and says she’s actually in her corner as her life-saving instincts should trump the standards as she did the right thing in her eyes. However, things aren’t looking good for her when the trial comes. That’s when Chief Pascal shows up with an Alderman from the district who has come to speak on Violet’s behalf. So how did he pull this off? Well, it seems he called in a favor with Lieutenant Stephen Vale who helped make it happen.
That favor ultimately is what saved Violet’s job as the board decided to restore her license, allowing her to remain on the job.
Severide and Damon patch things up as Damon leaves 51 behind for good
Elsewhere in the episode, after Damon was put back into the floater pull and pulled from 51, he’s gone radio silent on Severide, but we learn via Kidd that he’s landed at House 20.
Kidd encourages Severide to reach out to him and he eventually drops by Damon’s new firehouse in hopes of connecting with him. Instead, he meets Damon’s new Chief who says he’s out on a call at the moment. She then proceeds to tell Severide about how Damon’s lieutenant was so impressed he offered him a full-time role at Firehouse 20, but when he asked Damon about leaving 51 he closed off and the Chief put a pin in the conversation. Severide then explains to her that 51 wasn’t a good fit for Damon as there was a lot of change with the new Chief and it simply wasn’t a good place for a kid fresh out of the academy to try to find his place.
Severide’s recommendation was enough to sway the chief as we later learn that Damon was offered a permanent position at the firehouse. This reveal comes when Severide goes to meet with Damon and the two brothers seem to patch things up, as Severide reminds him that he’s not going anywhere and encourages him to stop trying to live up to his family’s legacy and simply be the best he can be to make a name for himself.
As for the vacant spot left by Damon’s exit? Well, it seems Ritter is going to move over to Truck!
Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on NBC and streaming on Peacock!
