Let the hazing and romancing begin!

Chicago Fire Season 2 Episode 12 brought about some welcome developments with Chief Boden, Mills, and Shay. But it also included some rather odd character moments with Hermann and Casey.

Let’s start with the odd: Casey and Hermann. Casey’s condition is still worrisome. He keeps saying he’s doing fine and the doctor has given him a clean bill of health... yet he says the two days leading up to the accident are just blank.

Later, he tells Severide that he’s suffering blackouts before and after the accident.

Casey wants to chalk this up to “getting his bell rung” and be nonchalant about the entire thing, but if his issues are still ongoing, things are not getting better. He might be getting better physically, but mentally he’s still not complete.

There are missing pieces of time and pieces to his personality that aren’t fitting the way they should. Additionally, his decisions are piling more stress on Dawson and he’s not telling her.

Severide doesn’t come right out and say this, but Dawson can light fires under people. She would force Casey to search for answers and doctors that can explain what is going on with him - and it’s time he does that before he ruins his second chance.

In Hermann’s case, his attempts to basically rob Shay of that inheritance just rubs me the wrong way. Hermann’s stress and the potential losses he could be facing with Molly’s is understandable, but the Hermann we’ve come to know and love would never do or say such things.

The storyline is only more forced once Clarke does some digging and finds that the brother has been doing his own stealing of the inheritance. Once the brother confronted Shay a second time about the money, Molly’s fate was sealed.

So why do Hermann and Otis come out looking so petty?

Watch Chicago Fire Season 2 Episode 12 Online

The good lies with Boden, Mills, and Shay. When Mills officially joined the firehouse, his family’s past with Boden really came to an end. With their past now firmly in the past, there’s an opportunity for their dynamic to change and grow. Which is what happens in this installment.

The smaller moments - when Mills has to remind Boden what flirting is and Boden superbly hazes Mills with the fake interview - bring them closers to friends and a mentor/mentee relationships than working enemies.

Shay is just a kind soul. She’s even willing to look past Rafferty’s homophobia for the person underneath. The jokes and stereotypes might be a sign of pain and a coping mechanism for the loss of her fiance.

Still, there’s something about Rafferty. It might be the fiance she’s lost, but I’m still curious if the lady doth protest too much when it comes to Shay being a lesbian.

Two More Thoughts:

• Cheating on a cell phone? I’ve seen far more creative cheaters: notes on the scantron, writing on the desk, hiding notecards, going to the bathroom with notes and homework inside. Get your cheating together, Jones! Still, Jones helping Dawson through the tower does give her a few earned points in my book.
• Loved Clarke sticking up for Shay. Shay’s going to need a friend while Dawson is in the academy.

Is Rafferty protesting too much? Is she harboring something more than homophobia?