The show had an ace up its sleeve but chose to fold early.
We all wanted to see what would happen at the wedding between Sylvie Brett (Kara Killmer) and Matt Casey (Jesse Spencer), but Chicago Fire had built up quite the anticipation for the return of another character: Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney).
The character missed the last few episodes of season 11, and has been MIA for the last two episodes of season 12. Surely, he would be on hand to serve as the best man for his buddy Casey. Right? Well, the show would have provided a much more satisfying answer had it not already spoiled the outcome during last week’s promo.
Severide’s return was already spoiled
Severide is one of the first characters we saw in the promo for “Port in the Storm”, as he can be seen standing behind Casey and smiling during the ceremony. Everybody who saw the promo knew that the character would make it back in time, and yet, the episode treated his return as a suspenseful outcome.
This was a mistake. Granted, it would have been difficult to show the wedding without showing us the character, but think about how much more effective “Port in the Storm” would have been as a story if Severide’s return was not guaranteed.
The first half of the episode sees Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) stress over the fact that Severide is stuck at an airport, and pressed for time. Severide even tells his wife that he’s not going to be able to make it back to Chicago in time, which puts Kidd in the very difficult spot of having to deliver the news to Brett and Casey.
The character returned at the last minute
The Severide subplot even gives fans a moment of genuine panic on Kidd’s part, as she crumbles from the stress and the sadness of not having her husband around. Then, like that, Severide is back. The character was able to hop on another flight, and thrill both Kidd and the couple getting married.
It’s well executed in the episode, but it would have been so much more suspenseful and exciting if we didn’t already know that Severide was guaranteed to return. If nothing had been said, and fans were left to share in Kidd’s disappointment when they were told that Severide was stuck, then it would have hit ten times as hard when he suddenly appeared.
We get wanting to put the best foot forward in terms of exciting promos, but this was a glaring error in an otherwise terrific season 12 episode.
