People come together for the Herrmann family, but Herrmann himself is having trouble getting over their loss. And who can blame him? Losing all of your stuff — your history and the things that get you through the day — is an unsettling prospect.

For an episode that’s got the Halloween theme snuggled all up in side it, “Ghosts” wasn’t having much fun, and more than anything, it reminded us of the show that once was.

 

 

Honestly, I don’t understand this. Is this a storyline the showrunner really wanted to tackle, or was it motivated by financial constraints on the Chicago Fire production?

Bringing in new people with shorter stays doesn’t require a contract, but it doesn’t require me to invest either.

Has anyone ever had the fire department respond? I sincerely hope that if you have, it has not been catastrophic. The only time I’ve encountered the fire department is when I burned something at dinner and couldn’t get to my alarm on time.

 

 

The fire department showed up, and I had to embarrass myself in my front yard while telling a handful of handsome fellas that cooking might not be my forte (it is, really…).

The reason I bring it up is because of the sheer number of crew that were called to the first emergency on “Ghosts,” which seemed excessive for what we could see: smoke. Perhaps an apartment fire calls for more crew. It would make sense.

 

 

Once inside the building, Cruz met with what could have been a genuine ghost, asking Cruz to check Apartment K, where a woman was injured. It didn’t seem like she had a fire injury, and that older fellow had insight he probably couldn’t have if he weren’t an apparition.

I love the idea of spirits looking out for us, and I’ve seen stories about people who were warned about disasters by people who have passed. It’s a great idea for a Halloween episode.

As much as I didn’t want to see anyone hurt, the gas leak was another good one. I’m surprised it took Severide so long to scream “mask up!” when there were dead birds on the concrete in front of them.

It didn’t live up to the apartment emergency that spawned Cruz’s search for the ghost, but it did bleed into some of the other storylines, which we’ll talk about below.

Herrmann Needs a New Direction
Herrmann is struggling. But pushing away his best friend and those who want the best for him isn’t the best move.

As if Mouch was ever going to listen to Herrmann’s desire to steer clear. His idea for a pass the booty event for the family was spot on. It also worked out that it was a holiday because the bar should be super busy.

I just don’t understand why he doesn’t communicate with anyone. He’s leaving Cindy out of the conversations he’s having in his head. We’ve had to suffer so many of his cockamamie schemes. Can you imagine what Cindy has put up with in her life?

And the way he just bulldozed through their grief phase to begin looking for houses before they’ve had a chance to catch their breath (or to literally let the dust settle) made me as angry as Cindy.

If there’s one obvious thing, it’s that Herrmann is anything but OK, no matter how hard he tries to prove otherwise.

Mouch did an amazing job talking Herrmann into allowing the party to continue once Herrmann learned about it. But “just the family” makes no sense.

Let others come along. They wouldn’t know you, it wouldn’t be personal, and it would take the pressure off the feeling that you were leaning hard on your friends.

But nobody said Herrmann is a normal guy. He knows he has stupid ideas, but he does them anyway. He needs to get out of his own way and allow things to play out before steering them into the ground.

What do you think? Should they rebuild or find something new? Did his tears touch you? I’m interested!