There have been many high-quality crossover episodes in the One Chicago franchise, making it hard to determine which is the best. The

One Chicago universe contains six shows from producer Dick Wolf, though the Law & Order shows are considered a separate franchise

from the three One Chicago shows, which air on Wednesday nights on NBC. Initially, Chicago Fire was a standalone show, but it spun off Chicago PD 15 months later and Chicago Med the year after that.

 

 

Each One Chicago show features a different aspect of first-responder work, with Chicago Fire being about members of the Chicago Fire Department’s Firehouse 51, Chicago P.D. focusing mainly on the Intelligence Unit’s attempt to keep the streets safe, and Chicago Med

 

 

offering medical-based storylines at the Gaffney Medical Center. While there is much debate about which One Chicago show is the best, many fan-favorite episodes are crossovers in which characters from the different shows work together to solve a problem that affects everyone.

 

 

This crossover focuses on the possibility that a firefighter is involved in a robbery spree, leading to Chicago PD‘s Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) recruiting Chicago Fire‘s Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) for an undercover operation. While the tension between Voight and Firehouse 51 staff, especially Boden, over the idea of investigating a firefighter-related theft is excellent, this is a less impressive crossover than several others because the story is typical Chicago PD fare involving undercover agents and mutual distrust.

 

 

That said, Cruz’s relationship with Chicago PD characters has always helped connect the two shows, so in that sense, it was important that he be the one to go undercover rather than a random person who was never seen again. However, this crossover still loses points because it would have worked just as well as a standalone episode that includes Cruz visiting Chicago PD without the Chicago Fire installment.

Technically, “Let Her Go” is not a crossover, as Chicago PD didn’t exist yet. However, it was a backdoor pilot for the spinoff, which means that the characters from Chicago PD appeared in an episode of Chicago Fire to introduce them to the audience and establish the relationship between the spinoff and the parent show. This episode was a far better backdoor pilot than many, as the connection between the new show and the old one was more than coincidental.

The main plot of this pilot episode establishes the relationship between the Intelligence Unit and Firehouse 51, with Casey working with Voight to find out who set the fire and killed Hallie. This is an emotional story for Casey which also gives the audience insight into who Voight and his team are as they all work together. Thus, while it wasn’t as exciting as some other crossovers, “Let Her Go” offers a solid introductory story for the Chicago PD cast.

The gas leak story would have been strong enough on its own. Still, the episode also included a violent hostage taker who screams, “I am the Apocalypse” and exposes the entire staff to a deadly pathogen. This theme would be repeated in another crossover later, “Infection.” This intense scenario set the tone for the new series while also working perfectly as a standalone episode of Chicago Fire. However, Chicago PD should have also been involved, considering there was a hostage situation that needed to be dealt with and Jay’s brother was one of the doctors trapped inside the hospital.

This crossover dealt with Shay’s death in Chicago Fire, with the first half dealing with the fire department discovering more information about Shay’s death and the second half involving the cops investigating, as it had now been determined a criminal matter. Obviously, Shay’s death had to be resolved within the One Chicago universe, and involving Chicago PD in the investigation made sense. For most of the audience, this was a strong two-part crossover episode that properly closed Shay’s storyline, but it might have confused casual viewers.

While it was easy enough for a casual viewer to follow the plot, this crossover didn’t work as well for them as self-contained stories that require no previous knowledge of both shows.

While some people watch every One Chicago show, others might only watch one and tune into the others when there’s a crossover that stretches over all three episodes. Usually, crossover episodes are self-contained, but in this case, the story was the resolution to something that had previously happened during Chicago Fire. Thus, those viewers who didn’t watch Fire regularly might not have cared about Shay or understood the significance of this story. While it was easy enough for a casual viewer to follow the plot, this crossover didn’t work as well for them as self-contained stories that require no previous knowledge of both shows.