There was a lot happening in "Ambition," thanks to old rivalries, old flames and bold accusations.

But the installment also has the unenviable task of trying to bridge last week’s heartfelt and emotional episode with stories that will probably make for some riveting plot points as Chicago Fire Season 1 heads to its conclusion, though the necessary setup that comes along with these new elements also made the episode feel slightly flat.

First off there’s Tara and her incredibly dumb decision to accuse Kelly of trying to force himself upon her. There’s no way her accusation can hold up under scrutiny. Shay, and her episode in their apartment with Kelly, can attest to Kelly being nothing but nice and cordial to Tara.

Tara’s decision isn’t shocking; she made the bold move to quit design school and become a paramedic. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have the ability to go somewhere else when faced with gore. Tara cannot take a minute to compose herself when her patients are quite literally dying right in front of her.

Tara, at this point, has nothing else to lose. Her family has already cut their support and she can’t exactly show her paramedic proficiency when she’s been cut. So she took the chance with Kelly to see where it might get her. It’s sad that she feels she needs to go to such extremes.

Speaking of extremes, the hormones and Hermann’s wife’s pregnancy scare prove to be a lethal combination for Shay. The closest I’ve ever been to pregnancy is my niece and nephew so I’m by no means an authority on mood swings, but, at some point, Shay’s fears over being a potential single mother with no Kelly in sight must be playing a huge role as she is going off on Kelly.

Shay has been driven and focused on just getting towards conception, and tonight might have finally shown her what happens after. There’s potential for miscarriages, absentee fathers and an entire gamut of things that can go wrong. What’s most surprising about Shay’s outburst is the effect it has on Kelly; instead of calling Shay out on her temporary lunacy, Kelly doubles down and recommits to her.

Sometimes Kelly is too nice.

Casey and Mills and the reignited rescue and truck proxy fight fell mostly flat. The small acts of revenge Casey can get away with because Mills is a candidate are fun... but, aside from that, Casey’s annoyance at Mills showing an interest in rescue rings false. Like the guys point out, some it is probably due to Mills’ relationship with Dawson, but Casey should just try to nurture and develop Mills into a good firefighter not deride him for wanting to learn and be better (even if that means he needs to let a promising candidate go).

Thankfully, Casey and Dawson still make for a good distraction from the pettiness. The small moments they shared together looking for the door, and the subsequent picture in front of it, were full of chemistry. Dawson and Casey just have a better connection than Mills and Dawson have ended up having.

While I liked Mills and Dawson in the beginning, in practice they’re just not in the spot yet. Dawson is where she wants to be with her career and she’s not a candidate; Mills is a candidate and still trying to figure out where he wants to take his career and his time commitments are being stretched thin. Boden’s warnings to him are beginning to ring true, he should keep his head down and hone his craft.

Even if Mills and Dawson are beginning to fizzle, my least favorite person ever has shown her face again: Hallie. There are no words for Hallie just contempt.

“Ambition” was a strong episode of Chicago Fire (as they all are), but this one won’t be the one I remember most as I look back on the season. It was more a transition episode.