CHICAGO FIRE — “The Beating Heart” Episode 410 — Pictured: (l-r) David Eigenberg as Christopher Herrmann, Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide — (Photo by: Elizabeth Morris/NBC)
The first two hours of NBC’s triple crossover between Chicago Fire (NBC, 9/8C), Chicago Med (NBC, 10/9C) and Chicago P.D. (NBC, Wednesday, 10/9C) is an ingeniously put together epic tale that sets up threads for Chicago Med in Chicago Fire and some of those threads work through to tomorrow night’s Chicago P.D. in such a way that – even with each show having its own internal subplots cooking – there is a feeling of the three hours adding up to a satisfying whole.
Chicago Fire opens with Chris Herrman (David Eigenberg) being stabbed by Freddie (Ralph Rodriguez), a gang member whom Joe Cruz (Joe Minoso) had been trying to help. The ‘bleeding heart’ of the 51, Hermann is rushed to Chicago Med, where he comes under the care of Dr. Connor Rhoades (Colin Donnell).
Elsewhere, a response to a fire call leads to the discovery of an apparent suicide attempt, but the woman – Jessica Pope – is brought into Chicago Med where Drs. Choi (Brian Tee) and Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss) see unexpected results in her treatment.
At yet another call, Severide and Cruz wind up saving Freddie from a potentially deadly fall from a disintegrating fire escape.
Herrmann’s medical situation and Jessica Pope’s unusual response to treatment lead into the Chicago Med episode – where extreme measures need to be taken to save Hermann (with a key officer of the 51 questioning said measures) and a shocking discovery is made regarding Pope.
Then three more patients arrive with similar symptoms to Pope and one of them dies. This discovery leads to one conclusion – murder!
CHICAGO P.D. — “Now I’m God” Episode 310 — Pictured: (l-r) Oliver Platt as Dr. Daniel Charles, Jeremy Shamos as Dr. Dean Reybold — (Photo by: Matt Dinerstein/NBC)
Wednesday’s episode of Chicago P.D. finds Detective Sergeant Voight (Jason Beghe) leading an investigation of the doctor who treated his wife when she had cancer. To say that it’s an emotionally explosive case would be an understatement.
While the trio of Chicago-based shows aren’t likely to find themselves making anyone’s ‘best of’ lists, like most Dick Wolf productions, they are tightly constructed procedurals that focus on the jobs of their protagonists to a much greater than their personal lives (though over the course of several seasons, we come to know the characters really well).
Whether dealing with House 51, Chicago Med or Chicago P.D.’s Intelligence Unit, the shows show authentic details and procedures as used by their personnel. With this triple crossover event, that continues to be the case, though with the cases featured, there is more personal involvement and occasionally, characters think well out the box.
If you enjoy any or all of these shows, you will find these interconnected episodes to be even more involving than usual. Given that the main plot threads have to also allow for various other lines of continuity unique to each show, the crossover is an extremely well done event and well worth watching.
As someone who doesn’t follow each of these shows religiously, I was impressed with the way the event plot doesn’t entirely supersede those other ongoing arcs and yet still feels like a complete story – I never felt at sea when the other arcs where front and center. That takes more than a little skill and talent.
Final Grade: B+