The Chicago Fire season 13 finale is a mix of major personal developments and some blatant set-up for its future, but not all for the better.

As the last Wolf Entertainment franchise to wrap up its year, One Chicago’s finales have all had previous set-ups. For Firehouse 51, there

was a promise that there would be some kind of payoff to some storylines, primarily involving Dom Pascal, as well as Stella Kidd and Kelly Severide. Sadly, there was also an expectation that a couple of characters would be saying goodbye.

 

 

Chicago Fire season 13, episode 22, “It Had to End This Way,” juggles multiple storylines, but all of them center on relationships within Firehouse 51. It’s no secret that its ensemble is the series’ main draw, so it makes sense that the biggest storylines in its final hour of the year are about those dynamics. However, not all developments are great, some are even conflicting.

Ahead of the finale, it was already confirmed that Jake Lockett and Daniel Kyri would be leaving as Darren Ritter and Sam Carver. One Chicago isn’t new to departing characters, but this is still a dreaded development. I thought that both Carver and Ritter still had their best Chicago Fire stories ahead of them. However, the decision likely boiled down to cost-cutting measures — something that’s been going on across long-running broadcast TV shows. While dreaded, I expected the finale would explain their exits, but that isn’t the case. Instead, they keep both characters firm members of Firehouse 51.

 

 

Unless something changes, this means the burden to explain their absence moving forward lies on Chicago Fire season 14, and by then, there’s so much more pressure to find a justified way for their departure. Sadly, I think delaying the inevitable is only making things worse. Both characters have been severely underused throughout their time on the show. Ritter represents the queer community, while also being the only remaining Black regular character following Chief Boden’s exit in Chicago Fire season 12.

Meanwhile, Carver has been doing a great job gradually integrating himself into the tightly-knit team while also developing the best slow-burn romance currently on the show — until his out-of-pocket relapse happens. He reveals that he put in an application in Denver so he could continue his sobriety there, but I never really bought his explanation about how staying in Chicago makes his recovery more difficult. If anything, being surrounded by people who genuinely support him should be good. Then again, Chicago Fire season 13 eventually pivots and rekindles Carver and Violet’s romance.